I ask because I have one due to strep throat, and my boyfriend and I disagree.
I just like to stay as comfortable as possible and drink a lot. If I’m cold, I’ll get under blankets, but when I get sweaty and hot, I’ll fire them off and breathe.
He thinks one should stay under blankets no matter what, and sweat it out. I’ve been Googling but haven’t found much.
So what do you do?
Drink and stay comfortable. Take all of your antibiotics, all 10 days or whatever, even if you feel better. Sleep. Eat what you can but drink.
Cyn, RN
I take a hot bath.
Whatever function in my body turning up the thermostat to kill the germs in me could use a little hand.
I take Advil because having a fever freaks me out. Drink a lot of fluids and rest until the drugs kick in, and then go to the doctor if you haven’t yet. I once had a fever for 12 days due to meningitis and now have a phobia about them. Not sure if that’s bad for me, but I don’t know how you’re surfing the Internet or watching TV with a fever. I can barely function when I have one.
I’d always been told to sweat it out like in the OP, but I much prefer strategically placed ice packs, 1000mg paracetamol and my feet in a basin of iced water.
Cyn, thanks, that’s what I was hoping for, since that’s pretty much exactly what I’m doing!
Enola Straight, yeah, I do that too if I’m cold, but it would be far too uncomfortable right now… soooo warmmm, gah.
rubystreak, whoa, that’s a helluvalong time to have a fever! I dunno, I find it better to be distracted when I’m sick. Makes me forget I’m in pain and such. But there is also the fact that I’m on a laptop and I’m surfing from bed!
And Stark Raven Mad, yow! I hate having hot feet, but a basin of iced water sounds like it would be so cold as to be painful. My boyfriend held paper towels wet with vinegar on my feet to cool them off a little. It felt good until my feet began to practically boil the vinegar.
Thanks for your answers!
You should do whatever makes you feel comfortable. You don’t have to necessarily take tylenol or ibuprofen unless you feel bad. Um, unless you get hallucinations. Then you might wanna take something. 
Oh yeah, and lots of fluids, as others have said.
I had meningitis, so I was light-sensitive and had severe eye/head pain, which made reading and watching TV/computer impossible. You sound like you’re doing a lot better than that. However, if you still have a fever after 2-3 days, please go to the doctor again. Also, stay hydrated. When I was sick, I couldn’t eat or drink anything but yellow Gatorade for 10 days, and I feel like it pretty much saved my life.
Any time I’ve had a fever, I usually had too much pain in my joints to move. And I always get a major case of the chills, so I burrow under blankets and watch a movie.
Hope you feel better soon.
I take Tylenol and go on with my life. Two kids, no time to be sick.
More cowbell.
Cuddling with a loved one seems to work the best. Provided they don’t mind getting sick. Barring that, drink fluids, both water and fruit juice (cranberry or apple) and eat sufficiently but wisely (dont eat too much, and less than you normally would).
I love you.
Anythin’ you want darlin’ .
( Oh wait I thought you said a fiver )
I take aspirin and drink fluids (mainly ginger ale and/or Squirt, as they’re the only things that taste good when I’m really sick). When the fever gets really high, I wet a washcloth and sponge my (nearly-naked) self off with it; the evaporation cools you down.
Provided I’m not hallucinating or that I’m not needed to be functional, I make myself comfortable with blankets, juice, water, ginger ale and let it burn itself out. I generally don’t intervene with drugs unless I have to be highly functioning or symptoms reach dangerous levels. I’m of the opinion that the symptoms are the body’s way of fighting the virus so why side with the virus?
-DF
Hooray, it’s gone!
Thanks for your answers. Everyone in my life who has tried to counsel me on what to do with a fever has had a completely different answer.
Mom: “If you feel cold, it shows that you are hot! You should take a cold bath, rub yourself down with alcohol, <insert other things that would freeze one’s ass off here>”
Dad: “Whoever says that is an asshole! You should stay comfortable!”
And my boyfriend insists that I am stubborn when I refuse to bake myself in an oven at 350 degrees and marinate in my own sweat because it really is the best thing I can do.
I tended to agree with my dad, but I wanted a bigger sample size.
Now I am craving some ginger ale!