Why do we take medicine to suppress symptoms like coughing, fever, etc. when those are our bodies way of fighting infection?

Question

I’m sick rn and I’ve taken medication to reduce my fever. But isn’t a fever your body trying to cook out the infection? Ofc it could cook me as well, but if my fever goes away then won’t that just aid the germs?

In: Biology

Answer 1

2 main reasons, either the response is excessive and a net harm or because it’s just too inconvenient for us. We often discourage cough suppressants because they can risk pneumonia developing.