Dealing with fever - western or chinese beliefs?

[megtan]

A quick check on beliefs in handling fever in kids. Do you bring your kids to PD/GP or chinese physician?

Do you practise what the PD/GP (western) advises - light clothing, sponging, soak in lukewarm water (when temp goes too high)

Or what chinese/old folks believe - cover up in thick blanket to sweat it out, strictly no bathing just wipe.

 

[mamapenguin]

I follow western procedures for sure. High fever is no joking matter. I'll take the advice of a qualified medical specialist over beliefs.

 

[apollo]

i will follow western one. like what mamapenguin said, fever is not a joke. i tried letting ds wear short sleeve clothes and on the AC for him when he is having fever (esp high ones) and true enough his temp drop faster and usually aft shower his temp will drop faster too.

 

[don]

For fever, it's better to seek western as you need e fever to go down asap. Chinese medicine do not have fast effect on fever. Even if u seek Chinese doc, he will ask u to seek western doc first.

 

[camom]

No soaking in warm water... do a warm shower in a closed area with no drafts.

I do the western way.

 

[Ting]

i would go by whichever is more logical? haha but usu for fever, see chinese physician no use (for kids), they will ask u to see western doctors. so usu fever will go to see her GP, wear light clothings n sponge with room temp water. as for chinese phyicians, they can cure her cough n pheglm better.

 

[Amulet]

i follow western one..

i heard before one child got fever n his parents wrap him up in blanket hoping he sweat it out... but in the end, his fever shot up and he became mentally handicapped..

 

[Edwinie]

so western method is a more effective method? or is it for young children that western method is safer?

i used the chinese method when i'm growing up. blanket and no bathing but took western medication.. even now i just had a fever recently, i hid under the blanket and sweat it out. was cured within a night. i'm not sure for kids though..

 

[apollo]

Edwinie, i think for kids, better dont take the risk. cos for adults, we know when we're not well and when to go and see doc when reach our 'limit'. for kids, or rather babies, they dunno. thus i think for fever, going for western method is safer, bring down the fever 1st. =)

 

[pinkapple]

yah. fever will definitely see angmo doc.

running nose, cough, etc, sometimes will self medicate but if fever, will sure bring to doctor though we'll give paracetamol 1st to bring the temp down.

on top of paracetamol, we also give my son ling-yang water (chinese remedy for fever) in between paracetamol feeds. think we started giving him only after one year old or so.
our PD said can give too.

cover up warm warm is a definite NO!
we shower the kids when their temp go up to keep them cool.
on aircon and let them wear light clothing.
otherwise, the temp will shoot up.

 

[Edwinie]

gd to have this thread before my son have any fever. otherwise i would have followed the method my mum did for me. she force me to cover in blanket... it was really horrible. i kept pushing it down the bed... :nah:

 

[apollo]

gd to have this thread before my son have any fever. otherwise i would have followed the method my mum did for me. she force me to cover in blanket... it was really horrible. i kept pushing it down the bed... :nah:

actu last time i heard from my fren that: if ur fever will make u shiver, den the covering blanket and sweating part will help but if u're not feeling cold but feel warm, then covering blanket will worsened the fever. I dunno hw true it is. but so far, whenever ds is having fever, his hands n feets are all v hot so letting him wear cooler and on AC work the best for him. =)

 

[bringuplittleones]

yah. fever will definitely see angmo doc.

running nose, cough, etc, sometimes will self medicate but if fever, will sure bring to doctor though we'll give paracetamol 1st to bring the temp down.

on top of paracetamol, we also give my son ling-yang water (chinese remedy for fever) in between paracetamol feeds. think we started giving him only after one year old or so.
our PD said can give too.

cover up warm warm is a definite NO!
we shower the kids when their temp go up to keep them cool.
on aircon and let them wear light clothing.
otherwise, the temp will shoot up.

I use the same combination of western and chinese medicine too, although I'd choose to relate the covering up and sweating it out similar to the wiping with lukewarm water in an area without wind. Idea is to use the sweat/lukewarm water to bring temperature off the body as it evaporates from the body. (Which is a function of sweating when we are feeling hot --> Bring down our body temp)

I suppose the key note is to use whichever is more tolerable for the baby (like some ppl dislike warm blankets ^_^) so that it'll bring the temp down

 

[megtan]

Thanks for all the replies

Just an update. My son was down with viral fever last week, which lasted for 4 days. Temp went as high as 40 degree celsius on 2 occasions and we went to KKH children emergency twice. Also called the KKH ask-a-nurse service several times. Well, being a first time mum, I was at a loss of what to do, didn't dare to let my MIL know coz she's into chinese medicine and would definitely want my son to see chinese physician. I just followed what the nurses and doctors advised - light clothing, sponging, lukewarm bath (when temp went too high). My part-time helper actually advised me to cover my son up with blanket which I just pretend not to hear.

After my son's fever subsided, then told my MIL about it. When she saw dear son's post fever rash, she insisted that dear son got ma zhen (not sure if it's measles in English) -_- But doctor already said dear son got viral fever and it's post fever rash. Then she said cannot eat a lot of things due to the ma zhen. Oh well...don't want to argue with her.

 

[bringuplittleones]

Thanks for all the replies

Just an update. My son was down with viral fever last week, which lasted for 4 days. Temp went as high as 40 degree celsius on 2 occasions and we went to Kandang Kerbau Hospital children emergency twice. Also called the Kandang Kerbau Hospital ask-a-nurse service several times. Well, being a first time mum, I was at a loss of what to do, didn't dare to let my mother in law know coz she's into chinese medicine and would definitely want my son to see chinese physician. I just followed what the nurses and doctors advised - light clothing, sponging, lukewarm bath (when temp went too high). My part-time helper actually advised me to cover my son up with blanket which I just pretend not to hear.

After my son's fever subsided, then told my mother in law about it. When she saw dear son's post fever rash, she insisted that dear son got ' zhen' (not sure if it's measles in English) -_- But doctor already said dear son got viral fever and it's post fever rash. Then she said cannot eat a lot of things due to the ' zhen'. Oh well...dont't want to argue with her.

Western term : Rosealla (something like that) or aka fake measles. Happened to my son and dgt many couple of times too.

 

[redjn]

I dun play around with fever / flu / cough issue. Still prefer to seek Western medical attention, will only go into chinese when at recovering stage.