Feverlicious

Assalamulaikum w.b.t.

For those of you who have had Patho Physiology class, you are bound to have learned about FEVER.It is actually one of the topics learned during the second semester, just before the exam. Regardless of the fact whether you know the scientific reason behind this natural bodily response or not, every single one of us had experience this physical phenomenon at one point of our life or another.

I won’t bore you with the all the scientific jargons to explain the mechanism of how fever develops in our body, we all have textbooks for that. The main idea is when you have an infection of any kind, be it bacterial, viral or fungal, your body will respond by releasing a bunch of different chemicals that causes your body temperature to rise. The main idea is that once our body temperature rises well above normal, all these bacteria, and viruses are literally burned alive. They can’t survive at a temperature higher than the normal body temperature.

So, basically fever is actually a defense reaction of our body .Despite all the discomfort and pain that comes along with it,it’s actually a small price to pay since fever helps us to get rid of different infections. You can say that fever is actually a blessing in disguise. Just because it’s uncomfortable, don’t simply dismiss it as being a bother. Infact ,the Prophet s.a.w had once said

“Do not curse a fever because it abolishes sins like fire abolishes dirt from iron.” [Ibn Maajah]

Actually, this hadeeth explains fairly well about how fever helps our body to get rid of infections. Scientifically speaking, after the thermoregulatory center in the hypothalamus are affected by different pyrogens, our body temperature rises as the normal value of the body temperature is reset. At the same time, different cytokines are released and these in turns activate different leucocytes in our body, to help us combat infections of any nature.  It’s just way too hard too hard to explain a scientific process using layman terms.

We all know how uncomfortable a fever can be. We are all familiar with the chills, sweating, headache… the list goes on and on. Doctors will prescribe feverish patients with antipyretics (drugs that can decrease fever). Some well-known antipyretics include Paracetamol, Aspirin and several other NSAIDs. Most are effective to lower our body temperature and helps to get rid of the terrible headache and muscular pains that comes along with the fever. But, there are always the problem of side effects and ineffectiveness. Take Aspirin for example, people with tendency for GIT bleeding can’t take them, also it is contraindicated in children. Sometimes, for some unexplainable reason, antipyretic fails to bring a fever down. So, what do we do in this case?

Let’s see what the Prophet s.a.w has to say about lowering the body temperature in fever..

“Fever is coal from hell, get rid of it by using cold water.” [Ibn Maajah]

I’m sure most of us are familiar with Cool-Fever. If you haven’t had any personal experience of having it placed on your forehead, I’m sure you’ve come across the TV commercial at one time or another. To tell you the truth, I don’t know how cool fever works actually, my guess is, there should be some chemical substances inside that react with one another and absorbing heat at the same time. The basic thing is, it’s the cold sensation that helps to bring the temperature down.

Also, if you’re a big fan of medical tv series like House MD or Greys Anatomy, you’re bound to have watched an episode where they put patients inside a tub filled with ice cubes trying to bring their fever down. Long story short, what I’m trying to say is that all the things that the Prophet said about fever is totally true. Yes, we are currently living in a modern world, where people believe that everything can be explained and solved scientifically. Yes, that is partially true. But, always remember that there’s always a limit to science, just like any other man-made ideas. When science fails to explain something, it doesn’t hurt to actually hear what our religion has to say about it.

Islam is a way of life. It is Syumul-meaning it covers the whole aspect of our life. Whenever in doubt, just refer to the Quran and Hadeeth. There’s bound to be an explanation there.

wallahualam

Nur Aisyah binti Kamalzaman
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