How to lower fever - Treatment

When the temperature rises
During childhood, the situation is repeated often: the child has his face flushed, and is off more heated than usual. He puts the thermometer and has a fever.

How to act?
One of the most frequent causes of the increase in body temperature is the infectious diseases (respiratory, gastrointestinal, urinary ...) usually produced by viruses. But it also tends to appear before a fever when there is excessive heat or dehydration. While it is not usual, it is sometimes a symptom of other more serious disorders, so we must never stop investigating their origin.

¿Combat, or wait?
Some pediatricians prefer no system for treating fever. They are convinced that it increases the body's defense capabilities against infectious diseases. Others, by contrast, are not in favor of keeping it so uncomfortable it is. The proper attitude is to treat it wherever high (over 38 ° C), the patient is upset, disoriented or have ever suffered convulsions of fever.

Action on two fronts.
Two types of measures to help lower it. On the one hand, it will ensure that the room temperature comfortable, that the child does not have an excessive amount of clothing and drink plenty of fluids. When the fever is not very high, it will cool further compresses the body through warm water. If it is high, it will be more effective to introduce a child in a bath of warm water, two or three degrees lower than your body temperature.

Antitérmicos.
The drugs are another possibility. Each child responds better to one another, and agrees not to use two different exceed the dose. Aspirin (acetylsalicylic acid) is a good antitérmico, but is not indicated when there is vomiting or gastrointestinal discomfort. Nor should it be used if the little sick of flu or chickenpox, because it could encourage the emergence of Reye's syndrome, a serious disease, though rare.

Children are generally very well tolerated commercial preparations of paracetamol, but can be given if there is any injury to the liver. Both these medicines such as aspirin should not be taken at intervals of less than four hours.

Whenever there is a fever it is necessary to diagnose the cause. This is easy when you see other symptoms, but if not it is necessary to use analysis and X-rays.