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>I wonder what I should give my kids when they have fevers though You don't have to give them anything. Ibuprofen doesn't make the underlying infection causing

>I wonder what I should give my kids when they have fevers though You don't have to give them anything. Ibuprofen doesn't make the underlying infection causing the fever go away any quicker, it just alleviates the symptoms. It's a trade off between reducing short-term suffering and risking long-term defects. Personally my parents never gave me painkillers for fever and I'm grateful for it: fever pain is just a temporary feeling, but some of the uncommon side effects of painkillers are much longer-lasting. *Edit: To whomever downvoted, I'm curious what part of what I said you disagree with.

frostburg 8y ago
Your parents probably aren't doctors. The issue isn't cut and clean... To a point a moderate fever usually helps your immune system (the response exists for a reason), but anything other than a moderate fever can be a lot more dangerous than long term issues stemming from sporadic usage of antipyretics.
babuskov 8y ago
I didn't downvote you, but you seem to lack experience/knowledge on the topic if you think it's only a painkiller. Ibuprofen's main use is to help to keep the body temperature in check. When your body temperature goes too high you can lose consciousness and even die. I had a very high fever once and didn't want to take any medicine until I started to lose consciousness and I almost fell while waiting in a line in pharmacy. I was able to go through it only because I was adult. Children are more fragile. Fever is the reason people died so much before discovery of antibiotics. You are right that it alleviates the symptoms, and it's actually better not to use it when the temperature is moderate because high temp kills some germs. But if it goes too high, you have to stop it before it's too late.
- komali2 8y ago
  But how is it better than an ice bath given the side effects of ibuprofen are potentially worse than an ice bath?
  - babuskov 8y ago
    Ice bath has really short-term effect. If your body temp is really high, ice bath can take it down for 30-40 minutes and then it's back up. Ibuprofen takes it down for 6 hours.
- logicchains 8y ago
  >Fever is the reason people died so much before discovery of antibiotics. I thought bacterial infections were the response were the reason people died before antibiotics. Fever is the body's response to infection, a primitive means of fighting it. If somebody has a serious infection and you give them anti-fever medication but no antibiotics, they're still at serious risk of death even if their fever goes away. According to the first article I found while Googling: https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.nytimes.com/2018/05/11/well/live/fever-infection-drugs-tylenol-acetaminophen-ibuprofen-advil-aspirin.amp.html https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.nytimes.com/2018/05/11/well... : "The best evidence suggests that there is neither harm nor benefit to treating a fever with fever-reducing medications like acetaminophen or ibuprofen." "In 1997, these data led to a large, randomized, placebo-controlled trial of ibuprofen in 455 patients with sepsis, a life-threatening infectious condition. In this study, ibuprofen failed to prevent the worsening of sepsis and failed to decrease the risk of death." So there's no evidence that such drugs actually stop fever "before it gets too late" in adults, as they don't reduce risk of death. I had wrongly assumed the same applies to children.
  - raverbashing 8y ago
    An NSAID failing to help with a bacterial infection is not surprising
    - logicchains 8y ago
      Yep, but if death was due to the combined effects of both bacterial infection and fever, we'd expect to see a reduction in mortality when fever was treated compared to when it was untreated, which the linked study didn't find.
- distant_hat 8y ago
  True, but children are not that fragile. High (above 103/104) should be brought down, febrile seizures are bad but lots of parents hit ibuprofen/paracetamol when the kid is showing 99F.
danjayh 8y ago
Rapid rise in temperature in infants, toddlers, and young children can cause febrile seizure. Given the trade-offs, we generally choose to medicate our child when his temperature passes ~102 and it's on a rapid uptrend.
- sgt101 8y ago
  Has this happened often? Also, how often do you measure the child's temperature and how do you establish the rapid uptrend?
  - coldtea 8y ago
    >how often do you measure the child's temperature As often as you need when they have a fever. Modern thermometers can give you the temperature in a minute or so.
    - sgt101 8y ago
      yes, but is this sampling a good idea? Have you tried measuring temperatures periodically when the child appears well? What is the variation then? How do you know that the device is telling you something meaningful? Is the child getting flustered and hotter because of the attention?
      - coldtea 8y ago
        >yes, but is this sampling a good idea? Have you tried measuring temperatures periodically when the child appears well? What is the variation then? There should be no major variation then. On the other hand, if the child reaches 38+ or so, you need to be on the lookout...
      - danjayh 8y ago
        You have to measure rectally for good results. Forhead thermometers, ear thermometers, under the tongue thermometers -- all crap. If you have an infant or small toddler, use a rectal thermometer. Measuring this way, results are both precise and accurate (and therefore, repeatable).
14 8y ago
My guess is the down vote comes from someone thinking your comment sounds like you don't have any children or know what you are talking about. You don't give ibuprofen for pain during a fever, though doctors will say it can help because often times the source of the fever will cause pain like an ear infection or strep throat, you give it to reduce the temperature. There is a serious risk of seizure in children if you let fevers run high. So to say you don't have to give them anything is certainly not true in many cases and in fact could be life threatening to just ignore. That would be my guess to the down vote. I have multiple kids and never has the thought in my mind been I will give them analgesic for the pain of their illness. It is about the temp 100% of the time. I do not like to take drugs nor give them to my children if avoided but certain things you must treat. Fever is one.
- logicchains 8y ago
  According to the first article I found while Googling, https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.nytimes.com/2018/05/11/well/live/fever-infection-drugs-tylenol-acetaminophen-ibuprofen-advil-aspirin.amp.html https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.nytimes.com/2018/05/11/well... : "The best evidence suggests that there is neither harm nor benefit to treating a fever with fever-reducing medications like acetaminophen or ibuprofen." "In 1997, these data led to a large, randomized, placebo-controlled trial of ibuprofen in 455 patients with sepsis, a life-threatening infectious condition. In this study, ibuprofen failed to prevent the worsening of sepsis and failed to decrease the risk of death." The science doesn't seem to support the notion that reducing fever will reduce the risk of fatality in the general case. I had assumed the same thing also applied to children, as before this thread I'd never heard of children getting seizures from fever (at least not from any of the children/parents I knew growing up in rural Australia).
- stolsvik 8y ago
  Why do you not help your kids when they are in pain?! This is truly shocking to me, it is definitely a cruel and inhumane sentiment.
  - logicchains 8y ago
    Painkillers are not side effect free; if the pain is something minor, like a bruised knee or normal headache, it's not unreasonable to decide that experiencing the pain is a better choice than risking the side effects of a drug, which in uncommon cases can be much more severe and long term. It's not as clear cut as "helping" vs not helping, as unfortunately we don't yet have any side effect free painkillers.
logicchains 8y ago
Replying to my own comment as it's too late to edit, I was basing my assumptions on studies showing fever reducing drugs have no positive effect on mortality in adults, like described in https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.nytimes.com/2018/05/11/well/live/fever-infection-drugs-tylenol-acetaminophen-ibuprofen-advil-aspirin.amp.html https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.nytimes.com/2018/05/11/well..., but was unaware that children face separate risks from high fever that can make such drugs more vital. So my comment is bad advice.
- A1phab3t 8y ago
  I appreciate that you followed up.
stolsvik 8y ago
These kind of sentiments really scare and provokes me. Telling anyone that they shouldn't alleviate kids fever and/or pain is absolutely revolting to me.
- logicchains 8y ago
  I didn't say that, I said it's a trade-off. Taking them reduces pain and the risk of certain complications, but increases the risk of other complications (side effects). According to https://www.consumerreports.org/prescription-drugs/too-many-meds-americas-love-affair-with-prescription-medication https://www.consumerreports.org/prescription-drugs/too-many-..., "The amount of harm stemming from inappropriate prescription medication is staggering. Almost 1.3 million people went to U.S. emergency rooms due to adverse drug effects in 2014, and about 124,000 died from those events." So even if a medicine is side effect free when used as prescribed, there are still risks if it's accidentally misused, and painkillers are not side-effect free even when used as prescribed. Thought effect: if you had the option to eliminate a kid's pain with an 0.01% chance of causing a lasting defect, would you do it? Not everybody would; different people have different time preferences.
  - stolsvik 8y ago
    "...prescription medication..."
    - logicchains 8y ago
      Ah, good catch, I didn't notice that part. Here's a more relevant link, evidence for the trade-offs of OTC painkillers: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0140673608614452 https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S014067360... . Seems there's evidence of a link between use of paracetamol in early childhood and developing asthma.
      - deleted 8y ago
        [deleted]
- 8y ago
distant_hat 8y ago
Exactly this. It just works on the symptoms and children tolerate fevers fine as long as it is not too high (above 103F). But you have to endure a lot of crap from everyone breathing down your neck about how you are ignoring the child and are a cruel parent.

frostburg 8y ago

Your parents probably aren't doctors. The issue isn't cut and clean... To a point a moderate fever usually helps your immune system (the response exists for a reason), but anything other than a moderate fever can be a lot more dangerous than long term issues stemming from sporadic usage of antipyretics.

babuskov 8y ago

I didn't downvote you, but you seem to lack experience/knowledge on the topic if you think it's only a painkiller. Ibuprofen's main use is to help to keep the body temperature in check. When your body temperature goes too high you can lose consciousness and even die. I had a very high fever once and didn't want to take any medicine until I started to lose consciousness and I almost fell while waiting in a line in pharmacy. I was able to go through it only because I was adult. Children are more fragile. Fever is the reason people died so much before discovery of antibiotics. You are right that it alleviates the symptoms, and it's actually better not to use it when the temperature is moderate because high temp kills some germs. But if it goes too high, you have to stop it before it's too late.

komali2 8y ago
But how is it better than an ice bath given the side effects of ibuprofen are potentially worse than an ice bath?
- babuskov 8y ago
  Ice bath has really short-term effect. If your body temp is really high, ice bath can take it down for 30-40 minutes and then it's back up. Ibuprofen takes it down for 6 hours.
logicchains 8y ago
>Fever is the reason people died so much before discovery of antibiotics. I thought bacterial infections were the response were the reason people died before antibiotics. Fever is the body's response to infection, a primitive means of fighting it. If somebody has a serious infection and you give them anti-fever medication but no antibiotics, they're still at serious risk of death even if their fever goes away. According to the first article I found while Googling: https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.nytimes.com/2018/05/11/well/live/fever-infection-drugs-tylenol-acetaminophen-ibuprofen-advil-aspirin.amp.html https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.nytimes.com/2018/05/11/well... : "The best evidence suggests that there is neither harm nor benefit to treating a fever with fever-reducing medications like acetaminophen or ibuprofen." "In 1997, these data led to a large, randomized, placebo-controlled trial of ibuprofen in 455 patients with sepsis, a life-threatening infectious condition. In this study, ibuprofen failed to prevent the worsening of sepsis and failed to decrease the risk of death." So there's no evidence that such drugs actually stop fever "before it gets too late" in adults, as they don't reduce risk of death. I had wrongly assumed the same applies to children.
- raverbashing 8y ago
  An NSAID failing to help with a bacterial infection is not surprising
  - logicchains 8y ago
    Yep, but if death was due to the combined effects of both bacterial infection and fever, we'd expect to see a reduction in mortality when fever was treated compared to when it was untreated, which the linked study didn't find.
distant_hat 8y ago
True, but children are not that fragile. High (above 103/104) should be brought down, febrile seizures are bad but lots of parents hit ibuprofen/paracetamol when the kid is showing 99F.

danjayh 8y ago

Rapid rise in temperature in infants, toddlers, and young children can cause febrile seizure. Given the trade-offs, we generally choose to medicate our child when his temperature passes ~102 and it's on a rapid uptrend.

sgt101 8y ago
Has this happened often? Also, how often do you measure the child's temperature and how do you establish the rapid uptrend?
- coldtea 8y ago
  >how often do you measure the child's temperature As often as you need when they have a fever. Modern thermometers can give you the temperature in a minute or so.
  - sgt101 8y ago
    yes, but is this sampling a good idea? Have you tried measuring temperatures periodically when the child appears well? What is the variation then? How do you know that the device is telling you something meaningful? Is the child getting flustered and hotter because of the attention?
    - coldtea 8y ago
      >yes, but is this sampling a good idea? Have you tried measuring temperatures periodically when the child appears well? What is the variation then? There should be no major variation then. On the other hand, if the child reaches 38+ or so, you need to be on the lookout...
    - danjayh 8y ago
      You have to measure rectally for good results. Forhead thermometers, ear thermometers, under the tongue thermometers -- all crap. If you have an infant or small toddler, use a rectal thermometer. Measuring this way, results are both precise and accurate (and therefore, repeatable).

14 8y ago

My guess is the down vote comes from someone thinking your comment sounds like you don't have any children or know what you are talking about. You don't give ibuprofen for pain during a fever, though doctors will say it can help because often times the source of the fever will cause pain like an ear infection or strep throat, you give it to reduce the temperature. There is a serious risk of seizure in children if you let fevers run high. So to say you don't have to give them anything is certainly not true in many cases and in fact could be life threatening to just ignore. That would be my guess to the down vote. I have multiple kids and never has the thought in my mind been I will give them analgesic for the pain of their illness. It is about the temp 100% of the time. I do not like to take drugs nor give them to my children if avoided but certain things you must treat. Fever is one.

logicchains 8y ago
According to the first article I found while Googling, https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.nytimes.com/2018/05/11/well/live/fever-infection-drugs-tylenol-acetaminophen-ibuprofen-advil-aspirin.amp.html https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.nytimes.com/2018/05/11/well... : "The best evidence suggests that there is neither harm nor benefit to treating a fever with fever-reducing medications like acetaminophen or ibuprofen." "In 1997, these data led to a large, randomized, placebo-controlled trial of ibuprofen in 455 patients with sepsis, a life-threatening infectious condition. In this study, ibuprofen failed to prevent the worsening of sepsis and failed to decrease the risk of death." The science doesn't seem to support the notion that reducing fever will reduce the risk of fatality in the general case. I had assumed the same thing also applied to children, as before this thread I'd never heard of children getting seizures from fever (at least not from any of the children/parents I knew growing up in rural Australia).
stolsvik 8y ago
Why do you not help your kids when they are in pain?! This is truly shocking to me, it is definitely a cruel and inhumane sentiment.
- logicchains 8y ago
  Painkillers are not side effect free; if the pain is something minor, like a bruised knee or normal headache, it's not unreasonable to decide that experiencing the pain is a better choice than risking the side effects of a drug, which in uncommon cases can be much more severe and long term. It's not as clear cut as "helping" vs not helping, as unfortunately we don't yet have any side effect free painkillers.

logicchains 8y ago

Replying to my own comment as it's too late to edit, I was basing my assumptions on studies showing fever reducing drugs have no positive effect on mortality in adults, like described in https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.nytimes.com/2018/05/11/well/live/fever-infection-drugs-tylenol-acetaminophen-ibuprofen-advil-aspirin.amp.html https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.nytimes.com/2018/05/11/well..., but was unaware that children face separate risks from high fever that can make such drugs more vital. So my comment is bad advice.

A1phab3t 8y ago
I appreciate that you followed up.

stolsvik 8y ago

These kind of sentiments really scare and provokes me. Telling anyone that they shouldn't alleviate kids fever and/or pain is absolutely revolting to me.

logicchains 8y ago
I didn't say that, I said it's a trade-off. Taking them reduces pain and the risk of certain complications, but increases the risk of other complications (side effects). According to https://www.consumerreports.org/prescription-drugs/too-many-meds-americas-love-affair-with-prescription-medication https://www.consumerreports.org/prescription-drugs/too-many-..., "The amount of harm stemming from inappropriate prescription medication is staggering. Almost 1.3 million people went to U.S. emergency rooms due to adverse drug effects in 2014, and about 124,000 died from those events." So even if a medicine is side effect free when used as prescribed, there are still risks if it's accidentally misused, and painkillers are not side-effect free even when used as prescribed. Thought effect: if you had the option to eliminate a kid's pain with an 0.01% chance of causing a lasting defect, would you do it? Not everybody would; different people have different time preferences.
- stolsvik 8y ago
  "...prescription medication..."
  - logicchains 8y ago
    Ah, good catch, I didn't notice that part. Here's a more relevant link, evidence for the trade-offs of OTC painkillers: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0140673608614452 https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S014067360... . Seems there's evidence of a link between use of paracetamol in early childhood and developing asthma.
    - deleted 8y ago
      [deleted]
8y ago

distant_hat 8y ago

Exactly this. It just works on the symptoms and children tolerate fevers fine as long as it is not too high (above 103F). But you have to endure a lot of crap from everyone breathing down your neck about how you are ignoring the child and are a cruel parent.