To take him to a&e

[anxiousmotherof1]

My 1 year old is having fever for the last 10 days ! I have taken him to the gp 2 times and they insist is viral and it will go away on its own . I cant help but be concerned . I have always known that if a fever lasts longer than 5 days it ahould be investigated .
I am thinking of taking him to a&e to be seem by a pedestrian ! Am i overacting ??

jelly

That is GOOD then. Imo.

In this case they would be done so it’s irrelevant to the thread bus.

I would go to the A and E. I have seen people with all sorts of problems in there and a baby with a high temperature for 10 days isn't going to waste their time and money.

tatiana

That 'advice' wasn't advising anybody of anything.

Just thoughts on how misunderstood A&E presentation can be.

I don't think it's irrelevant to point out how people assume so much from A&E.

It doesn't reflect on what i think the OP should do. But things often come up on threads that are not directly linked. It's not a problem.

It’s a problem when you are telling people that A&E might not do tests in a scenario they would do tests, because you’re apparently unaware of the medical guidelines.

That's not actually what I said.

I do feel my Constance having to try and explain a simple post is a bit derailing though so shall just leave you with your creative assumptions.

Apologies OP, this is not what i intended when i posted.

As before, it's reassuring that your DC is being seen again today. Hope they are alright.

Busbottom. I think people were just concerned that you may put OP off attending A&E. I get you were making a generalisation but this child could be seriously unwell and OP should not be discouraged from trusting her instincts. Especially when the child is so young.

My daughters pneumonia started like this, no ambulances available when I rang after her neck started to hurt and get stiff. I drove like Lewis Hamilton to a&e where blood tests and chest X-ray confirmed pneumonia. Go with your gut, don't let anyone tell you anything other. The hospital won't mind.

A&E IS a magical gateway to extensive tests.

Obviously, they start with the baseline level tests, simple bloods. If that throws up anything weird, more tests will be done.

On Tuesday we went our GP and were told it was viral.
On Friday we saw a different GP and were told to go to A&E

We arrived at A&E on Friday afternoon and had various bloods done, admitted to the general ward around midnight.

On Saturday morning, more bloods, a brain cat scan, an MRI, an abdominal scan and a chest x Ray.

On Sunday her condition worsened and she was transferred to the high dependency unit, by Sunday night she was in intensive care. There she had a bone marrow aspiration and a lumbar puncture.

Official diagnosis was made on Tuesday morning. On Tuesday. Ishtar she was taken off the ventilator. On Wednesday morning she was transferred to the Stem Cell Unit.

My daughter’s illness was ‘just a virus’ (glandular fever) at the beginning, but the virus triggered an autoimmune response that would’ve been fatal if we had stayed at home.

I would call 111 - because of his age someone will call you back. My son regularly had 40 degrees temps when he was younger. The general view is if calpol or nurifen brings the temp down then its viral. With an infection for example, calpol or nurifen won't make a difference. BUT that's a long time to have such a high temperature at such a young age so worth speaking to someone again. Personally, if he is well in himself I would avoid A&E long waiting times and you will end up exposing him to lots of infectious things in the waiting room.

Jellycatelfie there’s no point in taking bloods for Kawasaki. There’s no test for it. The only way they can diagnose it is by symptoms. Bloods can only rule other things out.

Glad he is being seen again op as all this would be really worrying me.

Betty

Sorry to hear your daughter is so poorly, I hope she is on the mend soon

Your GP sent you to A&E because he or she recognised that there was more going on than a simple viral illness. It was the GP who was the magic portal to the investigations, not A&E - A&E was just the door through which you entered the hospital. In some areas, the GP could have sent you straight to the paediatric ward - either way, you would have got the same tests. GPs can get exactly the same tests as A&E, though obviously they have to send the patient to the hospital for them to be carried out.

I am an A&E doctor and a GP, and work in both settings. Most children with viral illnesses get far better care in general practice, because GPs have much more experience of treating them than the junior A&E doctors who typically see a child with a viral illness.

No one who is seriously worried about a child should think twice about going to A&E if they can't see a GP immediately. But it is so important to keep A&E for children who really need to be seen - as your DD did on Friday. This is not just to keep A&E safe (patients die when A&E departments are over-crowded) but because the vast majority of children with viral illness will get better care in general practice.

Best wishes to your DD for a swift recovery.

That’s not true - we rocked up in a taxi - GP didn’t call anyone or refer us.

We were triaged with everyone else. It was the initial bloods that opened up the other tests.

My daughter has haemophagocytic histiocytosis, she’s treated alongside the cancer kids in haemotology/oncology. Absolutely tons of the kids there got their leukaemia diagnosis after presenting at A&E with a ‘virus’ that wouodn’t go away.

I’m so blessed that my local A&E is attached to a huge teaching hospital and reknowned children’s hospital with a HLH expert on staff - the only thing that saved my child’s life was a swift diagnosis. We’ve got years of treatment and recovery ahead.

Is there a reason why you cant take the advice of 2 GPs and then the paramedics who came out? All the people frothing in this thread is unbelievable - oh and anyone can post and prefix it with 'I'm a doctor...'

Three lots of medical professionals have assessed this child in person and a 4th one is about to this morning. Id probably be inclined to listen to them and go through the steps they advise whether that's A & E, antibiotics or just keeping an eye out rather than listen to Sharon from Kent on here to be honest

My baby saw a Gp who said it was a virus. I didn't believe them, i suggested a different diagnosis which I had been led to by an old Mumsnet thread, nope they said.

I took her to walk in to see a different Gp, same story.

I took my baby to A&e, we didn't even sit in waiting area, taken straight through and put on IV antibiotics for a condition that could have killed her.

The same condition I had suggested to the two GPs and shown them pictures from the internet of.

I have nothing but respect for GPs, I just do not afford them god like status. I know my child and I know doctors are busy fallable humans. I always trust my instinct.

Also when I have taken my daughter to see a doctor and everything has been fine, they are always good about it.

Op I hope all is well with you and your child.

Betty, you rocked up in a taxi on the advice of your GP.

How is he today?

That’s true allhdghd, but the first GP we saw sent us home with a fucking laxative!

And I would’ve gone to A&E anyway, and no one actually referred us for tests - it was the A&E process that led to my daughter’s diagnosis.

People whose child had similar symptoms and then turned out to be very poorly, did the child seem right in themselves? Like were they playing and eating and drinking normally?

Asking out of curiosity, not because I think this means the op should do anything either way. Her previous post seemed to suggest the paramedics didn’t take further action because her son was bright and playful when they saw him. I’m a soon to be mum and trying to learn the nuances :)

Noodella - My daughter would improve with calpol (paracetamol) and then crash again as it wore off.
That’s why there is a time limit on how many days you should give calpol to manage fever before seeking out expert advice.

Even in ICU they gave paracetamol (allbeit intravenously) it’s a very effective drug - I think we sometimes forget that because it’s so cheap and ubiquitous.

I wouldn't have cared if he was bright and playful when the paramedics turned up. I still would've said "Nope. A&E please. Or we'll take him in anyway". Kids can rebound from calpol or anything when sick and it can mask symptoms.

A paramedic is not a paediatric nurse or doctor and after a certain point you just have to cut out the GP and go straight to faster help. GPs are not gods or the be all and end all. They are middle men. I would trust a kids A&E Dr over a GP any day of the week if I was worried about my kid.

I would trust a kids A&E Dr over a GP any day of the week if I was worried about my kid.

I don’t mean this to be flippant or argumentative so I apologise if it comes over that way but you do realise that you may well see a GP trainee in A&E? A lot of the registrars working there are on the GP pathway and so are less qualified than actual GP? Any doctor can get things wrong so absolutely get a second opinion if you are not happy but don’t assume that the hospital opinion is always the best one.

Even in kids A&E that should say, all GP trainees need to do paediatric placements