DH theory on fevers - is he right

[Snowy Love]

I've been disagreeing with him for years, but he says that his grandmother was a nurse & this is what she told him & she must be right.

Once you start sweating a fever is over and its OK. The fever is being hot, but not sweaty. I say sweat has nothing to do with it and if DS is hot & sweaty I still need to worry. Am I right?

[Jakabella]

My mum and dad swear that if you start sweating the feaver out then it has broken and its on its way out. When ever my Dad is crook he will hop into bed and turn his blanket on high and make him self sweat and the very next day he is ok.

Im not sure if this is medically true though...

[SamiH]

I always thought it meant the fever was close to breaking ... And experienced that with mastitis twice.

[*LittleMissSummer*]

I think there may be some truth to that theory.

I mean we sweat as a way to cool the body down...

[Phteven]

AFAIK, you feel colder and might shiver when a fever is rising and when it is falling you will feel hotter and might be sweaty. It's because of the change in temperature in comparison to the environment.
Being sweaty doesn't mean that the cause of the fever is gone or that it has broken. If you have used panadol your temperature will drop but the micro-organisms will still be there.

[Rivlas]

There is some truth in what he says but should never take it for granted. The sweating is part of the fever reaching its climax then usually there is improvement afterwards.

[Mother Goose]

I've had plenty of patients sweating with fever which has gone on to last days (in one case, weeks) later. So my answer is that it would be dependent on the cause of the fever as well as the surrounding environment.

[Liz]

It seemed true for DD yesterday. Had a fever for a good 5 days or so. Finally peaked at 39.4, broke into a sweat and she turned a corner straight away. My fever is lingering, altho I've been quite sweaty today.. so who really knows hehe.

My GP did say a while ago to watch for a sweat cos that usually means they've turned a corner. Not necessarily that it's over.. but the worst is over.

[Kazbah]

So what about "starve a fever, feed a cold" ? That's what my nan & gran always said. Oh, and my boss swears by a lot of rum to break a fever or cold and feel better after the hangover subsides...

I do think that a shivering fever is bad news, and a sweaty fever usually means it's "broken".

[Traveller]

My husband always sweats when he has a fever, regardless of if it has broken or not. It's more dependant on whether he has taken panadol, which temporarily lowers his temperature and starts the sweats.

[aussienic]

I agree with your Dh. I know when my kids have fevers that if they start sweating they are always better in the morning. one time Ds1 had such a high temp and when we checked on him that night we needed to change his bed sheets.. A couple hours later we had to do it again and he woke the next morning perfectly fine

[Mother Goose]

Kaz - shivering with a fever is bad because shivering actually increases your body temp further. Sweating is the body's natural way of trying to cool down.

[Beach Mama]

Oh wow that is interesting to note, my kids both had fevers over 40 recently and the one thing the Nurse said was to make sure we dealt with the fever appropriate to their reaction if they were shivering to give them a light blanket(not to over heat but not to chill them ITMS) and if they were sweating to dress them down in a warm house. I always wondered about it because Iz at one point was saying I'm cold mummy but she was at 40.2.

[Fleur]

I always wondered about it because Iz at one point was saying I'm cold mummy but she was at 40.2.

AFAIK, that is because of the temperature of her body relative to the air around her. If she's really hot, it makes the air, the room, seem colder by comparison.

We have seen improvements after a sweat, but not always & not only... sometimes it just goes up & up... then goes.

I do think that I managed to shorten the duration of a tummy bug once (mine) by sweating it out under a pile of blankets. I didn't get as bad as everyone else, and it didn't last aslong but then, I'm not confident enough to do that to my kids

[Beach Mama]

AFAIK, that is because of the temperature of her body relative to the air around her. If she's really hot, it makes the air, the room, seem colder by comparison.

That makes sense because although it was warm (21 as it always is) it would feel cold to her and she had goosebumps and was shivery poor darling.

[clare076]

the old cure for a fever was a glass of scotch with hot water and a spoon of sugar/honey/or lemonade, you would jump into bed, sweat your box off and wake in the morning feeling on top of the world. I tried it once and woke in the morning feeling heaps better...my grandmother recommended it too.