What should I do if my fever is caused by internal heat?

The most common cause of fever is a cold. However, if the fever is not very serious, there is no need to take medicine. Appropriate physical cooling methods can be very effective. Of course, sometimes fever is not only related to a cold, but may also be related to other physical problems. So the question is, from the perspective of traditional Chinese medicine, what should we do if we have a fever caused by internal heat?

If the baby has repeated colds and fevers for a long time, it means he is getting internal heat, which is what Chinese medicine calls yin deficiency and internal heat. Children have a pure yang body. Their bodies grow day by day and night, and they are full of vitality. Their constitutions tend to be hot. Being too warm or too full will make the child feel uncomfortable. When the child has sleepless nights, dark circles under the eyes, sweating, irritability, dry stools, etc., this is what we often say that the child has internal heat. If the internal heat is large and severe, it is called fire. Heat in the body can easily attract external pathogens, which is called internal heat and external infection.

If the cold is caused by yin deficiency and internal heat, the child will have symptoms of fever when he or she is born. There is eye mucus, hot and sticky saliva, and red eyes. Dry stool and thirst. Hot palms and soles. Irritable and restless. If your child catches colds and coughs repeatedly, you should consider whether it is due to getting “internal heat”, which is caused by yin deficiency and internal heat. Some children are particularly prone to sweating and have dry stools. The tongue coating may also change. The tip of the tongue is red. Some children may develop geographic tongue due to irritability.

Drink more water. People with colds should drink more water because fever causes your body to lose a lot of water. You can drink warm water or fruit and vegetable juice, both of which are good liquid supplements. Fruit and vegetable juice can also provide you with essential vitamins and minerals, especially vitamin C.

The diet should be light, please refer to Chapter 1 of Volume 1 for dietary therapy for fever. Take vitamin C. Vitamin C is a scavenger in the body that can remove various toxins including viruses. It can also shorten the duration of colds.

The easiest way to supplement vitamin C is to drink juice. Orange juice, grapefruit juice and cranberry juice are all sources of vitamin C.