Hello everyone,

The other day, a patient came in with a sick kid. Common occurrence.

She asked me, “What do you do for a fever?”

And I asked her, “What’s the purpose of a fever?”

She said, “to burn up the infection”, or something along those lines.

And yes, that’s one part of why your body raises a fever. Fevers decrease viral replication greatly, inhibit the reproduction of bacteria—but also have another effect that most people don’t know about.

Calcium initiates the immune system response. Your body raises a fever because a fever releases calcium from the bones to start the immune system’s process. That’s why Congaplex, the number one supplement for colds and flus, is over 1/3 calcium. Bio- available calcium is needed for the immune system to do its job!

Q: What Form of Calcium is the Best for the Immune System?

A: All forms of calcium are not the same! Calcium lactate is most like the calcium that floats through your bloodstream, and so it’s most easily absorbed. Almost all the over-the-counter supplemental forms of calcium are very poorly absorbed—in fact, they can do more harm than good.

Calcium oxide and calcium carbonate… these are actually just forms of rock. They’re almost completely unabsorbable. So that’s why they don’t work.

Q: In that case, what do you do if you have a cold or flu, especially with a fever?

A: Well, depending on your size, 1 to 3 Congaplex per hour usually does the job. After the cold or flu is gone, completely, stay on 6 to 12 per day for at least one week to rebuild your immune system.

Q: Why do I have to take Congaplex all the time?

A: It’s because a lot of people have chronic infections that they’re dealing with. Situations like chronic Lyme, chronic yeast, chronic viruses, parasites—they all do well with Congaplex in addition to other supplements, due to the immune-boosting effects.

Q: But what if the fever is really, really bad, and I want to bring it down quickly?

A: You can take six calcium lactate per hour, which usually works. If a child can’t swallow pills, you can crush it up and put it in applesauce or something. Theoretically, you can take as much calcium lactate as will do the job. The only side effect from taking too much calcium lactate is diarrhea. This is called reaching “bowel tolerance”. But here’s a thing, there’s good and bad about bowel tolerance. The bad thing is, well, you have diarrhea. The good thing is, your fever will break incredibly quickly, and you’ll feel better more speedily.

As I often do, let me tell you a story. Years ago, when I was dealing with some really nasty immune system issues, I kept on getting sick, and my fever was spiking very high, and a number of times I ended up in urgent care. I didn’t realize that calcium lactate could’ve fixed it quickly (I should have realized this—oh, well). So, Laura reminded me to take a whole lot of calcium. How much did I take? Well, I took six every 15 minutes. What started as a fever of 102.5 came back down to 98.6 within about two hours. And I took 20 or 30 calcium, I can’t remember. I never did reach bowel tolerance. My body just needed all that calcium to kick that virus’s butt!

Q: Can I just give acetaminophen for a fever? Wouldn’t that be easier?
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This is another great advantage of handling colds, flus, and fevers with Congaplex and Calcium Lactate. Right now, what’s the general medical advice for a fever? Just give acetaminophen, otherwise known as Tylenol! Well, unless we live under a rock, we’ve probably all heard about how Tylenol is the number two cause of liver failure in the country, how the recommended dosage has been cut in half in the past couple of years, and according to this article in the National Library of Medicine, Tylenol kills 500 people in the US per year. (Acetaminophen Toxicity - StatPearls - NCBI Bookshelf). Also, it’s been theorized that the aches and pains and chills associated with colds and flu are actually from calcium being released from the bones, so calcium lactate is your natural pain reliever!

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Q: Why do we need to take so much extra calcium when we get a fever? Shouldn’t we be getting it from somewhere?

Here’s another thing that you might not know about calcium lactate. We used to actually get calcium bicarbonate, not calcium carbonate, from our drinking water, but most of it is filtered out now. We do all filter our water, right? Most of us do. And so a lot of us are actually deficient in the form of calcium that floats through our bloodstream. (By the way, this is not the same type of calcium that’s in dairy products like milk or yogurt.) Anyway, so a lot of us are a little deficient in the calcium that we would normally get from water. Calcium deficiencies tend to cause irritability and restlessness, resulting in insomnia. How did I find this out? Well, I’ve had varying degrees of insomnia over the past 30 years, especially since my initial severe food poisoning in Mexico 30 years ago. If I don’t take calcium lactate, I have a terrible time sleeping! Years ago, Laura did the calcium muscle test on me and found that I needed nine before bed! It’s been a lifesaver for me!

Q: What is the calcium muscle test?

A: It’s also called “The Calcium Challenge.” By the way, you have probably experienced this test in our office if you’re a patient. I just have you stand up, put your arms out, and if you go weak, 90% of the time you need calcium lactate.

Did you learn anything new about calcium—its importance for immune function, the best form of calcium, how much to take if you have a fever, and how we test if you need calcium? I hope you did!

Sincerely yours,

Dr. Keith Sheehan