Fevers always work out great for me. I'll be all shivery and crash under a pile of blankets. Wake up a few hours later, soaking wet, I mean really, truly gross, and it's over, all better.
this post was submitted on 09 Jan 2026
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This is what I do (and have for almost 20 years). Once I notice what feels like a fever, ASAP I layer up and sleep for as long as my schedule allows. Seems to really work well.
The few things that stick around after that, though, those are guaranteed to fuck me up for a few days.
This is how I found out I got a bad strain of COVID after getting vaxed. Sleep through a rough fever, next day all good, except muscle pain; it lasted for 2 weeks.
Years later I get antibodies checked I developed antibodies for a strain that didn't exist when I was vaxed, that episode happened 1y later. Yup, fevers are the best.
Wife and I got COVID last fall, despite being vaxxed. But god knows how bad it could have been without. I have mild emphysema, that shit can kill me.
And no, neither one of us kept up with the vax schedule. That's on us.
Damn, rough.
Speedrunner
You feel like shit so you don't go around and infect others, but instead stay home.
The brain is not responsible for fevers, the immune system is.
Is the autonomic nervous system merely part of the brain?
...kinda?
We demonstrate that pro-inflammatory and anti-inflammatory cytokines communicate with distinct populations of vagal neurons to inform the brain of an emerging inflammatory response.
Where do you think those cytokines that are influencing the nervous system come from? White blood cells. That’s where it all starts, not the nervous system. You’re putting the cart before the horse.
Chemogenetic activation of the cNST neurons during an immune response suppresses inflammation.
The study you linked demonstrates the brain suppresses inflammation/fever, not promotes it.
Here we showed that cytokines themselves mediate the activation of the vagal–brain axis and characterized the key neuronal elements and the logic of the circuit. Most unexpectedly, this body–brain circuit modulates not only pro-inflammatory but also the anti-inflammatory response.
It does both.
You’re not comprehending what you’re reading. In that sentence, when it says it modulates the pro-inflammatory and anti-inflammatory response, it’s saying it affects both, It’s not saying that the nervous system itself is pro-inflammatory.
Together, these results uncovered two lines of signalling from the vagal ganglia to the brain. One line (TRPA1) carries anti-inflammatory signals and acts on cNST neurons to enhance the anti-inflammatory response (for example, by positive feedback onto immune cells releasing anti-inflammatory cytokines) and helps to suppress the pro-inflammatory state. The other (CALCA neurons) responds to pro-inflammatory signals and helps to tune down the pro-inflammatory response (for example, by negative feedback onto immune cells releasing pro-inflammatory cytokines).
To “tune down a pro-inflammatory response” and “enhance an anti-inflammatory response” are both anti-inflammatory effects achieved through modulating both anti- and pro- inflammatory responses. Enhance one, diminish another.
This is what I love about this community. Come for the memes, stay to learn something new.
I'm double-dipping for dopamine.
Idk why it took me so lomy to realize why the puppy wanted me to leave. Kept registering as the dog threatening me as I left
Is more cowbell required?
It's literally the only prescription.
But have you tried more cowbell?