Issymum: Help! DD1 has a 40 degree temperature....

[Issymum]

and a nasty cough. She was sick last night as well. She is lucid, totally miserable and oscillates between being very quiet and almost having a crying, shouting fit/tantrum. At what point do we take her to the doctor?

[Cod]

Message withdrawn

[PsychoFlame]

NOW!!!

[Marina]

Sounds like it could be ears if she is shouty and restless one minute and quiet the next. Poor love. Unless you have a super out of hours service (we are lucky, ours is frequently BETTER than the regular GP) I'd go now.

[Enid]

now! as Marina says it sounds like ears, good luck

[rydercup]

Sounds like my DS!! We had exactly the same thing and ended up taking him to A&E last friday night for an uncontrollable temperature. They eventually let us out 5 hours later but said that there are lots of upper respiratory infections going round at the moment which the kids are having trouble shifting - in other words a virus!! To top it all we spent all last night up with him dealing with vomiting and diarrhoea - yet another bug going round apparently!!! Oh well - resigning myself to a dose of chickenpox when this little lot is over!

[motherinferior]

Oh poor little thing! Noooo!

[Issymum]

Thank you everyone. Shortly after writing this I noticed a fluid-filled spot on DD1's back and another smaller one under her chin and another one coming up on the small of her back. Recalling that there's an outbreak of chickenpox at her pre-school, I think we've got an Easter of Calpol and Calamine ahead of us.

Our lovely next-door neighbour (mother of two grown-up daughters and a GP) has just popped round and confirmed that she thinks it's chicken-pox.

A complete pain over Easter and poor DD1 is burning-up and deeply miserable, but I'm relieved that it's nothing more sinister than that most classic of child-hood ailments.

If anyone in the Guildford area is at a loose end over Easter, the pox party is at our house

[motherinferior]

Ooooh poor POOR little love. Hope the Chicken Pops (as DD1 calls it) is not too vile. Dr Inferior recommends lots of seasonal chocolate.
xxxxxxxxxx

[dinny]

my dd has a bad cough and took her temp earlier and was bloody 40 too. she had similarly high temp and few weeks ago with the flu. have given her Calpol and she's sleeping. is that enough? should I panic?
our poor dds, Issymum hope the chickenpox isn't too bad for your dd.

[Issymum]

Thanks MI and Dinny. Our GP-neighbour didn't seem unduly concerned about the high temperature. She suggested a tepid (but not cold) bath to help bring it down and DD1 did seem better after a bath.

DD1 hasn't even asked for chocolate today, just grapes. She must be ill!

[dinny]

I gave dd a tepid bath. just did her temp while asleep and it's down to 39.4. wish I'd never bought an ear thermometer in a way. too scary when you get a high reading!

[princesspeahead]

oh no! So sorry to hear this. And just to warn you - the second sibling often gets it worse (because they are exposed to it for longer - 24 hrs per day as opposed to a few hours at nursery or wherever dd1 got it from) so try and keep them apart as much as possible when the spots are still uncrusted, and double up your stocks of calamine and calpol... poor you.

oh, and if hte itching gets really bad later, bicarb of soda in the bath is very soothing. lots of love to the poxyhousehold! xx

[Prufrock]

Oh poor you. And her. But at least you know why she is miserable.
There's lots of "how to survive chickenpox" advice on here - We found the best was the bicarb/oatmeal in lukewarm baths, and Rhus-Tox (homeopathic remedy available from Boots)

[aloha]

When ds had it, it was definitely much worse before the spots came, and then things settled down and he hardlly felt ill. Poor dd, hope she is better soon.