18/12/2025
There seems to be a theme right now, flu, coughs, colds and FEAR. I find life easier when I am empowered, but when I feel disempowered or listen to fearful media.
Here is some information on fevers and Paracetamol...and NOTE: this is not an anti-paracetamol post... 🤓
Your baby/child is hot, upset and grizzly and not eating. You go into that ‘do something’ mode. You reach for Paracetamol (aka Calpol, Tylenol)
Paracetamol is often described as a medications that ‘treats’ a fever.
A fever is the body’s healing response. 💥
Heat (fever) helps slow down viruses and helps immune cells work faster. 🔥
It’s an INTENTIONAL HEALING response.
Paracetamol doesn’t remove the virus. It suppresses the fever via. the brain, lowering your child’s temperature set-point.
So the temperature comes down.
The immune system is doing it’s best to deal with the virus...in the meantime, the Paracetamol must be detoxified by the liver.
This is normal biology, as the body can’t have a ‘toxin’ hanging around, whatever the medication.
One of the liver’s key ingredients for detoxifying Paracetamol is glutathione.
Glutathione is one of the body’s most important antioxidants.
It helps protect cells from oxidative stress and supports immune balance.
When glutathione is being used up, there are ‘trade-offs’. A young child’s glutathione levels are on the lower side already, as the body is still developing, including the detox system.
There is temporarily less glutathione available for other jobs, such as managing inflammation and supporting recovery, whilst ‘mopping’ up the Paracetamol.
Meanwhile, if the immune process has not managed to deal with the virus sufficiently, the body may raise a fever again, or the fever just lingers, or comes and goes....
..because the body is still doing its work, it is dealing with the ‘threat’ aka the virus.
Understanding what the body is doing is empowering. It provides a sense of ease.
Why not allow your child’s fever to run its course, providing your child with plenty of cuddles, skin-to-skin contact, fluids, sleep/rest, soothing stories, soothing tone?
And see how she/he goes.
If you use Paracetamol, so be it, no judgment. Making informed choices does not mean it has to be black and white; it is about understanding your choices.
Tomorrow in part 2...
Have you considered other options...to support your child’s fever in response to a pathogen?
