My lovely DD1 is in hospital :(

[CharCharGabor]

I used to post her loads when she was small, but have mostly lurked since. DD1 is 5, and had a 2 week long virus similar to what many other kids have had, high temperature, lethargic, not eating etc. She recovered on Tuesday last week.

On Friday she started vomiting, on Saturday she couldn't hold down even a tiny bit of water. On Sunday I took her to the GP out of hours as she was dizzy and falling over a lot, felt weak and had a load of joint, neck, head and stomach pain. They diagnosed tonsillitis and gave her penicillin. I wasn't sure all her symptoms could be explained by tonsillitis but thought the doctor knew best.

Overnight on Sunday she was is so much pain, every time I helped her to sit up for medicine or a drink she screamed as her hips were hurting. I gave her max doses of paracetamol and ibuprofen but they weren't doing much.

Made an emergency appt on Monday morning as she couldn't weight bear, in loads of pain, light aversion. Doctor shrugged and said virus, lots of children get joint pain with viruses. He saw her legs give way and still wasn't bothered. There was no way I was leaving with nothing as I just knew something was wrong so he referred us to kids a and e. DP took her as DD3 is bf and doesn't take a bottle :( which was horrific but I stayed home to look after the other two.

First they did some blood tests and put a canula in, then a ct scan. When they started talking about a lumbar puncture I couldn't stay at home any more and my dad took DD2. DD1 had the lumbar puncture and didn't even cry, she is so so brave. We were admitted to children's ward last night and are awaiting an MRI scan soon.

So far, ct scan is normal, lumbar puncture is normal, something showed up on the blood tests, DP thinks poss white blood cells. They are going to try and do the MRI without sedation soon but if she can't stay still they will put her to sleep :( she has had antibiotics and antivirals while they figure out what is going on. Yesterday she had no reflex reactions in her legs, today still nothing but was a bit stronger on the push tests. They think it is part physical, part psychological as she has fallen so many times she is scared of standing. Totally understandable, poor baby :(

I am so scared :(

[CharCharGabor]

They think it may be either a virus causing leg weakness or a virus causing brain inflammation. It is scary to write that :( she is very quiet, watching DVDs and is very still. She whimpers with random pains frequently. Every so often she perks up slightly, but it only lasts a minute or so.

[DreamsTurnToGoldDust]

Oh Love, no words just a massive hug to you, your little girl and all your family, bless her I hopr they get to the bottom of it soon xxxx

[almostanotherday]

I hope she gets better soon.

[Thewhingingdefective]

Sending lots of get well soon vibes to your DD. xxxx

[almostanotherday]

Well done for doing the right thing when you knew she was worse than the drs first thought and getting her seen by A and E.

[pumpkinsweetie]

Wishing your dd well

[CharCharGabor]

Thank you guys, it is so surreal, this kind of thing only happens to other people :( she is saying her head hurts so have asked for pain relief. She is nil by mouth for the MRI so not sure what they will do ATM. My poor poor baby :(

[saintlyjimjams]

I really hope she's better soon. On a positive note ds2 has had unable to stand/bear weight/screaming with hip/knee pain twice now after viruses and in both cases it just went away after a few days. I think it's called an irritable hip?

[CharCharGabor]

That is comforting jimjams. I hope it does go away. It is terrifying. She has a really bad pain in her head right now, my heart is breaking seeing her suffer. She wants her daddy more than me so I am just staying close for when she needs me.

[crispsarenotoneofyour5aday]

You poor thing and so worrying. A friend of DS1 had what sounds like a very similar illness aged 9 and that turned out to be a virus. Was terrifying for his mother while it was all going on and took a couple of months for him to fully get over it but he made a full recovery. Hopefully your DD1 will begin to improve soon. Please make sure you look after yourself - especially since you are bf-ing. It is funny that we spend a lot of time telling them to keep the noise down etc but the minute they are ill, quiet and still we would given anything to have them running around screaming at the top of their voices. Holding thumbs for you and DD1.

[Ilovemydogandmydoglovesme]

So sorry to read this, how awful for you.

Sending lots of positive vibes your way! Good luck. Hope she's ok.

[shallweshop]

How worrying for you. Sending lots of get well soon wishes to your DD. I hope it is something like irritable hip as Saintly mentioned. My friend's DS got this after a virus and was in pain and unable to weight bear for a few days and then it cleared. Fingers crossed for some good news soon.

[CharCharGabor]

Thank you :) I just want to see her smile, she hasn't smiled for days, not her big smile. I am eating and drinking what I can and trying to relax, dd3 keeps refusing to feed because of my stress levels so am doing my best to stay calm. Dd1 has dozed off now, she is exhausted.

[SouthernComforts]

Hope she's better soon.

Ask for paracetamol through her drip if she's nil by mouth.

Hope the scans come back normal.

[CharCharGabor]

Thank you. They have given her some paracetamol by mouth and I'm hoping she'll sleep a little once she's been to the toilet. She is begging for just a little drink :( they said the MRI would be between half 1 and 2 so already a bit late and it'll take ages.

[CharCharGabor]

Apparently the pain is bad in her hips but worse in the backs of her knees, she struggles to straighten her legs

[FunnysInLaJardin]

Sorry to hear that Char fingers crossed that she recovers quickly.

[saintlyjimjams]

Yes ds2's was in his knees as well. Apparently in young children it's fairy common for hip pain to refer to the knee (they ended up x-raying the knee rather than the hip by mistake in ds2's case, so dh picked him up and brought him home un-x-rayed!)

[saintlyjimjams]

Here's a dreaded Daily Mail article on irritable hip. Both times ds2 has had it it's been a bit less than 2 weeks post cold - coming more or less straight after one. I hadn't heard about it and was completely bemused by ds2 being unable to stand, rang school to say he wouldn't be in and I wasn't sure what was up and his headteacher told me her dd had had it.

Interesting that it's autoimmune/inflammatory response to a virus (hadn't realised that before reading the above article) as we do a lot of those in this family.

[CharCharGabor]

Thank you. I think they said they may ultrasound her hips later to see what is happening there. She has just gone down for her MRI now. I can't see how she will be able to stay still for long enough though tbh, she gets pains when she stays in one position for long. At least I am on my own now so can have a good cry. Poor DD3's nose has dried out with all the heating so she is sniffly and hard to feed!

[CommanderShepard]

I'm thinking of you - here's my virtual hand to hold.

[Imnotaslimjim]

another hand to hold here, its pretty terrifying seeing our DC go through this (My DS had seziures at 3 days old, took a long time and a lot of tests to get to the bottom of it) I hope they discover the cause soon

[CharCharGabor]

thank you so much. just waiting here hoping they come back soon. i will prob contact the practice manager once she is better, gp was far too dismissive imo. i have been lucky that nothing like this has ever happened to us, dd1 barely even gets colds!

[Cookingupastorm]

Sending love from here xx My nephew had awful leg pains after a virus and it was guillain barres syndrome..but i dont think he had some of the symptoms you've described..all better now though. Keeping my fingers crossed for you x