Fever does not only come with injuries or infections. It can recur in chronic illness too, and when it does it is often part of the body’s attempt to repair itself — which does not make it less miserable. This article is about recurring fever in chronic illness, and what can be done while it is happening.
Before the rest
Persistent or unexplained fever should be medically assessed — it can signal infection, autoimmune disease or other conditions that need a diagnosis. Seek care promptly for high fever, fever with confusion, stiff neck, breathing difficulty or rash. The measures below are for easing discomfort in a condition that has already been evaluated, not for self-diagnosis.
In Summary
- Fever in chronic illness is often part of the body’s self-cleaning — an inflammatory response to clear products of stress and cell damage. Autoimmune disease is that response overreacting.
- Cold washing and cold compresses can stop heat escalating. For Pulmotonia, Colonotonia, Renotonia and Vesicotonia it does more — cold gathers qi inward and actually settles the fever.
- For Hepatonia, Cholecystonia, Pancreotonia and Gastrotonia cold may feel good briefly but can worsen things — follow it by warming, or avoid it.
- Sweating (sauna, warm bath) disperses qi outward, and fundamentally helps the Wood and Earth types bring heat down.
- For everyone: less sugar, more fresh food. In KTM terms, excess sugar heats the blood.
- For everyone: more sleep. Night is when the body clears waste and repairs tissue.
Why Chronic Illness Produces Heat
Causes vary, but fever is frequently part of the body’s own clean-up. Inflammation and fever appear as a response to clearing the products of stress and cell damage. Autoimmune diseases are cases where that clean-up overreacts — and even then there is an underlying cause.
Removing the cause is best. But once heat is present it is uncomfortable, so these are the things that can be done in the meantime.
1. Cold Washing and Cold Compresses
When fever is strong, the heat itself is distressing, provokes pain, and can amplify to the point of damaging tissue. Washing with cold water or applying cold compresses is reasonable in that case.
Fever from chronic illness is generated internally, so cold water will not simply remove it. But it can stop the upward trend.
And here the constitutions divide. For Pulmotonia, Colonotonia, Renotonia and Vesicotonia, cold washing goes beyond cooling — it settles the fever itself, because cold water gathers qi inward, which is what these constitutions need.
For Hepatonia, Cholecystonia, Pancreotonia and Gastrotonia, cold water may feel good for a moment but can make things worse. Warm up afterwards, or hold back from it.
2. Sweating
Sweating disperses qi outward. For Hepatonia, Cholecystonia, Pancreotonia and Gastrotonia, that helps fundamentally in bringing heat down, because their qi tends to gather inside.
- Water and Gold types — qi tends to leak outward: cold bathing suits.
- Wood and Earth types — qi tends to gather inward: sauna and warm bathing suit.
Bloodletting has a similar effect to sweating in KTM, but it is a clinical procedure and not something to do at home. And anyone with fever should be cautious with saunas: heat and dehydration add strain, so keep it moderate and drink enough.
3. Less Sugar, More Fresh Food
This applies regardless of constitution.
High blood sugar, read in KTM terms, is sugar heating the blood — blood heat. Sugar is energy, so heavy sugar intake can be read as feeding inflammation and heat.
Prof. Baek is Vesicotonia, with a cold and sluggish digestive tract, and still finds heat rising in himself — usually when he has cut back on fresh food and eaten a lot of sugar. Even eating mainly what suits your constitution, a diet of only sugar and cooked food is not good.
4. More Sleep
The single best way to resolve heat is enough sleep. We think of night as rest, but during deep sleep the body is busy clearing the waste of the day and repairing damaged tissue. Separate day and night clearly, and give the night its full length.
If It Does Not Resolve
Prof. Baek notes that he has struggled with heat himself and tried many things. Start with what you can do; if heat, and its counterpart of feeling the cold, do not resolve, see a KTM physician — regulating the balance of heat and cold is one of the things Korean herbal medicine does best. And for anything unexplained, see a doctor first.
Summary
Chronic heat is often the body cleaning up after itself. While it is happening: cool if your qi leaks outward, sweat if it gathers inward, cut the sugar, and sleep.
Related: What Fever Is For · Wet Cupping and Constitution
