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The last time you or a loved one was running a fever, did you go straight to the doctor? Contrary to popular belief, it’s okay to let a fever run its course as it is managed safely.
There are a variety of natural remedies that you can try at home with ingredients from the grocery store before resorting to see a medical provider.
Oftentimes, the home remedies get rid of the infection and even offer some added benefits that prescription antibiotics would not.
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Water, Water, Everywhere
Cool water can be applied via washcloths to forehead, wrists, ankles, neck, and feet. Wet socks can be worn under dry ones so that ankles are cool and you can still walk around. Howcast does a great job demonstrating.
Additionally, sixty four to eighty ounces of water should be consumed per day when you have a fever so that your body stays hydrated while it fights your infection.
Any types of clear fluids are essential to getting over all sorts of illnesses. The body needs to stay hydrated in order to fight infection effectively.
Basil Me
The herb basil has antibiotic properties that can benefit a substantial fever. Tea made from basil and ginger served with honey can be a great help, as can tea made from basil and black pepper.
Pick your variety and sip away in your favorite mug to coax your temperature down.
Granny’s Favorite
Apple cider vinegar is an old-time fever remedy that is said to help “draw heat out of the skin.” Washcloths soaked in the liquid can be applied to the belly or insides of elbows, or added to a warm bath.
It also replenishes some of the nutrients your body expels when it sweats.
Vampire or Fever?
Garlic is a super-food. It promotes sweating to clear toxins out of the body, possesses preventative antibacterial properties, and more.
Wrapping your feet in gauze with olive oil and crushed garlic close to the skin can help to eliminate a fever. This is a great idea unless you’re pregnant or treating a small child; then you should avoid garlic.
Raisin’ You from the Sick Bed
Raisins can be soaked in water to create… you guessed it… raisin water. Add a little lime to the concoction, and you’ve got a drink filled with nutrients, phenolic phytonutrients, and fever reducing properties.
A little questionable in the taste category perhaps, but effective all the same.
Gingerly Awaiting a Cure
The herb ginger is a natural antiviral and antibacterial agent. It bolsters the immune system, and it’s a great preventative tool in addition to a treatment.
Drinking any sort of tea that has ginger in it benefits the body while it’s fighting a fever. Take your pick of herbal concoction and drink up.
Minty Fresh
Mint of all kinds, spearmint and peppermint in particular, have cooling and anti-inflammatory properties.
Mixing these in cool water or making hot tea out of them is a great option to treat muscle and headaches that sometimes accompany a fever. The smell can also serve as aromatherapy and may help some individuals sleep more easily.
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White… What?
Egg whites, according to another old belief, are said to draw heat down the body to the feet. Egg-white soaked socks under dry socks have a similar effect as water-soaked socks.
Both seem to stimulate the lymphatic system and signal the body that it’s fighting time for white blood cells.
Turmeric Time
Turmeric is full of a chemical curcumin, which is a powerful cleansing agent. With antiviral, anti-fungal, antibacterial and antioxidant powers, it’s a sick person’s super-food.
Drinking it mixed with black pepper in warm milk should do the trick. Are you grimacing? You can also add it as seasoning to soup.
Beach Time?
Sandalwood is capable of reducing inflammation and curing serious headaches by being mixed into a paste with water and applied topically to the forehead.
The smell isn’t half bad either; lots of incense uses sandalwood as an ingredient due to its popular aroma. If mint isn’t your thing, you might try letting sandalwood coax you to sleep.
Bone Strength
Calcium, from food, supplements, or both, helps fight fevers when it is drawn out of bones and into the blood by the body as part of an immune response.
Ingesting increased levels of calcium makes it more readily available and helps replenish bones throughout the fever fighting process.
Similarly, cartilage found in bone broth (like that of chicken noodle soup or traditional soup stock) stimulates the production of white blood cells in the body and helps to fight infection. Go, bones!
Jelly Belly
Gelatin can support immune system function and is said to stimulate phagocytosis, which is the process that cells use to “eat” intruders. The foreign viral cells are surrounded and eliminated, one by one.
Gelatin in powdered form can be added to tea or eaten in solid form, if the texture agrees with you.
Tropic Thunder
Coconut oil is a great alternative to canola oil and can be added regularly to foods during the cooking process. It possesses anti-bacterial and antiviral properties that are great preventatives against infections of all kinds.
A simple shift in dinner preparation could mean less fever instances for the entirety of fall and winter.
Spice and Everything Nice
Cayenne pepper and other foods with lots of heat help to sweat out toxins and simultaneously cool the body through perspiration. The added heat helps to signal the body to cool itself down, which is especially helpful when you’re fighting a fever.
Get Rid of Your Fever Naturally!
Truly, a home fever remedy exists for everyone. Find a few that work with the ingredients you have on hand in your kitchen, and give them a whirl. Who wouldn’t want to save a trip to the doctor’s office?
Allow your body to fight naturally, and feed it appropriate nutrients to help it along. Instead of resorting to the walk-in, visit your pantry instead.