Consequences, complications and prognosis of high temperature

Body temperature 38-38.5-39-39.5 is a symptom that should not be taken lightly. The fact that such a situation is a signal to the fact that there are certain disorders in the body, an infection has penetrated and an inflammatory process has begun is also important. If nothing is done, the disease will progress, it will be more difficult to treat, and therefore the likelihood of all sorts of complications will be higher.

If the temperature of 38-38.5 lasts 3-5 days, which indicates an active fight of the body against the infection, there is nothing wrong with that, you should not rush to reduce it, but the temperature reaching critical values (39-39.5 degrees) is necessary shoot down immediately. But if the temperature indicators have not stabilized for 5 days, everything speaks about the progression of the disease and urgent measures should be taken to combat the infection, if they have not been taken before this time.

In viral diseases, the temperature usually decreases during the first 5 days, rarely stays within a week, but does not rise above 38 degrees in recent days. A longer fever indicates an inability of the body to cope with the causative agent or the ineffectiveness of the treatment. The longer this condition persists, the greater the chances of developing complications for various organs and systems that are uncomfortable to work in such inappropriate conditions. In addition, diseases of the inflammatory plan are associated with the danger of intoxication of the body with the decay products of their own tissues and the vital activity of pathogens.

We have dealt with the necessity of treating illnesses accompanied by fever and fever. But what about the temperature if it moves steadily to critical values? While the thermometer does not rise above 38-38, 5 degrees for most adults, this situation does not represent a particular danger. But a further increase in temperature leads already to destructive consequences, it’s not for nothing that we begin to feel muscle weakness and body aches.

Hyperthermia negatively affects the cells of the brain and nervous system, provoking symptoms such as headaches, dizziness, fainting, convulsive syndrome (febrile convulsions in children), respiratory disorders and heart function. After all, the central nervous system is the main controlling body for the whole organism and regulates most of the processes in it.

Increased temperature clearly affects blood clotting. The higher the temperature, the thicker the blood will be. A thick blood to pump the heart is much harder. High energy costs for the work of pumping blood weaken the body, which begins to falter. Hence, a strong and frequent heartbeat, arrhythmias, high blood pressure, which not only adversely affect human well-being, but also are potentially dangerous conditions that can lead to myocardial infarction, cerebral stroke, ischemia of the heart, heart failure.

Slowed blood flow leads to the fact that human organs and systems begin to receive less oxygen and nutrients, it is clear that they will work worse, even to a complete failure. During hyperthermia, a person may die not from infection and intoxication with its decay products, but from the failure of organs experiencing oxygen starvation and a shortage of substances necessary for their functioning.

A particular danger is the increase in blood clotting caused by hyperthermia, is for people with a tendency to thrombosis. After all, blood clots are not enough that impede the flow of blood, so they can still come off, and if they fall into the heart, cause it to stop.

Temperatures above 38 degrees are fraught with potential danger for a small child, because fibrilous convulsions in children under 6 years old are not uncommon on this background, despite the fact that they are associated with respiratory failure and require the help of medical specialists. And parents often do not even know how to react to such a strange state of a child who convulses and does not react to anything.

What is dangerous temperature during pregnancy and lactation?

In pregnancy, a temperature of 38-39.5 is generally considered unacceptable. In the third trimester of pregnancy, doctors recommend starting the fight with high fever when it reaches a height of 37.5 degrees. There are many reasons for such caution:

• An increase in temperature and an increase in blood viscosity create a greater load on the heart of a woman, despite the fact that pregnancy itself implies double loads on the body. The heart of the future mother can simply not withstand such violence.
• The high temperature has a destructive effect on the cell membranes, with prolonged fever, protein synthesis is inhibited, which is the building material of the cells of the woman herself and the fetus in her womb.
• High temperature indicators, respectively, adversely affect the state of the placenta, which can also not cope with their responsibilities. On the background of hyperthermia in a pregnant woman, preterm labor can begin.
• Temperatures above 38 degrees in the future mother adversely affect the development of the central nervous system and mental abilities of her unborn child. At the same time, other fetal organs can undergo various developmental disorders.

Danger during pregnancy is any temperature rise, because the choice of means to bring it down is limited during this period (again, so that medicines and alternative herbal remedies cannot harm the fetus or provoke a miscarriage). Therefore, the expectant mother should especially carefully monitor their health and in every possible way prevent the infection from entering her body.

An increase in temperature in a nursing mother and the possibility of breastfeeding in such a situation are issues that excite the mind of caring mothers, doctors and scientists. Previously it was believed that at a temperature above 38 degrees, regardless of the reason, breastfeeding should be stopped, and the milk itself should be decanted and boiled, after which it can be cooled to the desired temperature. Today, scientists from different countries do not support this view, arguing that the quality of milk does not suffer, and therefore the question of whether it is possible to breastfeed at high body temperature has a positive answer. Another thing is that at temperatures above 39 degrees, the taste and consistency of milk can change, and this is not always attractive to a baby. The child can refuse a breast if he does not like the milk.

Forcibly depriving a child of mother's milk is not worth it, even if the mother has an infectious disease and a temperature of 38-38.5-39-39.5. The fact is that any disease has a certain incubation period during which the pathogens are already in the woman’s body and can be transmitted to the child. But mother's milk contains components that increase the resistance of the baby's body to infections. Refusing to breastfeed, a woman deprives her crumbs of this protection even though she may have already given the child the causative agents of the disease, unwittingly, during feeding and close intercourse.

Refusal to breastfeed is fraught with lactostasis, against which mastitis can develop - a disease that often gives a temperature below 40 degrees and severe chest pains.

The mother’s fever is unlikely to affect the child’s temperature, but the woman herself needs to take this with all the responsibility and care, because she has to raise the child, and this task requires considerable strength and health.

Diagnostics of the high temperature

When we examined the issue of self-diagnosis of diseases, the body temperature at which can reach 38-38.5-39-39.5 degrees, we are faced with the fact that different diseases may have similar symptoms. And just by raising the temperature, it is impossible to judge the diagnosis at all, because fever or fever is just one of the symptoms of many diseases caused by the body's response.

The diagnosis, which makes it possible to understand what exactly caused the rise of the thermometer, should be dealt with by a general practitioner who, if necessary, will prescribe further research, counseling, and treatment. In order to make a diagnosis, he will have to examine the patient’s complaints and history, examine the mouth and throat, listen to breathing and heart sounds, take an additional temperature measurement (under the arms or in the rectum, the latter is important for young children). If mastitis is suspected, breast palpation is performed.

In the future, the patient will be assigned to blood and urine tests. If cough is present, sputum examination is indicated. And if an intestinal infection is suspected, an analysis of feces, smear taking from the anus, and sowing to determine the causative agent are mandatory.

Infectious and inflammatory diseases of the genital area require taking smears from the vagina and urethra. If acute inflammation of the joints is suspected, synovial fluid studies are performed. And inflammatory diseases of the brain require lumbar puncture (taking cerebrospinal fluid, followed by studying its composition and determining the causative agent). If the doctor suspected cancer, a biopsy is required, followed by a histological examination of the biomaterial taken.

Instrumental diagnostics is also carried out depending on the preliminary diagnosis and may include radiography of the affected organ (lungs, joints, bones, etc.), ultrasound (often prescribed for diseases of the genitourinary system and the brain), computed or magnetic resonance imaging, FEGDS, colonoscopy, etc.

Since, against the background of high temperature, several different diseases can occur with similar symptoms, laboratory and instrumental studies provide information for carrying out qualitative differential diagnosis, which helps to make the only correct diagnosis using the exclusion method.

[1], [2], [3]

Prevention

The best prevention of increasing body temperature is considered a healthy lifestyle, high physical activity, hardening and water treatments (swimming is very effective), the ability to relax and relieve tension, not abusing active sunshine, a balanced diet, rich in vitamins and minerals. All these measures help to reduce the risk of colds and infectious diseases, as well as prevent overheating of the body due to solar heat and stress.

They do not protect against an increase in temperature, because this is a normal reaction of the body in case of illness. Simply, the less a person will be sick, the less often he will suffer from hyperthermia and its consequences.

What can not be done if a person is still sick and the thermometer began to rise:

• Ignore the requirement of adherence to bed rest in the acute period of the disease.
• Let all the namotek in the hope that the body itself will cope with the infection, and the temperature will drop on its own.
• At the first sign of fever, dress warmly or start wrapping up the child, causing even more overheating.
• Practice any heat treatments (hot bath or foot baths, warming compresses and rubbing, steam inhalation).
• If the patient has a pale appearance, bluish color of the lips, cold extremities, and when pressing on the body, white spots remain, despite the fact that the thermometer shows 39 degrees or more, and the person is pounded with chills, this is a so-called white fever. In this case, shows a warm drink, rubbing the limbs, wiping with a hot towel. But even in this case, thermal procedures will be limited. Wiping the body and rubbing it with a hot towel to improve heat transfer is not prohibited (and then only until the skin turns pink), but wrapping or wrapping it with a hot sheet is strictly prohibited.
• A person with a high temperature does not need to be covered with warm blankets, especially if it is a small child who is prone to overheat quickly. After wiping and other procedures aimed at reducing body temperature, the patient can put on light clothing made of natural fabric, and the baby can simply be covered with a cotton diaper if the air temperature in the room does not fall below 18 degrees.
• The abundant drink recommended for hyperthermia involves taking or slightly higher than room temperature drinks. Hot drinks in this situation are not relevant. Warm tea or broth will have a diaphoretic and antipyretic effect, but a hot one will have a warming effect, which will be dangerous against the background of high temperature. But in any case, when hyperthermia can not be abused alcohol, which is not in vain called feverish. Alternative treatment with vodka by mouth or as a rubbing is possible only to prevent colds after freezing, but not for treatment, when the temperature has already begun to rise.
• If it is not possible to bring the heat down by any alternative methods, and the intake of antipyretic and anti-inflammatory drugs does not give a good effect (the temperature decreases slightly and rises again), you cannot count only on your strength. And even more so if a child is ill who has a tendency to the appearance of febrile seizures. In this situation, it is necessary to call the ambulance.

It is recommended to use medical help even if the child has severe pallor, he wheezes and suffocates (there are breathing problems), a strange barking cough has appeared, the baby is unusually sluggish and reacts weakly to the people around him.

The temperature of 38-38.5-39-39.5 is not for nothing called pyrogenic fever or severe hyperthermia, because we are talking not so much about a defensive reaction as about dangerous malfunctions in the operation of the thermal control center. Already at 38 degrees, the activity of most bacteria and viruses is reduced, so a further increase in temperature is no longer necessary. If the temperature continues to rise to values that are dangerous for the organism itself, the pathological process of self-destruction is launched. In this case, everything must be done to stop it and prevent complications that are no less dangerous than those that can cause pathogenic microorganisms and the intake of synthetic drugs. And here the alternative wisdom “our health is in our hands” acquires a special meaning and relevance.

[4], [5], [6], [7], [8], [9], [10], [11],

Forecast

A high temperature of 38-38.5-39-39.5 degrees does not occur by itself and is usually an indicator of serious health problems. But this is just one of the symptoms of the disease, overheating, and the negative effects of stress, which cause malfunction of the central nervous system, hypothalamus and other organs. For just this symptom, even a diagnosis cannot be made, not to predict the development of the pathological process.

But on the other hand, the lack of temperature (or rather, its normal values during the illness) may indicate a weakness of the immune system, which cannot provide protection against the infection that has entered the body. Indeed, an increase in temperature indices is a normal protective reaction, which does not allow bacteria and viruses to actively proliferate. So in the presence of moderate and even high fever, the prognosis of the disease can be considered more favorable than in its absence. In this case, the medicine will only help the body fight, and not do all the work for it, which requires more time and is fraught with complications.

The danger is only the temperature above 38 for a child, and above 39-39.5 for an adult, as evidenced by a marked deterioration in well-being. Trying to survive this temperature, without taking any therapeutic action, it is impossible, especially on his feet. Increasing blood viscosity increases the load on the cardiovascular system, so high temperatures can cause heart disease, and intoxication of the body will negatively affect the kidneys. So is it worth to neglect the treatment, if there are many opportunities to bring the temperature down without the use of synthetic drugs?

[12], [13], [14],