Is a doctor necessary?

Being over protective of their children can cause some parents to take their children to a doctor at the slightest sign of a cold or fever.

Cold is caused by a virus and there is no medicine which can cure a cold. What is usually given by the doctor is vitamin C and something to suppress the symptoms. If the cold is bad; too much sneezing and mucous emitting from the nose; the discomfort is too great; then see a doctor so that the child can be more comfortable. The cold goes away once the virus has completed its cycle in about a week. What a cold patient needs is warmth and a good rest.

When it comes to fever, it is a symptom indicating that the body is battling some foreign bodies, possibly bacteria. If it is mild, it is a sign that only a small battle is going on and the immune system can complete its job without much help. Not only that, by doing so, we give our immune system a chance to improve itself and be able to tackle the same problem better. When the battle is over, the fever subsides.

However, sometimes due to a weakened immune system, the fight is lost and a war has to be declared. The heat of the war is felt and the body temperature rises. When this happens, there is a need for outside reinforcement. Run to a doctor for help to cool the body as well as help fight the enemy bacteria with antibiotics.

As for our children, we should pay more attention to fever if it is obvious from the heat on the forehead and the body. If the temperature gets too high, it can affect the child’s brain.

Whenever, my children had fever, I would cool their foreheads and armpits very often with a wet cloth throughout the day and night. At such times I do not sleep.

I take fever so seriously because I have seen a number of children who suffered from epilepsy brought on by high fever. Such epilepsy cases have to take medicine constantly and epileptic attacks are so unpredictable, happening at the most inconvenient and embarrassing times and places. And since there is no known cure, it has to be endured for life, thus creating obstacles in the poor children’s lives. Prevention in such cases is certainly important.

Of course, where the sickness is something unknown to us, the doctor is the trained person to consult.