The number one reason kids take medications today is to reduce fevers

Why? Because of the belief that HIGH FEVERS cause BRAIN DAMAGE in kids.

This, my friends, is a URBAN LEGEND. A MYTH. NOT TRUE.

A high fever from an infection CAN NOT raise a child’s temperature to the point needed to cause brain damage, 107.6 degrees. 

The body regulates the core temperature to 106 with viral and bacterial infection. So, it is virtually impossible to get brain damage from a fever.

Studies have shown that humans can only get their internal temperature that high through external environmental factors, such as leaving a kid in a closed car in the summer. 

3.5% of children are susceptible to febrile seizures, not every child. A febrile seizure is triggered by a quick rise in temperature, not the overall high number, and does not produce any damage.

Medications to reduce a fever DO NOT prevent febrile seizures.

Medications to reduce fevers DO impair the immune system, resulting in prolonged illness, the spread of the flu (associated with 1,000 extra deaths a year), altering our DNA protection mechanisms, making your mitochondria (energy centers) vulnerable, and having been linked to causing cases of childhood asthma.

One dose of acetaminophen per month raises your kids’ chance of developing asthma by 540%, and just one dose in the first 12 months of life raises it by 70%.

Acetaminophen, the number one prescribed OTC (Over-the-counter)and used medication in children, results in 100,000 calls to poison control centers, 56,000 emergency room visits, 26,000 hospitalizations, and more than 450 deaths from liver failure alone……every year!

This is from the medical “self-reporting” system and data collection, which is estimated to be off by a factor of 10-100!

What is the danger of a high fever? There is none.

When is it indicated to reduce a fever? It is not.

Look, I have kids, and I know how hard it is to watch them suffer, I have been through it. Watching a 4-year-old with a 104-degree fever is not fun, but lowering the fever will make the overall situation worse.

We keep them comfortable, hydrated, nourished, keep their nervous system clear, and love them up, and guess what? They get through it!

Let’s not medicate our kids to make us feel better!

We can and need to do better. Our kids are counting on us.

Let me know if we can help.

Be well, my friends!

Dr. Don

References: 

Seattle Children’s Hospital

Int J Biochem Cell Biol. 2005 

AAP Clinical Report—Fever and Antipyretic Use in Children

Preventdisease .com

Thehealthyhomeeconomist .com

University of A Coruna