Introduction
Lowering fever with home remedies means nothing more than lowering the body temperature with natural remedies. These can be applied, for example, both from the inside in the form of food and from the outside in the form of cold calf compresses. What they all have in common is that they are normally available in every household or can be obtained over the counter if required. Due to their herbal basis, most foods also have few side effects compared to drugs and can almost never be dosed incorrectly. In the case of physical measures such as cooling calf wraps, the side effect profile is comparatively greater, as they can lead to strong fluctuations in circulation in extreme cases.
Which home remedies reduce fever?
In principle everyone must find out for itself, which household remedies lower the fever with him best. However, the principle should always apply to manipulate the own body as little as possible and as much as necessary with measures against the fever. Simple measures such as clothing and bed linen adapted to body temperature should therefore be given priority over, for example, applying cold from outside by wrapping your calves.
The higher the fever, the more emphasis should be placed on good circulation. In detail this means to pay attention to a sufficient liquid supply and physical protection. If the fever should nevertheless lead to serious complaints, a visit to the doctor should be preferred to the use of home remedies.
Home remedies can help to reduce the fever. Especially for cold complaints with fever, various teas with honey have proven to be positive, as they have anti-inflammatory ingredients. Onions have a good effect on middle ear inflammation as onion sacs.
Vegetable broth provides an increased supply of liquid for flu-like infections. But ginger also has a decongestant and antipyretic effect. Besides food, physical measures are also effective as household remedies.
With every cold application, however, one must be aware that the circulation can be exposed to a stressful situation due to the significant difference in temperature. As a herbal remedy, the onion is a real all-rounder. When eaten, it supplies the body with vitamins, potassium and sulfur compounds and thus supports the body’s own defenses.
If it is applied externally in the form of an onion sac on the ear, the sulfur compounds in particular – so-called sulfides – have an anti-inflammatory effect. In the case of an inflammation of the middle ear with fever, this would mean that the onion applied externally does not reduce the fever itself, but has an anti-inflammatory effect on the middle ear. As the inflammation subsides, however, the fever also subsides, so the measure indirectly lowers the temperature.
If it is drunk in the form of onion soup, it provides important vitamins and electrolytes, which are needed to strengthen the immune system. Again, it does not directly lower the fever, but acts indirectly by strengthening the immune system. Therefore, the onion itself can be used in many ways.
However, its effect should not be overestimated. It should only be used in the case of minor complaints or as a support for other measures, as its healing power is too low to be used alone in an emergency. However, it may be suitable for alleviating the symptoms.
Vegetable broth is particularly effective in alleviating the symptoms of accompanying complaints such as sore throats in cases of fever. Drinking the warm broth has a beneficial effect on an inflamed throat area in many patients. This, in turn, makes it easier to take in liquid and thus to cover the need for liquid.
The loss due to increased sweating, for example, is thus kept to a minimum. Enriched with electrolytes and spices, it also has a pleasant taste that stimulates the appetite. This has the advantage that the urgently needed energy supply does not come to a standstill in case of illness.
The use of apple vinegar for fever is very questionable. The idea behind the application in case of fever is that the vinegar has a cooling effect when rubbed on the skin. This is explained by the evaporation of the liquid on the surface of the skin.
What many people do not know, however, is that the evaporation of the liquid film leads to the drying of the skin and does not have a lasting positive effect on temperature regulation.Rather, an excessive counter-regulation follows through the short-term cold effect, which can lead to an undesired subsequent overheating of the rubbed-in skin areas. In addition, sensitive skin types often react with itchy eczema to the application of apple vinegar on the skin. From a medical point of view, descending full baths are not recommended.
Especially in the case of high fever, the circulation of the affected person is very strained, which is only intensified by a full bath. The increased body temperature causes the blood vessels in the body to be dilated. Metaphorically speaking, the blood volume is distributed more in the periphery of the body so that heat can be better dissipated via the extremities.
As a reaction to this redistribution, the heart beats faster. If a person with a fever lies down in a bathtub with cool water, the vessels on the periphery contract and the blood flows more towards the heart. In people with a heart condition or who are prematurely ill, this can lead to a life-threatening overload of the heart.
For this reason, “whole-body cooling” should only be reserved for special hospital facilities. Honey can be used without hesitation for febrile diseases. Its addition to teas is particularly popular for colds.
Its anti-inflammatory effect is mainly due to the hydrogen peroxide it contains. They are able to attenuate pathogens and thus promote the healing process. The high sugar content known from the taste is also an energy source.
However, it is rather negligible from a medical point of view, as the amount absorbed as an additive to tea is too small. Nowadays, ginger is used for many diseases. With regard to fever, it can be said that its anti-inflammatory effect weakens the fever-causing pathogens.
If the pathogens are prevented from spreading, the infection does not increase and the body’s own defence system can fight the pathogens better. As the infection declines, so does the fever. However, it should also be said about ginger that it only brings relief in the case of mild symptoms.
Prophylactically, however, it can be used very well when the symptoms of a cold start. Garlic is very similar to onions in its effect and use. However, in contrast to the onion, garlic is attributed its own antibiotic effect.
Strictly speaking it is the ingredient “allicin”. Garlic works mainly from the inside through absorption with food. Through the absorption of its components in the gastrointestinal tract, it supplies the body with important vitamins, electrolytes and sulfur compounds in addition to its antibiotic ingredients.
Nevertheless, one should not expect a miracle cure from garlic, as the concentration of its ingredients is very low. However, they can help to improve the fever. Fever teas are usually available as ready-made tea blends in supermarkets or pharmacies.
The herbal mixtures usually promise a fever-reducing effect due to the ingredients of the willow bark. They can also be found, for example, in the well-known Aspirin. It is the salicylates contained in them that have an anti-inflammatory effect and thus help to contain the infection.
The healing process is thus promoted and the fever decreases reactively. However, the concentration in teas is much lower, so the effect is also weaker compared to a tablet from the pharmacy. However, it is positive that tea, in addition to the fever-reducing effect, also helps to cover the increased fluid requirement.
Calf compresses are a very good household remedy to lower fever. However, their use should be chosen with care and their application should be constantly monitored by a relative. The principle of calf compresses is to normalize the body temperature by applying cold to the legs.
This means that warm blood arriving from the body is cooled on the legs and then flows back towards the heart. Gradually an exchange from warm to “cooled” blood should take place, thus lowering the high body temperature which is perceived as a burden. However, this method only works if the cooling is done gently.
The temperature difference between the calf wraps and the body temperature should be chosen according to age. For adults it is recommended to use lukewarm water for the calf wraps, while for small children the water temperature should be about 3°C colder than the body temperature.If the temperature difference is too great, the strain on the circulation is immense and in the worst case can lead to circulatory failure. However, if the temperature of the calf packs is gradually lowered from pack to pack, no serious incidents are usually observed.
