Yesterday afternoon Ross awoke from his nap with a fever of 102.8 degrees. Before his nap we had been taking our friend Jessica to lunch,we sat outside (in the shade),but it still had been kind of hot outside. I knew he felt warm when I put him down for his nap,but I though it was the sudden heat wave we were having (thank God it’s over). The house was warm,so I stripped him down to his diaper and gave him a light weight blanket. He slept normally,but when he woke up and his head was so hot I knew it was more than the heat.
Secretly,I had been waiting for one of them to get sick. I ran out of probiotics a week ago and the new ones had not come in the mail yet. His appetite had been a little off for the last 2-3 days,but I thought it was the lack of probiotics. And in a way it was,I am sure it made him more susceptible to a virus. Thankfully they came yesterday afternoon. (I had also been out of his calcium supplement which gives him a good dose of magnesium.) So I immediately gave him a double dose of probiotics and elderberry syrup,along with his other normal vitamins. I have read many articles on naturally fighting fevers. One of my favorite references is Dr. Susan R. Johnson. She has a practice here in the Sacramento area and her website has a lot of her articles posted on it. The basic concept is to keep the entire body at the same temperature,so that the body does not work harder and continue to increase the temperature. Also,a fever of under 102 is not that much of a concern,it’s an indication that the immune system is working,but over 102 you start to get concerned. I personally can keep it together until about 104 and then I panic,but the nurses tell me not to panic until 106. Thankfully,I have never had to experience that. Anyway,I digress…
I tried to keep his body covered as much as he would let me without hysterics. He is in his phase of not liking clothes. I put light weight shirt,pants,and socks on him. The house was still warm,so I felt OK with it. The natural remedies advise putting 2-3 layers on them,with wool socks,and a blanket. My mom was shocked…”that’s what my grandma used to do to us!”But I did not feel his fever was life threatening,he had no vomiting or diarrhea,he was drinking fluids and eating soup,no stiff neck,no sore throat,or difficulty breathing. So I did not feel a battle of wills was necessary over putting that many layers of clothes on him. Especially when it was 90 something outside. Also,about a year ago he had a fever and since he was complaining of being cold,I had layered him up. His fever actually began to creep up to 104 degrees and was not responding to Tylenol! So I got him down to one layer and let him sleep with me. The fever came down with a dose of Tylenol and he was better in anoher 24 hours. But this time,I was trying to hold off on the Tylenol and not panic. I feel the problem with those types of fever reducers is that they just mask the symptoms for 4-6 hours,but not help the body fight it. Also,after the 4-6 hours the fever can come back with a vengeance. (This is just my personal opinion and I have nothing to back it up except personal experience.)
The natural remedies also recommend warm foods and liquids. I figured it was hopeless to try and get him to drink warm fluids,as he already hates them. So I tried water at room temperature. He would sip it when forced. I tried juice at room temperature with the same result. So being worried about his fluids,I gave him cold watered-down orange juice. He drank a whole cup,and after that I went back to forcing the room temperature water. I felt it most important to get the fluids in him. Then for dinner he had chicken broth with noodles. I know it is recommended to stay away from proteins and fats. Vegetable soup is ideal,but I did not have any,so…se la vie.
I got a little worried,when about 6:30 pm he complained that his back hurt. He was very insistent and crying. I asked him to show me where and he pointed to his lower back. I began to panic a little and thought “not his kidneys!”So I called a friend (Sarah,your a life saver) and the advice nurse just in case. Both said that it is probably aches and pains associated with a virus,since his urine output was normal and not painful. I felt better,but this scare kicked me into high gear. I knew I would not be able to sleep,unless I got that fever to start going down.
We put him in a tepid bath,but it did not help. So we put him in cotton pajamas with long-sleeves and pants and a blanket. Then I remembered reading an article about how Dr. Susan R. Johnson had brought her son’s fever down with a lemon wrap on his feet. So I looked it up and tried it. I warmed up 4 TB lemon juice (because I did not have any fresh lemons) with 1/2 cup water. Socked a pair of cotton socks in it,wrung them out and put them on his feet. I did not have wool socks to put over them,so I wrapped them the best I could in a towel and blanket. We kept it on him for 20 minute. At first he did not like it,but he actually fell asleep before the 20 minutes was over. His fever had been 102.8 for over 4 hours. After the 20 minute lemon wrap it went down to 101,and by morning it was down to 99.6! I can not explain the excitement and relief I feel this morning. He is still tired and a little slower than usual,but he is playing comfortably with his sister.
By the way,I started Claire on the probiotics and elderberry syrup also,and so far so good. So for all those of you who are interested…the lemon wrap worked so much better than Tylenol has ever worked for my little boy! I am very excited and hope it works as well for you.
