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HEADACHES, OTHER INFECTIONS: ORTHODOX TREATMENT

on March 11th, 2009 by admin

The most important thing is to be sure that you’re not dealing with meningitis or malaria. The next question is to ask whether or not it is a bacterial infection. If there are symptoms of a water infection, earache, coloured sputum, or a severe sore throat, then you will need to contact your doctor, because an antibiotic will probably be required.

If it’s none of these, then probably you’re dealing with a virus infection,. in which case little else remains to be done except to treat the symptoms. Paracetamol, fluids and bed rest (if necessary) are usually all that is needed. Regular paracetamol (according to the dose on the bottle) will bring down your temperature and ease the aches and pains. In infections aspirin is not appropriate for anyone under the age of twelve, because it has been known in rare instances to cause Reye’s Syndrome, which is a disorder which can lead to severe brain and liver damage, -and sometimes death. In adults, however, aspirin often brings down the temperature more effectively than paracetamol, though aspirin can upset the stomach in certain sensitive individuals, and is not suggested for anyone suffering from bleeding disorders such as haemophilia, patients on steroids, and those with ulcers or gastritis. Nor should you take aspirin if you are pregnant.

Although safe in normal doses, paracetamol is actually quite toxic to the liver and can be very dangerous in overdose, especially if taken with excess alcohol. As few as twenty tablets taken in twenty-four hours has been enough to kill. So don’t he tempted to double the dose of paracetamol if your headache hasn’t gone away -you may damage or even kill yourself

If you’re still having problems dealing with the headache or bringing down the temperature, despite full doses of paracetamol, and you’re an adult who is able to take aspirin, then try alternating full doses of paracetamol and aspirin every three hours. Start off with two paracetamol, then three hours later have two aspirin, then three hours later have two paracetamol, and so on. In this way, neither paracetamol nor aspirin is being taken to excess, but the effects of each continue the anti-temperature and anti-headache effect of the other. A regime like this can be very effective, especially in settling the unpleasant symptoms of flu, which is often quite resistant: to treatment.

Antibiotics are not required for a simple viral infection, unless there’s a secondary infection – such as a chest infection, or an earache. However, in anyone with an underlying illness (such as asthma or diabetes), antibiotics may be required more quickly, or even straight away, to try to prevent secondary infections starting.

Opinions vary about whether bringing the temperature down is all that important. Aspirin and paracetamol work by re-setting the body’s internal thermostat, and after a dose the temperature drops, or at least stabilises.

Some doctors recommend tepid sponging as well, at the beginning of a fever, purely to bring down the temperature. It’s certainly useful when the fever is subsiding; the body is trying to lose heat, which is why we sweat at this time. In providing more fluid to take away the heat of the skin by evaporation, tepid sponging helps cool the body without fluid loss and debilitation of heavy sweating.

Tepid sponging is always useful in those children who are prone to febrile Convulsions, in whom it helps to bring the temperature down as quickly as possible to terminate or prevent fits. In children with febrile convulsions, it isn’t the height of the temperature that gives the convulsion, but the speed with which the temperature rises. So a child may throw a fit if she reaches a body temperature of ‘)9.5°F in twenty minutes, while that same child may tolerate a temperature of 103°F with no problems at all, provided she goes up to that temperature slowly. In really severe cases, a dose of phenobarbitone prescribed by the doctor may help to reduce the tendency to have fits.

Only certain children seem susceptible to febrile convulsions: febrile convulsions disappear by the age of seven, and never lead to epilepsy. There is one common trap: in a child who’s never had a febrile convulsion before, a convulsion with a temperature could be meningitis, so you need to contact your doctor straightaway.

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