What can I do myself if I cannot go directly to the doctor?
There are different approaches to self-therapy for existing fever, if you cannot go directly to the doctor. Among them, a balanced diet or healthy eating plays an important role. Since the body needs a lot of energy for the increased function of the immune system.
Easily digestible foods are for example fruit, vegetables, salad and chicken or vegetable broth. In addition to an adequate diet, it is extremely important to drink enough fluids. Warm drinks such as herbal tea or rose hip tea are very suitable.
But fruit juices containing vitamin C also have a positive effect on fever. The need for liquid is significantly increased in a feverish state. Therefore, especially newborns and small children should be given an adequate fluid intake.
The body needs a lot of energy to fight the pathogen, which should not be withdrawn by other activities. Therefore, work or sports should be avoided. The best recipe here is to give the body plenty of rest.
It is best to stay in bed for most of the illness phase. If you have chills, you can provide the body with warmth in the form of warm clothes or blankets. In the case of chills, the body freezes due to a setpoint adjustment of the body temperature in the hypothalamus.
As the set point rises, indicating that the current body temperature is too low, you freeze. It is important to measure the body temperature at close intervals of about half an hour. The rectal method is the most accurate of all.
Through the continuous measurement you can see whether the fever is rising or already falling again. However, if the fever is very high, a doctor should usually be consulted. A proven household remedy for fever is cold calf compresses against fever to draw heat from the body.When used effectively with cold water, the body temperature can be reduced by about 1-2 degrees Celsius.
A so-called full bath can also be performed. Here, warm water is let into the bathtub, which has only a few degrees Celcius as the body temperature. Afterwards, you lie down in the bathtub and let cold water in for 10-15 minutes, so that it sinks to a temperature of about 25 degrees Celsius.
In the pharmacy you can get additional medicines that are not subject to prescription. These include various types of tea (such as chamomile or lime blossom) as well as painkillers such as ASS. The pain and fever-reducing drug paracetamol is also available without a prescription in pharmacies.
