To go back to Drs and demand antibiotics

[NaturalRBF]

My DD, DH & myself have been ill for 11 days now with a headachy, snotty, coughing and achey style bug. I took DD to Drs Tuesday last week as she suffers with fits when she gets a temperature. GP told me it's viral and we just had to ride it out with usual paracetamol, duvet days etc

But 11 days on I'm actually feeling worse & DD who is 15 months still seems pretty rough too, along with DH.

Would it be unreasonable to think this is in fact bacterial and we need some antibiotics?

Just for back ground last time DD & I had antibiotics was after birth as I had sepsis in labour and before that I had some 3 years ago for another ongoing cold/fluey style thing.

I understand why antibiotics are not given out willy-nilly but I'm really not sure that this is a viral thing after such a long time feeling so poorly!

[NaturalRBF]

Now please explain how IABSoU? Several PPs have said that viruses can last weeks.

[trappedinsuburbia]

Clearly your posting out of real concern for your dd, definitely get her checked over again.
You have my sympathy, i've had a rare 6 days rota'd off work and been coughing up the green gunk for most of them and knackered from coughing and spluttering half the night.
There are definitely a few nasty's going about just now.

[NaturalRBF]

Cheers Trapped. Nice to see that some people understand that I'm not trying to make the world antibiotic resistant. Hope you feel better soon too.

[jacks11]

OP- I wasn't saying that you have gone to (or intend to go to) multiple Dr's seeking antibiotics, it was more of a general observation that this sort of thing is not uncommon. Sorry if that wasn't clear!

I'm not saying you (or your DD) don't need antibiotics, I'm just saying go back to your GP for reassessment and explain your concerns.

I don't know if this helps or not, but medicine isn't always black or white, right vs wrong diagnosis and/or treatment. It can be, but not always. In my experience hindsight is a wonderful thing- I can think of a number of patients where with hindsight I might have made a different decision, but the treatment (or lack thereof) that I gave at the time I saw the patient with the information/examination findings I had was a reasonable thing to do. Perhaps that is the case with what happened to you, perhaps not. So the best thing to do is explain you are concerned that you/DD have an infection and that given her history you are worried that x, y, z will happen. But if you don't get antibiotics it doesn't necessarily mean your GP hasn't listened to your concerns.

[NaturalRBF]

Hi again jacks I really really hate going to the Drs as for years I was "fobbed off" with pills for my EDS3 (until this particular GP understood that it wasn't just 'a bad back') hence why our house is very fond of homeopathic and holistic therapies. The fear of god strikes me when we go to the GP as 1. You have to over come the clearly medically trained receptionists. 2. They get shirty when I request this particular GP. 3. When I do get in front of him I literally want to cry as I feel like a total prat for taking DD in again with 'just a cold'. I do it for my DD though. I understand that GPs especially are working to financial and time constraints but I just want them to LISTEN as I have the information they need to make a fully informed decision. In the same way I need them to apply their knowledge to my info.

[sausagefest]

I would go. I have hardly ever had antibiotics but recently a virus morphed into secondary infections and my Gp prescribed antibiotics.

If you need them, you need them.

[goingtotown]

You can't 'demand' antibiotics, if you needed them your GP would have prescribed them. Get well soon.

[NaturalRBF]

Going to town go watch The Doctor Who Gave Up Drugs on BBC IPlayer. LOADS of people demanded them.

Also I have posted several times over that clearly the word demand was too strong.

[UnderTheGreenwoodTree]

But the whole point of that programme was that the "loads" of people who "demanded" them were mostly wrong - they didn't need them at all.

[jacks11]

Hi OP, I do get the fear re febrile convulsions and it seems your DD had at least one more complex one if she has had a febrile seizure lasting more than 15 minutes. They are terrifying for a parent, absolutely. So I do understand why you worry when she gets an illness in case this causes another.

Have you been told that you rneed to worry about the seizures (e.g. has she had a number of the more complex type or given medications to use to prevent prolonged seizure)? I only ask because, whilst incredibly frightening, they are usually pretty benign conditions which don't cause serious problems and most children grow out of it and so don't need any specialised or intensive treatment.

Unfortunately, viral infections can lead to high fever too and therefore can also be trigger for febrile convulsions/seizures in susceptible children.

It sounds as though you have found a GP you trust, at least for the most part. I understand when you say he needs to listen to you- and you're right, he should. What makes you say he doesn't listen to your concerns? And if you really believe that he ignores your concerns or fobs you off, perhaps you need to look for an alternative GP practice (assuming there is another one nearby)?

[jacks11]

I should say that children with febrile seizures don't need specialised treatment once it is confirmed that they are having febrile seizures- I realise if could have read that they can be ignored completely which wouldn't be right. Children who have had a febrile seizure need to be reviewed to rule out other causes of seizures after the 1st seizure or if they have multiple complex seizures or persistent seizures and so on.

[nolongersurprised]

And most febrile convulsions occur in the first 24 hours of the illness, it's probably got to do with the rate of rise of the fever.

[IceBeing]

Nothing wrong with taking new evidence (the fact its worse a week later) to the doctor for a second consultation. If they still diagnose virus then fine. But they might not which would also be fine.

[MiniCooperLover]

The OP has already said she made a mistake using the word demand and made it clear they rarely take medicines so give her a bit of a break! But I would ask to get checked again, your little one particularly. My SIL was told by her GP that my niece had just a virus and it was a serious bacterial infection that became sepsis. Now that's an extreme example but get her checked for peace of mind.

[NaturalRBF]

Hi Jacks- seizures have no further complications and like I said before I understand they are not of a serious nature however it isn't pleasant. Neither is having to hold your child whilst they try and site a cannula. Again if we had be listened to initially it wouldn't have escalated to where it did.

I have yet to find a GP I trust. This particular guy just has less of a God complex than others.

[OddBoots]

It's interesting that when people talk about antibiotics for self-limiting conditions it is resistance that is the only negative discussed as if antibiotics don't have side effects.

There is no doubting that antibiotics save many lives but they aren't magic, there are risks to them that in the case of self-limiting infections both viral and bacterial could be more harmful than the infection. There is increasing evidence implicating antibiotics in gut microbiota changes and metabolic disorders which in turn can lead to other medical problems - there is no way I want to scare people who need antibiotics but those who don't really need to think twice.

[Stormtreader]

But the whole point of that programme was that the "loads" of people who "demanded" them were mostly wrong - they didn't need them at all.

Actually, the point of the programme is thats what they expected to happen, but when he went in with his testing machine he found that actually the vast majority of people had waited, and tested positive for a bacterial infection. I think it was something like 2 AB prescriptions avoided out of 50 patients.

[FindingNemoFindingDory]

I'd listen to your GP...

[dodobookends]

U2 you were better off on antibiotics as a precaution for deep puncture animal bites. I speak from the experience of having to spend 3 days in hospital on an antibiotic drip after a nasty deep cat bite on my hand got infected.