Why Not to Fake a Fever with Toothpaste

If you don't know the original purpose for using toothpaste, then we suggest you get acquainted with it. It is designed to help you clean your teeth by removing plaque, helping to dislodge food and to boost the strength of your teeth. Toothpaste does the later by adding certain ingredients to keep them strong and healthy. Some have baking soda added to help remove plaque, others use tooth whitening ingredients for cosmetic purposes. Over 95% of toothpaste contains added fluoride^[1].

Fluoride salts are added to toothpaste to help strengthen teeth, but they are done so in small doses. This is because ingesting fluoride in a large enough dose can be toxic. This is why some blogs and articles might suggest eating a tube of toothpaste to fake a fever. The theory is that eating the toothpaste will give you the symptoms of a fever and allow you to get off school, work or whatever purpose you have for faking.

The problem with eating toothpaste to fake a fever is that it won't fake it. It can (and will likely) make you vomit, cause digestion issues and give you an upset stomach. You may even increase your body temperature, induce vomiting and cause a fever. Therefore, it is no longer fake. You will actually be sick and may need to take time off work.

There are health warnings on the side of toothpaste tubes to make sure you use them properly. This is particularly the case with children as the fluoride can induce gastrointestinal issues. Many children per year are taken to the doctor from issues related to ingesting toothpaste. The main reason is likely to be due to 'kid-friendly' flavored toothpaste which tastes nice to children, making them want to eat it.

There is an insufficient amount of fluoride in a tube of toothpaste to kill you, but there will be enough to make you ill. For this reason, we do not recommend ingesting toothpaste at all for any reason.

If you do want to fake the symptoms of a fever or an illness, you can use some other methods. This will make your sickness look genuine and authentic. During the process, make sure that you don’t look too sick that someone in your house or office may decide you to rush you to the hospital. You do not want to waste valuable medical resources which cost money and, more importantly, hinder access for those who genuinely need medical attention. Keep moderation in your appearance of sickness and limit your performance.

Here are a few steps that you should follow while faking a fever:

• Before finally seeming ill, you need to set the stage and prepare everyone else for your sickness. Start looking lethargic the evening before you are going to fake fever. For instance, if you are planning to take an off on Monday, start looking sluggish from the Sunday evening.

• Tell someone that you are not feeling well and you are having a heavy head. Don’t eat your dinner properly and go to bed earlier than usual. Start showing your symptoms by late evening, otherwise you may end up with your mother taking you to the doctor and giving you medicine which you shouldn't take when not actually ill. If you start showing your symptoms early on, others will believe you and take your symptoms as genuine.

• Don’t eat much, isolate yourself, don’t socialize and pretend to be having a low mood. If you can’t stay hungry, eat something before your meal so that you can’t eat much at the dinner table. Give more trips to the washroom than you would normally do. Behave as if you are less attentive so that someone takes notice and asks what’s wrong. This gives you an easier way to act sick.

• In order to show a higher temperature in your thermometer, there are many ways to meddle with the device. Bring it near a hot tea cup or a light bulb, keep en eye on it so it doesn’t go to unusually high temperatures. Drink something very hot before putting the device inside your mouth.

• As fever extracts heat out from your body, it makes you feel cold and shiver even when you are covered appropriately. If you are trying to fake fever, wear an extra layer of clothes and pretend as if you are still feeling cold. If you are not wearing many clothes, make others believe by shivering and clenching your teeth. By doing this, you will also sweat more, which will become a sure sign of fever.

• Use a warm compress or hot water bottle to give redness to your face. Do some rigorous exercise to look red on face. Don't expose yourself to the sun as you risk skin damage and you want to look pale anyway. You may also make your face red by using a blower on your face. You may also run very hot water in your bathroom sink and keep your face closer to it to make it red. You can take help of some makeup to look pale and weak. Apply some pale concealer or foundation on your lips. Add some redness on your nose, forehead and around your eyes to look sick. Do not wear too much makeup, and avoid getting touched, as someone may touch your cheek and have some concealer on their finger.

• Walk with slower, shorter steps. When you need to get out of bed or chair, take some time and move slowly. While standing up, act as if you are losing balance, and regain it by getting support of a table or desk. Remember how you feel when you spin around and then try to stand straight. Try to replicate that behavior in front of others, while you are trying to act sick.

• People who are down with fever feel uncomfortable in everything. So don’t joke around and try to avoid smiling as people pass by. Act as if you are disoriented and confused. If you normally get cranky when you get ill, try to get a little cranky as well. Don’t enjoy things that you normally enjoy, e.g. turning down an offer to go and watch a movie you were already planning to see.

• If you have fever, you normally want to take rest and stay in bed. So, when you are faking a fever, try to stay in bed as much as possible. Sleep is your body’s natural process to fight with sickness, so try to act as if you are sleeping for hours. If you are at school or office, put your head down on your desk and act to nod off. If accessible, curl up on a couch and pretend as if you are feeling chills even under the covers.

• Having fever is not fun, so you should show everyone that you are upset and uncomfortable with your sickness. If everyone is going out for shopping, playing or other activities that you like, show your anger for how helpless you are because of your sickness. Look tired, without energy, say a quick ‘ok’ and go back to sleep. When you do this, everyone would come to think you are not pretending to be feverish, you are genuinely ill, and actually want to go out and have fun, but you are down with fever.

• While faking fever, remember not to overdo it. One quick way to arouse suspicion is to show off and try to grab attention. If you are applying for a leave, don’t give too many details without being asked for. Chances are you will get caught up in your own web of lies. So, keep your acting to the minimum without overdoing it.

• Once you have convinced everyone that you are down with fever, you cannot just get up out of your bed and start acting normal. This will call for suspicion about whether your fever was genuine at all. After are leave, when you return back to your school or office, don’t pop back feeling completely right and cheerful. Keep some symptoms of your fever still intact, as they are supposed to go away gradually.

This article is merely informative, oneHOWTO does not have the authority to prescribe any medical treatments or create a diagnosis. We invite you to visit your doctor if you have any type of condition or pain.

If you want to read similar articles to Why Not to Fake a Fever with Toothpaste, we recommend you visit our Family health category.