How to deal with fever after drinking

Usually at gatherings or dinners, everyone will choose to drink alcohol to liven up the atmosphere, but some people will experience a situation where they get a fever after drinking, and their face becomes particularly red and their skin becomes particularly hot. At this time, you cannot take medicine because the medicine will react with alcohol, so you should wipe the body with an ice pack or a towel. If conditions permit, you can also wipe it with alcohol, but you must use appropriate gauze and the right strength. The following is a detailed introduction.

Step 1: Place an ice pack or cold towel on your forehead

Before starting the alcohol bath, the patient should place an ice bag or a cold towel on the forehead to help cool down. It can also prevent headaches caused by contraction of epidermal blood vessels and congestion of the head during the bath. In addition, it is recommended to place hot water bottles on the soles of the feet to make the patient comfortable and to cool down patients with high fever.

Step 2: Alcohol Wipe

Then take 25-50% alcohol or commercially available liquor and mix it with half water. Use 2 pieces of gauze or clean white cloth as big as your palm, dip them in alcohol, and scrub the areas according to the order of the parts, wiping each area for about 3 minutes. After wiping each area, wipe it dry with a dry towel. The patient can also be given some hot soup or hot tea. The whole body bath time should not exceed 20 minutes.

Wiping area and order: Wipe the vascular-rich area from top to bottom. Neck → left upper arm → left leg and foot → right upper arm → right leg and foot → back. You can focus on rubbing baths on large blood vessels such as the armpits, elbows, groin and behind the knees to improve the heat dissipation effect. However, the chest, abdomen and other areas are sensitive to cold stimulation and should not be wiped.

Step 3: Take your temperature

After wiping the body with alcohol, the evaporation of alcohol will take away a lot of heat, causing the temperature of the skin and near-skin layer to drop, and then the body temperature will drop. So if you take your temperature right away, it will be lower than the actual temperature. It is recommended to measure body temperature again after half an hour.

Precautions for using alcohol to wipe fever

1. Alcohol concentration

The ethanol concentration of medical alcohol is 75%. When you use it to wipe the body to cool down a high fever, it needs to be diluted to 25%-50%, which is roughly equal to one part of medical alcohol plus the same amount of water. Too high an alcohol concentration will not only irritate the skin, but also absorb a large amount of moisture from the epidermis.

2. Water temperature

When adding water, the water temperature should be slightly higher than body temperature. The principle is to test the water with the inside of your wrist and make sure it is not hot. Generally choose 32-34℃. The alcohol mixed in this way has a temperature close to body temperature, and will not cause discomfort due to being too cold, and it also avoids the alcohol evaporating too quickly due to the water temperature being too high.

3. Use gauze

When wiping, it is best to use a small piece of cotton gauze or handkerchief, which has good water absorption and moderate friction. Dip it in alcohol, wring it until half dry, and then wipe the body. If you don't have gauze, you can also use a small towel. To avoid waste, it is best not to soak it. Just wet one corner of the towel.

4. Wipe the area

When using alcohol to cool down physically, it is advisable to wipe the areas with rich blood vessels from top to bottom. Instead, avoid the chest area, abdomen, back of the neck, etc. These areas are more sensitive to cold stimulation, which may cause adverse reactions such as reflex slowing of heart rate and diarrhea.

5. Wiping strength

It is best to rub the skin until it turns red. Be gentle when scrubbing and do not break the skin. Apply even force, wipe with one hand and gently massage with the other hand to promote blood vessel dilation. Rub it to the armpits, elbows, groins, thighs and other areas with rich blood vessels. You may want to stay there a little longer to improve the heat dissipation effect.

6. People who should and should not be treated

Wiping with alcohol is only suitable for patients with high fever without chills or sweating. When sweating is unimpeded, it indicates that the body temperature has begun to drop and this method is not suitable.

Babies under three months old should not be wiped with alcohol. It is not recommended to use alcohol to cool down babies under 2 years old. Because the skin of young babies is particularly fragile, alcohol wipes can easily irritate the skin and may also be absorbed into the skin and cause alcohol poisoning. It is recommended that children take a warm water bath.

In addition, the elderly, infirm, and patients with rheumatism should not use alcohol to reduce fever.