# You have a fever.  Do you medicate?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-have-a-fever-do-you-medicate/591326>\
**Category:** In My Humble Opinion\
**Created:** [August 3, 2011, 3:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-have-a-fever-do-you-medicate/591326 "2011-08-03T15:22:14Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 3

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**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\
**Post date:** [August 5, 2011, 3:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-have-a-fever-do-you-medicate/591326/41 "2011-08-05T03:52:17Z")

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I’ll medicate it – I don’t want to risk having a seizure. (Which is usually what happens when I have a fever)

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**Author:** ![horsetech](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/dec6dc/32.png) [@horsetech](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/horsetech)\
**Post date:** [August 5, 2011, 4:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-have-a-fever-do-you-medicate/591326/42 "2011-08-05T04:00:54Z")

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Thanks, WhyNot! This sort of communication is definitely one of my weaknesses which I’m trying to improve, and sometimes I end up using a jumble of technical and lay terms in a not-very-succinct package. I have a long way to go, so I’ll keep working on it. 🙂

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**Author:** ![eclectic\_wench](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ac91a4/32.png) [@eclectic\_wench](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eclectic_wench)\
**Post date:** [August 5, 2011, 11:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-have-a-fever-do-you-medicate/591326/43 "2011-08-05T23:06:57Z")

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WhyNot, thanks for the explanation! I’ll check with my doctor next time I’m in there, but it’s nice to have a clear idea what and why I’m asking. So far Widget hasn’t had a tendency to throw high fevers, touch wood (she once had 102.5F, I think, which we found really scary because she’d never been anywhere near that before), but it’d be good to have a plan for if she changes her mind.

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**Author:** ![Becky2844](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/91b2a8/32.png) [@Becky2844](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Becky2844)\
**Post date:** [August 6, 2011, 2:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-have-a-fever-do-you-medicate/591326/44 "2011-08-06T02:56:47Z")

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> [@Cat\_Whisperer](#):
>
> I don’t often get fevers (I usually run at the low end of the normal temperature range), and I do tend to medicate fevers because they make me feel so weird.

Exactly! I have a low normal temp, too. Once I had a temperature of only 102 & was hallucinating that rabbits were running across the mantle…  
soon as I get sick I start popping pills & other sundry things. Tylenol, cold medicines, old prescriptions for a rash or that time back in Aught Eight when I couldn’t sleep…whatever I don’t think will kill me.  
An earlier post, written by a doctor it sounds like, said (paraphrasing) Reducing the discomfort of a fever doesn’t stop it from doing it’s job.  
I knew that…lol

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