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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To think the Dr may have misdiagnosed DS?

29 replies

AuntDotsie · 26/10/2016 10:07

DS is 16mo. He went to stay at his grandparents' on Saturday, came back on Sunday sporting a very mild temperature (36.8), a snotty nose and a spotty bum. We gave him one shot of Calpol and bunged some Metanium on the bum. He's been sleeping rather badly and is rather cranky, but then he's also had his routine interrupted what with overnight grandparent visits and recently starting nursery 3 days a week.

Yesterday I noticed a few spots around his genital area and his knees and thighs. I wasn't that concerned as he seems relatively fine otherwise, but I took him to the pharmacist who said possibly chickenpox or hand foot and mouth! So we went to the GP who said, to be fair, probably chickenpox and to keep him off nursery this week.

We'll be following doctor's advice whatever, he won't be going back into nursery this week, but his spots aren't spreading, forming blisters or scabbing over. I had the pox a few years ago (as an adult obviously!) and was really very ill for two weeks. Maybe this is colouring my judgement and I have absolutely no experience of the pox in kids, but I'm not sure DS has chickenpox. I'm aware it is much milder in kids and there may be only a few spots. But I think it might be something else, although I don't know what. AIBU?

I've tried to take a picture but my phone is crappy and DS is wriggly!

OP posts:
FruitCider · 26/10/2016 10:08

If it started on the bottom it is more than likely hand foot and mouth from looking at that photo, but I'm no expert!

HughLauriesStubble · 26/10/2016 10:14

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

BalloonSlayer · 26/10/2016 10:15

Chicken pox can be very mild when they are tiny. DD's started with warty-looking spots on the bum and the Dr said it was . . . actually I can't remember! He said he didn't think it was chicken pox as she'd have more spots. Later that day she had them in other places, and they were more blister-like. I phoned him and he said "yeah it probably is then." Not the cutting-edge diagnosis you kind of expect !

Picture looks like ezcema ttbh but that wouldn't start in the nappy area.

Sorry I am being no help, am I? Does he seem itchy?

Original poster
AuntDotsie · 26/10/2016 10:15

The doc said not hand foot and mouth as he doesn't have anything on his hands, feet or mouth Grin We'll be keeping an eye out, obviously, but nothing so far.

OP posts:
Original poster
AuntDotsie · 26/10/2016 10:22

No blisters I can see in his throat.

Dunno about itchy - he's not scratching, he's incredibly whingey (doing my head in a bit if I'm honest!), seems a bit more tired but also more restless than usual and has made some very unusual sort of strangled crying noises. But he's a toddler so he could just be trying out his vocal range, who knows?

He's just found the TV remote and has decided to watch Jeremy Kyle. So he's definitely ill. Might be demon possession...

OP posts:
ShowOfHands · 26/10/2016 10:24

My dc had hfm at the same time. DD had classic symptoms. DS had the rash on his bottom, knees, thighs and inside of elbows. He developed one spot on his foot. It's only called hand foot and mouth because that's where it mostly occurs. You can get it all over and not on the hands or feet at all. The shape of the spots is quite distinctive with hfm.

BeardMinge · 26/10/2016 10:39

My daughter had hfm last year and the majority of spots were around her genitals and face, very few on her hands or feet.

ginpig · 26/10/2016 10:41

My DS got chicken pox at about 15 months. Started off as small spots around his nappy area. He got sent home from nursery and taken to the GP who said it couldn't be a more classic presentation of chicken pox if it tried.

Some of the spots blistered, some didn't. I do recall that it didn't spread particularly far. He wasn't too bad with it, a bi sad and whingey, but nothing too horrific.

DD (4) it much worse about 3 weeks later and was really miserable. Co-incidentally, DS got hand, foot and mouth just before she got the pox. But whether it is HF&M or the pox (impossible to tell from a non-medically trianed person lokoing at a photo ont he net) there's not a lot more you can do toehr than manage the symptoms and keep him away from others. Good luck!

harrypoooter · 26/10/2016 10:42

Is it not just a general viral rash? My daughter got very rashy every time she got ill. Spots like the ones in your photo? Either way chicken pox and hand foot and mouth or viral rash don't need any further treatment than fluids, calpol, rest and monitoring. Hope he gets better x

harrypoooter · 26/10/2016 10:43

BTW I had chicken pox when I was 21 and was hospitalised, awful. Is so much milder in kids so I wouldn't compare it to yours x

OutnumberedbyFurchesters · 26/10/2016 10:43

My Dd had HFM at 10months.

She was sent home from nursery because they feared Cpox. spots on her thighs, belly, back and two on her hands. (one on each).

Took her to the doctors as it didn't look like CPox got a bollocking for taking her if we suspected Cpox due to vunerable people in waiting room and got told it was just "a viral rash" and sent home. Next day Doctor rang to say that she had another mum in from same nursery who suggested to her it may be HFM and so she wanted to let me know that DD probably had it too, she just hadn't though of it!! Hmm

DD's spots came in her mouth and on her feet two days after the bum/torso spots, so keep an eye out for the mouth, even outside mouth and on lips. She gets it mildly now, now and again when there's another 'do' at nursery, but it's never as bad as the first time!

Ohb0llocks · 26/10/2016 10:46

DS hasn't had HFM by some miracle but I have and it was horrific! However I didn't have any spots at all in throat or mouth but I felt horrible/flu like for a couple of days before and it itched like buggery! This doesn't look like it.

Girliefriendlikesflowers · 26/10/2016 10:47

It might just be a viral rash which could be any one of the millions of viruses out there!

Doesn't look like classic chicken pox though imo.

purplefizz26 · 26/10/2016 10:48

I would go to a pharmacy where they do consultations and get a second opinion. Don't mention what you have been told before or what you think it might be and see what they say without anybody else's opinion clouding their judgement.
It doesn't look like chicken pox to me, my experience of DC having it was an over body spots that blistered. Though I appreciate it can present itself differently.

ineedamoreadultieradult · 26/10/2016 10:49

Both my boys have had chickenpox one aged 12 months one aged 3 neither had blisters or scabs just spots and neither were poorly with it. It can be very mild in children.

Original poster
AuntDotsie · 26/10/2016 10:51

I know there's nothing else for it but TLC and fluids, I'd just rather know if he's had the pox or not - I never did so when it hit as an adult, it really hit. I just want to be able to tell him when he's older so he knows the score, IYSWIM.

Mind you, both DH and my dad have had the pox twice, there are no guarantees.

He does tend to get rashy with viruses, yes. But he's not had much of a fever, never above 37 that we've seen. So unless he's sneakily doing it at night, he's not got a temperature. He's eating, a bit less than usual, but still a good amount. Nothing spotty in his mouth, but he's coughing a bit every so often and is quite snotty. Without the spots, I'd say it's just a cold.

Having had a quick google images search, it may be HFM. Poor sausage!

OP posts:
BreatheDeep · 26/10/2016 10:55

When DS had hfm the Dr suspected chicken pox too. But in the end it was definitely hfm as I caught it too. DS had spots in nappy area, knees and hands. None in his mouth. I had it on hands and feet and a few in mouth. Dr said the spots appear where there is friction or pressure so DS got his on knees instead of feet as he was crawling at the time

QueenLizIII · 26/10/2016 11:06

Sometimes it isnt an exact science and the rashes look the same at the onset.

You seem to know better than a GP and you think non medical personnel on the internet will know from a photo too so I you seem to have it covered.

BarbarianMum · 26/10/2016 11:10

When ds2 had hfm he had the rash on his feet, legs and bum (looked like he was wearing tights). Nothing on hands, nothing in mouth. Go figure Confused

Original poster
AuntDotsie · 26/10/2016 11:12

Ah, Queen, it wouldn't be AIBU without some snark, would it? Grin

I was after other people's experiences of pox, HFM or something else. My blurry photo is obviously not the greatest diagnostic tool in the universe. But I have seen all of House, so I'm totes qualified. I do know it's not lupus.

OP posts:
CaspoFungin · 26/10/2016 11:21

Is what they class as a temp different in kids? Because 36.8 is a totally normal temperature.

QueenLizIII · 26/10/2016 11:27

Sorry op Grin came across a bit more snippy than I'd intended.

All I meant was, be wary of asking us as I havent a clue and no one else does here.

TheWiseOldElf · 26/10/2016 11:41

That looks like HFM to me.

Both of mine have had HFM (separately) and C-pox (together). DD1 had HFM while I was pregnant with DD2 and I was worried about C-pox exposure. She was diagnosed with eczema because the rash wasn't in the typical HFM places. She hasn't had eczema before or since.

When DD2 subsequently had HFM it was in exactly the same places (around the bum, on and behind the knees and on the hands) and the spots were exactly the same as DD1 had had (I had kept photos Grin). Dr was sure DD2 was HFM.

Typical C-pox rash is on the torso. DD2 was only 9 months when they had C-pox and it was very mild (only 20-30 spots in total) but they were very recognisable as C-pox spots and were mostly on the torso.

TheWiseOldElf · 26/10/2016 11:42

We've referred to HFM as hand, knee and bum ever since

Leta86 · 26/10/2016 11:47

Does it matter, really? Both are viral, annoying, contagious and symptomatically treated... Calpol, calamine and antihystamine if scratching gets out of hands... It's not like the doctor mistook food poisoning for a plain stomach bug or something similar... Sometimes it really takes a lab test to really differentiate between chickenpox and HFM... it only makes a clinical difference for pregnant women who haven't had chickenpox and immunosupressed...

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