What should you do when you have malaria?
When fever is high, chills or shivering are very common. However, if treated properly, this condition will quickly go away.
Associate Professor, Dr. Nguyen Tien Dung, Department of Pediatrics, Bach Mai Hospital, said that fever is just a symptom, not a disease. This is the body's reaction when it is unfortunately infected with a virus or bacteria, due to autoimmune diseases or reactions to drugs...
The hypothalamus is the area of the brain that controls body temperature. When you have a high fever, meaning your body is running at a higher temperature than normal, the hypothalamus receives a signal and activates the cooling system by increasing sweating and increasing blood flow to the skin. If this cooling system is constantly active, causing the body to cool down more than the outside temperature, it will cause chills and shivering.
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| When having high fever, there are often chills. |
For young children, Associate Professor Dung recommends not giving them fever-reducing medicine when their temperature is still below 38.5 degrees. When a child has a mild fever of 37.5-38.5 degrees, just take off some clothes, give the child more water or breastfeed more.
Fever is usually harmless, other than causing discomfort. In adults, high fever accompanied by chills can be treated with antipyretics.
There are currently two types: paracetamol and ibuprofen. Asian countries choose paracetamol, while European countries use ibuprofen because they do not have dengue fever. The dosage of paracetamol is 15mg/kg body weight, every 4-6 hours.
After taking fever-reducing medicine, the body has a mechanism to release heat, in humans, it releases heat through the skin. To release heat, convection is needed, like when it is hot, riding a motorbike on a windy road will feel cool. Without convection, heat cannot be released.
“Therefore, the important principle when having a fever is not to cover yourself with a blanket, not to close the door, but to open the door, use a fan to ventilate, and let the air circulate in the house. With this method, after a while the patient will no longer feel cold,” Associate Professor Dung said.
In addition, in cases of fever, you should not apply cold compresses or fever-reducing patches. This method only helps to reduce fever quickly in the first hour, then quickly returns. The best way to feel comfortable is to use a warm towel to wipe the whole body, wipe a lot on the forehead, 2 armpits, groin, change the towel every 2-3 minutes to help reduce fever quickly.
In addition, adults with high fever need to drink plenty of water to cool the body and prevent dehydration; eat light, easily digestible foods; rest and relax; and wear cool clothes.
In case of high fever causing convulsions, fever over 41 degrees, loss of consciousness, difficulty breathing, severe pain or inflammation in a body part, high fever for more than 2 days without improvement, vomiting, bloody urine... you need to see a doctor as soon as possible.
