While fever is a powerful healing agent provided by nature, sometimes it acts too strongly for the body to support; on other occasions it labors to fully manifest. It is therefore very important to understand the methods available for moderating fever when necessary as well as those, in the opposing cases, that are capable of stimulating its efforts.

Simple, natural methods exist, which are within everyone’s reach. They include measures involving diet, hygiene, hydrotherapy, and techniques for emptying the intestines. The use of medicinal plants with sudorific (sweat-inducing) or febrifuge (fever-reducing) properties as well as those that strengthen the body’s defenses can also be added to the mix. All of these different methods can complement each other. Each is important in its own right, of course, and, depending on the patient’s specific needs, one will generally be used predominantly.

The illnesses responsible for triggering the healing force of fever can run the full gamut from minor disorders to serious diseases. The recommendations I offer in the following chapters are simply to show what methods are available for controlling fever. While these methods are perfectly applicable for self-use in simple cases, in other, more critical cases, they should not be undertaken by the novice but left to a seasoned health professional.