#like a little bit in front of the lymph node. idk

[orcelito]

the bite sores r getting better but the big sore on the side of my cheek is still VERY painful. it is. radiating.

[that-gay-jedi]

Hey idk if this is the time for a PSA but I keep seeing this trope in sickfic which is fine but in real life please for the love of all that is good in this world

DO NOT MASSAGE SOMEONE WHO IS SICK WITH A FEVER

You could make them much sicker or possibly cause them to be sick for longer than they otherwise would.

Source: I went to massage school but didn't graduate because reasons*.

This goes double if the sick person (or your whumpee) has any kind of issues with their immune system (compromisation, immunosuppressant medical treatments, autoimmune illnesses, etc.)

If the aim is to comfort and soothe them, you can lightly rub or stroke someone's skin, but keep your hand movement to one single direction (NOT back and forth like left and right or up and down or lateral-medial or distal-proximal etc. Keep it to ONE. SINGLE. DIRECTION) and do not apply enough pressure that you can feel their skin move under your palm(s) even a little tiny bit. Ever.

Massage moves fluids that are involved in the immune system, such as blood and lymphatic fluid, around the body. This effect is responsible for some of the known health benefits of massage and can do many useful things for a healthy person.

During a viral or other systemic infection, lymph nodes all throughout the body become the gathering sites for white blood cells fscing off against the invading pathogen. The resultant swelling is what causes the all-over body aches you feel when you're sick.

By accelerating circulation in a sick person, you can move cells of whichever virus or bacterium the body is fighting around to replicate in loads of locations it hadn't reached, giving it a chance to explode in numbers and forcing the immune system to play catch-up. You've now multiplied how many fronts the battle must be fought on and with only the same forces the body had before.

The human body uses its own resources and has limits to how quickly it can replace lost immune system cells. A virus siezes the host cell's resources to replicate itself and therefore faces no such disadvantage.

* the reasons were transphobic staff, fucked up policies, and an unbelievably shitty response from the school when classmates who hadn't practiced on me yet were asking those who already had about my genitals. I had excellent grades.