Fever : Friend or Foe?

When a fever comes in, not many enjoy it's presence except for kids who are reluctant to go to school, with a fever they get themselves a holiday. With fever comes all sorts of discomforts, this is probably it is looked bad upon, what most of us don't know is, fever is really, what can be labeled as 'blessing that comes in disguise'.

Yes, it is and as intelligent human beings we should never, ever, not once judge a book without even taking a peek into the first chapter. And same goes for dear fever, blatant accusations won't bring it down, it just messes you up. So, get to know it, understand it and be thankful, for you are down with a fever.
Nevertheless,  upon a feverish moment, take precaution if you feel funny, sometimes fever can be the cause of an underlying illnesses, we'll go deeper into that matter in a jiffy, read with ease people.

Fever is portrayed as your body temperature being elevated beyond a normal range (the normal body temperature lies around 37 degrees Celsius = 98.6 degrees Fahrenheit) thanks to the hypothalamus that's in working order, it will not let the heat rise excessively as it'll cause danger. Once an infection is cleared up, the hypothalamus will make sure our temperature goes back to normal. Be alarmed and see a professional if your body temperature hikes up to more than 40 degrees Celsius/ 104 degrees Fahrenheit.  

When having a fever, normally our appetite is dampen, and yes, our Creator knows better, and there's always a reason for everything. We should cut down meals to let our body clean up the clogs and stuff, as our body systems is undergoing a physiological stress,thus the nervous systems as well the digestive system are not in the ordinary working orders. To stuff in food at this moment may bring about complications, therefore halt your consumption, in the case of hunger, do eat. Don't starve yourself sick. The best thing to do is gulp down plenty of H2O, water that is. It helps to cool down that raging heat, and it does well at it.

Causes of fever

• Infections and viruses.
• Tension and menstrual cycle factors.
• Heavy workout.
• Allergies.
• Heat stroke, injury to spinal cord.
• Ear infection.
• Flu(viral infection)
• Tonsillitis, bronchitis or pneumonia.
• Sinusitis
• Rheumatism
• medication
• trauma
• Inflammatory bowel diseases

Did you know that fever was mention in hadiths? I'd like to attach a few that I found just to enlighten you what fever is all about, in accordance to Islam.

Hadiths on fever and such

• Narrated by Abu Said Al-Khudri and Abu Hurairah , The Prophet (pbuh) said: "No fatigue, nor disease, nor sorrow, nor sadness, nor hurt, nor distress, befalls a Muslim, even a prick he gets from a thorn, but that Allah expiates some of his sins for that" [1]
• Narrated by 'Abdullah: "I visited the Prophet(pbuh) during his illness and touched him while he was having a fever.I said to him, "You have a high fever, is it because you will get a reward for it?" He answered, "Yes, no Muslim is afflicted with an harm, but that his sins will be annulled as the leaves of a tree fall down".[2]
• I did mentioned briefly on fever in my articles related to the Tib An Nabawi by Ibn Qayyim Al Jawziyah, click here to read it...>. According to the Tib An Nabawi, fever removes sin[3], and is necessary to cleanse out impurities and septic elements.

• Narrated by Aishah(RA), The Prophet(Pbuh) said: "Truly, fever makes wrong actions fall away from a man, as the leaves fall down from a tree" and "The likeness of the believer when he suffers an illness is like iron when it enters the fire, the dross is removed, the god elements stay". [4]
• Narrated by Ibn Umar(RA), The Prophet(pbuh) said: "The fever from the intense raging of the heat of hellfire, so cool it down with water"[5]  

Benefits of fever-for both kids and parents 

When your child is having a fever, don't go hysterical, it means your child's immunity is working well. As a fever indicates an infection has taken place somewhere in the kid's body and her/his immune system is on the go (the heat is the result of chemicals released by white blood cells to encounter infection and to fight off existing viruses). So, cool down and chill, give your child more water, this may be useful.
According to experts, nothing serious is going to happen if fever is left untreated(unless the temperature goes way over the limit), and a kid who has not gone through as fever in their first year of their lives are more susceptible to allergies and illnesses later on in their lives.
When the child is just weakened it's okay, but if they complain of any discomfort that may sounds wrong, do take them for a check up.

**Note; there's no need for antibiotics, especially at a young age**(I'll cover up on this in another chapter, hopefully soon, InsyaAllah)

More feverish facts:-

• Helps to fight infection.
• In some types of cancer, this shows that production of antibodies are being stimulated to fight tumors.
• Cleanses body pathways and purifies the blood.

Treatments to alleviate fever

• Drink more water. As body heats up, water is loss through sweating, eventually setting up for a dehydration, drink and drink to cover the losses.
• Don't overdress, too much layers of clothing traps heat and disallow it to be released.
• Inhale some fresh air, if you're at home open up the windows or ensure good air circulation.
• Suck ice cubes,
• Take a bath. 

That's all. Thank you for the read. Take care & Have a nice day.
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[1]HS Bukhari

[2]HS Bukhari

[3]HS Muslim

[4]Taken from the archive of Ibn Qayyim Al Jawziyah.

[5]HS Muslim