BUMMER: BURMA AND CHINA?

     The news is depressing these days.   My thoughts go out to the people of China and Burma.   If any good comes of the natural disasters there, maybe it will be that the Chinese government, unlike the cruel dictatorship of Burma (Myanmar), is really throwing every resource it can at helping victims of the quake, and it's assisting, not blocking, foreign aid organizations.   Maybe someone in Myanmar will take note.    It's about time the Chinese government did something nice.

READER QUESTION: DO FEVERS "BREAK?"

     The most important fact I can teach you about fevers is this: You don't have a fever if you have not measured it on a thermometer.   Many patients say things like:  "well, my temperature usually runs 95.6 so for me a temperature of 98.0 is a fever."  Guess what: it's not.  The Good Lord, or Darwin, has determined that a normal human temperature is 98.6.   HE has also decided that you can get up to about 99.1 when you're excited.   If you are over 99.2, on a THERMOMETER, you might be running a fever (there is some disagreements as to the magic "cutoff" number).   But overall, the numbers tell the story, not your theory about what your particular temperature is supposed to be.   Your body temperature is not like your hair- you don't get to tell the rest of the world what you think it's supposed to look like, any more than you get to tell the world what the Pythagorean Theorem means in your particular geometry.   So check your temperature on a proper thermometer and stop lying that you have a fever.

   Once you've done this, if you do have a fever, be reassured: REAL FEVERS DO "BREAK."  If they are caused by a virus, such as the flu, or a bacterial infection that resolves WITHOUT antibiotics, such as a sinus infection or gastroenteritis, a high fever can actually herald your imminent recovery.   That's because a fever is literally your body's attempt to cook the infection out of you- and it's an attempt that is effective more often than not.  Your body is a remarkable system, which is why it knows that a true fever can be measured only by a thermometer, not by your opinion of how hot you are. 

     I hope that was helpful.   I realize that my anger and bitterness today is overshadowing my ability to be a nice, helpful source of information.    But I've tried to stay close to the truth, even though it hurts.