What to do next? (Poorly 7 year old)

[Notrusthere]

DS started being Ill 9 days ago.

High temp (40 at highest), cough, sore throat but mostly when coughing.
Saw GP on day 3 told it was viral give Calpol, fluids etc

He didn't get any better (although temp stopped being quite so high but still high) sleeping a lot, very grumpy. So I phoned 111 on Friday evening and went to out of hours GP, told again just viral.

Seemed to pick up Saturday and Sunday Am but then Sunday PM went downhill again, cough got worse, bad pain in throat when coughing.

Phoned 111 again bank holiday Monday and took him to out of hours GP who looked in his throat and said it's tonsilitis and uvula stuck to roof of mouth, tonsils very swollen (that's what's causing cough apparently, his chest is clear) and coating pus on one tonsil.
Gave him anti biotics and said he'd feel better in a couple of days.

It's been 36 hours and he's not really better. He's quite bright with ibuprofen almost like his normal self but still coughing but as soon as it wears off he gets tired, grumpy and temp goes up (not been higher than 38 since this morning but was up to 39.3 during last night)

OH isn't worried, in fact he pissed off out at 3pm yesterday afternoon to his mates and came back at about midnight (He can't remember what time exactly says he was too drunk to remember)

I had 4 hours sleep last night and managed to get an hour this afternoon but am now up with him and will be until 11pm when he can have last dose of anti biotics (OH gave him pasta at 9pm and anti B have to be taken on empty stomach)

The dog wakes up at 5am anyway.

I'm not sleeping well anyway because I'm waiting for him to wake up poorly with raging temp like he did last night.

I suffer with anxiety which has been bad for a few months but so much worse with this.

I'm so worried I keep crying but trying not to let DS see it.

I honestly don't know what to do if hes not showing improvement by tomorrow. I'm worried about sepsis, meningitis and leukemia (I'm sure most of you are making the face at the phone my OH makes at me)

Sorry I know that's long but honestly don't know what to do. He's never been poorly for this long.

No. A temperature is generally over 38. Obviously the overall picture is important, its the combination of temp and symptoms. So 38 and otherwise well= fine, 38 and drowsy/floppy= not so fine.

36-38 is within normal limits.

Ok thanks I always thought anything over 37 was a temperature.

He's had ibuprofen anyway because of the throat pain when he coughs. His throat doesn't hurt unless he's coughing though which is odd

Wait another day for the antibiotics to work, they will insist on you finishing the course first

I don’t want to sound harsh OP but you’re definitely overreacting.
It’s a nasty virus by the sound of things and sometimes it does take a while to see an improvement.
If your DS was extremely ill you would know. Trust me I’m speaking as someone who had a toddler vomiting 20+ times a day for 3 weeks and was in hospital

Morning op. We regularly battle tonsillitus in our house & from experience if hes no better after 3 days I'd take him back. Mine have had to be switched to a different antibiotics once or twice & it sounds like it was really advanced before your DC started the medicine. Please keep going for the full 10 days too as I stopped early couple of days once & it came straight back. Apparently tonsills are like sponges for holding infection. Hope hes better soon. It's a horrid thing to go through.

You are being a good mum, but make sure he is resting as this will be the only way to get better. It's always to be more cautious with children as they can't tell you properly how they feel.

I hope he is on the mend today and his temperature stays level .

Yes those temps are much better I assume because you are giving more Calpol and ibuprofen which you need to

Don’t worry either about Calpol the parcemtomal in it is low compared to other EU countries for that very reason!

Viruses can hang around for a while.

He is eating and drinking.

He's responding to pain killers.

He has anti biotics.

Just keep doing what you are doing OP and it'll pass. It's a worry when kids are properly ill but viruses can knock you for six.

He's had ibuprofen anyway because of the throat pain when he coughs. His throat doesn't hurt unless he's coughing though which is odd

It’s not odd, it’s normal.

When he coughs it will push on his throat. If his throat is slightly sore this will make him feel it.

A bit like a bruise that doesn’t hurt unless you poke it.

Honestly o/p he is sounding fine, no temp, better in himself.

Rest and fluids and hopefully it will be over soon.

Thanks everyone. He's just forced me into a board game so definitely more himself x

His throat doesn't hurt unless he's coughing though which is odd I agree with pp, completely normal.

Yes, sounds good!

I wouldn’t be surprised if this was actually caused by the EB virus - 95% of people in the U.K. get it at some point, many without ever realising. It can lead to bacterial infections of the tonsils (which would explain why first 2 docs said viral and third said bacterial) and can be a very slow recovery for some people (ocassionally resulting in serious, but rare complications).

Whatever it was it sounds like he has turned a corner now, phew!

For future reference, temps over for 38 for a week without improvement and it’s perfectly acceptable to go to hospital for blood tests (even if calpol brings them down). No need to sit home getting anxious unnecessarily. GPs can only send you to hospital to get the blood tests done so may as well cut out the middle man and go sit and wait. Take snacks and distractions!

To the pp who asked those temps were first thing this morning after no Calpol etc since 8pm last night.

I'm back.

One dose of ibuprofen at 7.30 this morning after I wrote the post with the temperatures.

Fine all day in himself (still coughing though)
Fell asleep on sofa at 4.30pm and when I woke him up his temp had gone up to 38.4. Came down to 37.9 after 20 minutes but was hurting when he coughed again so gave him more ibuprofen.

Think I'm going to take him back to GP tomorrow he's not getting better fast enough for my liking

The gp will tell you to do what you’re doing.

He’s improving. There’s nothing else to be done. 38.4 is barely a temperature and he’s been fine in himself. Yes he will be exhausted, his body is fighting a bug. His throat is hurting when he coughs because it is still healing.

I always ask myself what do you want out of a gp appointment before booking. So what do you want? How is the gp going to speed up recovery apart from advise rest and fluids? What treatment or investigation will make a difference?

Unless he starts to deteriorate again i would keep him away from the gp where he’ll likely pick up another bug!

Plus ibuprofen and paracetamol, while reducing temperature, can actually slow down recovery. Bacteria/viruses can’t survive or replicate at higher than body temp, which is why we develop a fever, it kills the infection. So drugs to reduce temp will increase survival of the infectious organism.

If you want to speed up his recovery lay off the drugs now if he feels well and his temp is ok. I usually give one dose before bed at this stage simply to help with a good nights sleep as that will aid recovery too.

Obviously i can’t see your son so am only going on what you’ve written, but rest seems the best thing for him now rather than being dragged to the dr again.

He honestly does sound like he’s on the mend, with his temperature normal now. He’s had a nasty bug, he just needs to rest and recover now. He doesn’t need to be seen by the GP again.

There is very little they can do by let his immune system run it’s course at the moment it sounds just like a nasty virus and they do take an age

DD had flu it took a month for her to feel back to normal it took me 6 werks

If he is not well on day 3 of the antibiotic, go back to the doctor.
My son had tonsillitis and got given a useless antibiotic and he kept getting it back over and over again and was sick for ages.

Make sure he is taking loads of fluids, jelly and whatever he can manage. Good luck.

Are you giving paracetamol and nurofen regularly throughout the day or just now and again?

Very usual to worsen in late afternoon and at night,just the way the body works.

Has he been ill before because what you are describing is very typical? From what you've posted he doesn't need a GP appt. Just because it's not happening 'fast' it doesn't mean that he's not getting better.

He's been ill before, tonsilitis, scarletina, colds and coughs etc.

The only time it's gone on this long was when he had bronchiolitis as a baby.

He's just had a dose of Calpol and gone to bed.

I know I'm probably not being very rational at the moment, sleep deprived etc I'm just really worried about him.

Give him regular doses of paracetamol/ nurofen throughout the day whether seems poorly or not. Stagger them appropriately so he has a dose of something every 4 hours.

Some viruses take ages. I was ill at the start of the year with flu and was properly ill for two weeks and probably took that again before I was feeling 100%

Hi OP hope you DS is feeling better soon. You can give calpol and neurofen at the same time as they are from different pain killer families.
As long as the time between each calpol dose is 4 hours and the dose between each neurofen is 6 hours it's fine.
I'd stagger it so that there's always something active eg 8am calpol 10am neurofen 1pm calpol 4pm neurofen. After that I'd probably wait and see how they got on and try and give one last dose of something before bedtime. Thnakfully my DC has only needed it this extreme a couple of times.
Hopefully your DS won't need as much today, it sounded like he was on the mend yesterday.

Hope your DS is doing better this morning.