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Tagracat t1_iuhwyk8 wrote

Reply to comment by FiveDaysOfPoop in What is the actual mechanism by which the body generates a fever? by Pheophyting

Basically, yes. Fevers are functional in that the higher body temperature begins to denature the proteins in infectious agents, or otherwise makes it inhospitable for them to reproduce, which allows the immune system to finish mopping up. We should let fevers do their thing unless the person is suffering a lot of discomfort (with the understanding that being sick in itself is going to be uncomfortable, and the fever will make them achy and weak. Which is a good signal to rest and let the immune system work.)

If the fever starts getting really out of control (like 105F/40C or higher) it runs the risk of cooking our own proteins as well, causing brain damage, or causing cells that we should probably hold onto to go into apoptosis. That's when we should step in and be like "dude, back the hell off" and try to lower body temperature or encourage the fever to break before it busts something it wasn't supposed to.

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concentrated-amazing t1_iuilw8b wrote

I always weigh this when I'm sick, because I have three related factors that make fevers much more difficult for me (30F).

I have MS, and that means:

  • One of my particular brain lesions is in my hypothalamus, which affects my body temperature and my perception of it.
  • My body temp going over about 37.5°C/99.5°F starts to make my other, previous symptoms come back/be worse, including dizziness, balance, and leg weakness. When I had a fever with COVID, I was literally clutching walls, back of chair, etc. to get from room to room. (Normally I don't have any walking issues, only when I'm too hot.)
  • I almost never sweat. It will occasionally kick in, with maybe 20% of the sweat I should/used to be able to produce. So I can't bring my body temp down without external help like water/ice or cold air. If I don't have access to these, I'm at risk for heat stroke.

Thankfully, I don't get fevers often, but when I do, they seriously kick my butt. My first dose of COVID vaccine took me 3 days to feel mostly normal and a full week to feel completely normal. I have had 4 doses now, and know to proactively take both naproxen and acetaminophen at their recommended highest dose/interval.

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zbertoli t1_iui4zmm wrote

Pretty sure of you're close to 104 or higher you run the risk of dying. Gotta drop that fever. Or if you have a non productive fever like when you get a vaccine. It's doing nothing to help you in that case

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Bulletorpedo t1_iujyp9p wrote

40C (104F) is quite normal, specially in children. I believe what they say here is to seek help if you have 40C for more than a few days. Any thing above 41C (~106F) or if you’re in otherwise bad shape and it’s probably a good idea to seek help sooner.

People are different though, some will have 40C and be in fairly good shape, while others can barely walk as soon as they go above 38.5C.

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