⭑ A fever is how your body survives viruses ✔ Let it run
⭑ Headache driving you nuts? ✔ Medical research recommends one drug
⭑ Your viral headache can be safely reduced ✔ This works

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Hello,

I trust you are well and active.

A short newsletter this week as I have been hobbled by a virus and it's hanging over.

It hit amazingly quickly, 6 am Monday at the coffee shop I actually thought to myself that I felt especially bouncy today. 7am home for exercise. 10:30 am wrapped in three jumpers and shaking uncontrollably. Try to cancel an 11 am meeting but my fingers couldn’t hit the right keys on the keyboard!

Reflecting on the various snippets of helpful advice I received from friends and colleagues I learnt a few things. I'm not au fait with regular headaches and the like so these are the things that surprised me, or I found intriguing.

When we're older viruses can hit harder, my newly-discovered tips might help you recover faster.

• High Temperature - it’s a good thing but not too much of it - see item #1.
• Panadol, Advil, Codvil - do I take maximum doses ASAP and why - item #2.
• Headaches - fever gone but headaches last. Why and what to do - item #3.

Caveat: this is not medical advice consult your doctor.

//

01 The Temperature Run Its Course

The most common advice I received was to start taking XYZ (usually paracetamol) at the maximum allowed dose/frequency e.g. "Adults can take two 500mg tablets, 4 times in 24 hours. You must wait at least 4 hours between doses. The maximum is eight 500mg tablets in 24 hours."

If you want to give your body the best chance of killing the virus and shortening the symptoms don’t take drugs which lower your body temperature - unless it is outside the usual range of 38 to 40 degrees C.
​
⇒ Fever is a involuntary response to infection that has been conserved in warm and cold-blooded vertebrates for over 600 million years of evolution.

Surprisingly there is little systematic research evidence in older adults to support the outcomes of letting the fever run or of mitigating it with drugs. The research mostly focuses on children.

I believe that our body knows best - shivering is the most rapid way to generate a lot of heat due to the heat waste from our contracting muscles. Constricted blood vessels also conserve heat which is why we look pale. Combined, this accelerates the demise of the attacking pathogens and should shorten the infection cycle.

It's only gaslighting by big pharma that has caused us to doubt our body.

See also: Let Fever Do Its Job, from NIH​

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02 Reduce Virus Headaches - Panadol, Advil, which is best?

Research shows that paracetamol is prefered by about 50% of people for virus headaches, compared to about 28% for ibuprofen. This is a pure demonstration of marketing muscle not medical facts (Paracetamol is acetaminophen, like Tylenol, while ibuprofen includes Advil and Motrin).
​
Our body's heat response to viral attack has the side-effect of inflammation.
​
The medical research is clear - systematic research consistently shows ibuprofen is more effective than paracetamol for headaches associated with inflammation in viral infections like influenza.

⇒ This is because paracetamol-based drugs do not target inflammation.

This means if you can put up with the headaches during the acute stage of a fever then let it run, as it gives you the best chance of reducing the duration of the illness. On the other hand, if you need to reduce the headache ibuprofen-based drugs are the most effective. ​​​​

@Medium - Follow me on Medium ↗, covering ⭑food, ⭑brain, ⭑body, ⭑life

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03 Coping With Ongoing Headaches

Ongoing headaches and muscle aches and what feels like bone aches are the aftermath of virus infections. My headaches and body aches have been oscillating up and down for the last 5 days since the fever broke.

Let's list the facts:

• Viral-induced inflammation causes headaches
• Viral-induced inflammation cause muscle and joint pains
• Fever, in response to viral attack, leads to dehydration
• Dehydration exacerbates headaches and myalgia.

Therefore, to best cope with ongoing headaches and body aches, as self-care:

1. Drink more water, regularly
2. Rest more,
3. Try ibuprofen to reduce the pain.

⇒ We have no cures for influenza. Consult your doctor.

​//​​​​​​​​​​​​

Thanks for reading!

>> My Latest Blog Post: Energise Your Golden Years: Boosting Your Desire to Exercise with Gut-Healthy Foods​

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