Don't Fight A Fever | A Doctor Explains

Fever may be good for us. Here's why.

[raquelcorvello]

Absolutely the human body is awesome let it do it’s thing. Hydrate and rest people

[ballboys]

Don't just do something, stand there!

[MeganBrooks]

Thank you for affirming what my mother taught me when I was growing up in the 1950s. I was beginning to wonder if anyone else still knew.

[rachelsibaja]

My first degree was biology, and one of my required classes was evolutionary medicine. It was there that I first learned about this concept of "let it ride"; we reviewed studies that showed taking antipyretics/symptom relieving medicine can actually prolong an infection. During nursing school though, I was taught to treat fevers because of their increased metabolic demands on already sick patients. My hope is to see the medical field continue to grow and incorporate new evidenced based practice utilizing other fields of science, such as evolutionary medicine. Thanks for the video and discussion, love your show!

[tmjdunn]

I have always been in the let it ride camp. I have run really high fevers my whole life and have found it to be better to cozy up in bed until it breaks on its own.

[Meganmama]

I just came out on the other side of 11 days of Covid. I never took Tylenol and I had a temp of 99.5 to 100.7 almost the whole time. It sucked but I’d like to believe it helped my body fight off the infection. Thanks for your awesome content ZDogg!

[jaredainsworth]

Even though I agree that a fever could be beneficial, the man flu is extreme and my fever needs treatment asap.

[eternal_nomad]

What if you can't sleep due to discomfort from fever and aches ? The body needs sleep to recover, right?

[terrideleon]

We need more pain meds for the bone and muscle pain without lowering the fever. I don't mind fever but the unbearable pain is hard to deal with.

[jan]

As long as i'm still comfortable with my high temp i don' take meds, high temp means your body is trying to kill the bacteria or virus that invading your body, it's a defense mechanism, this makes me realized how human survived without meds and doctors back in the early age..

[andreagray]

Dr Z, you might think I’m crazy but a hot bath has ALWAYS worked for me. Yes, hot. I’ve done this for 15 plus years. And I used a hot bath to break my fever when I had covid. After the bath, not only do I sleep really well but the fever always seems to break that same night. And I feel so much better the following morning.

I’ve always felt like this was a better method than taking drugs to suppress it. I’m still letting the fever run it’s course, just speeding it along. By the way, super new to your channel and I love it. 🙌🏻

[silvameaferam]

Back in the 50s and early 60s I remember my mom saying this. She explained it exactly as you have!

[nyssalynnie]

Bummer, I got the vaccine yesterday, I have a fever, took Tylenol, and 10 minutes later this video was on my feed ... at least I’m not causing harm or lessening the effects of the vaccine, still, if the fever comes back I won’t take more and I will remember this after my second vaccine dose!
Thanks ZDogg!!

[freebird]

We were never given medications for fevers as kids. Sent to bed, given a hot drink, sleep under lots of covers and sweat it out. I did this with my kids and still do it for myself today at age 61. In March I had some kind of flu which passed in less than 48 hours with this treatment.

[Paola-jfqf]

Thank you for talking about kids. My two year old had a fever of 106.7. I lost it and my husband took him to the E.R he had stomach flu. As a parent I wish I could have handled it better. He wasn't responding when I tried to wake him up or when he did wake up he could bearly walk. Thank you again. I love watching you, because I learn so much.

[lifeinlimbo]

Wow..and i was going to call this man an idiot through my own ignorance without finishing one of his other videos. This makes so much sense and by always following this man's advice on this subject my whole life, with proven results, i completely agree. Yes, sir!

[gg_rider]

When I was 17 and athletic, I had a fever and felt like a horse was stepping on my chest, couldn't breathe. It was January, very cold. I thought I might need to go to the hospital or else go for a run.
I bundled and put on boots and went running or stomping thru the snow until it was a struggle.
My lungs got better within hours and my fever broke and I was fine.

[KarlEllisJr]

100% agree. Give the body a chance to do what it’s made to do. My question, what temperature would you allow a patient (relatively healthy) get too before starting an intervention?

[ironray]

I'm no doctor (but I play one on TV!) but I've always believed that it's best to not try and suppress symptoms of a cold or flu, since it's your body's way of fighting it off. In fact, it seems the healthier your immune system is, the stronger the symptoms are (which kind of makes sense). As an example, years ago I had both the conventional 10-14 day flu and the 24 hour flu. Neither was fun, but the 24 hour made me wish for death! But, I got over it quicker. Ironically, the regular flu I got in the month of August when I was working a front desk job and having a lot of contact with people. So it is possible to catch a cold or flu in the Summer.

[JulieLAgresta]

I've been the sickest I've ever been in 30 years the past 6 days, & last night I had to change my pjs 3 times as I was soaked through. Woke up this morning a little weak(nothing like how shocking I have been), finally an appetite but sooo much better. Couldn't believe it was like a miracle. No longer afraid of a little fever.