So scared of Strep A

[Whyemseeaye]

AIBU to be completely terrified by the reports of Strep A deaths.

I have two small children and feel beside myself with worry. I keep crying and am considering keeping them both off school until after Christmas.

I appreciate this may sound a bit dramatic but I really wish I had

To be fair to my GP, I rang and said I was fairly sure my child had scarlet fever (it was obvious from the tongue) and they squeezed us in between other patients.

Ah I didn't know this.

DD picked it up in London over half term. The antibiotics started working within a day and she was ready to return to school 48 hours later. Her sister also had scarlet fever as a toddler and it was the same story, the symptoms cleared up within a day of starting antibiotics.

I had strep loads as a child; it was a very routine illness where I grew up. I am baffled by the panic!

Life is terminal, the time we have on this earth is short even if we live to 100, and we never know when our time or the time of those we love is up.

Don't live the short time we have worrying about what is beyond your control. Look at the symptoms to be aware of, act on them if they appear, and in the meantime hug your children tight and enjoy as much as you can with them.

Worrying doesn't keep them safe, I know it is hard but I live in the aftermath, stopping my fears of it repeating with my remaining children takes everything, but worry stops living.

I agree it's worrying, a 12 year old has now died.

Media live to scare in my opinion.

And dramatise.

Their reason d'aitre in my opinion.
Sells more advertising.

as a child i had strep 12 times (back before removing tonsils was a thing). Its pretty common.

The scariest bit is that it's hard to access healthcare currently and there is a shortage of amoxicilin. It's all very well saying look out for the symptoms and just get some antibiotics, easier said than done with the shit show that is the crumbling NHS.

That said yes its always about and keeping children off of school unless advised as they have underlying conditions or whatever is disproportionate. The sneering and ridicule by some though on a parenting site is pretty sad, but if you get your kicks out of being a bitch I guess it makes sense.

You said what I'm thinking.

Agree, with a side of assisting the Tory government in dismantling the 'not fit for purpose' NHS.

Terrifying parents about a run-of-the-mill illness will have said parents unnecessarily flooding A&E and then continuing the narrative of XX hours wait with a 'sick child'.

That's a child who was triaged and left for XX hours as those with appendicitis, road traffic injuries, burst ulcers, heart attacks etc. were, correctly, dealt with as priorities. Of course, that's not the story in the media, along with sad face pictures/footage, will present to the gullible.

Those billionaire press barons need to invest in something and private health care has their grubby paws all over it.

Children are dying at a higher rate than usual from it this winter, whilst I agree it's not a reason to panic people would also be all conspiracy theory if it wasn't reported. It is important that parents are aware of the need to seek treatment early if it's needed. The NHS is fucked btw no media spin needed; also it'll never be a lucrative option to be fully privatised. More people will go private and as it becomes bigger business here more HCPs will move over to that creating a much clearer 2 system.

When did we start using the term "health anxiety" rather than hypochondria?

Are you normally this highly strung and what strategies have you developed to self-calm? What have you tried so far and what has worked in the past? I am not a massive fan of medication to treat anxiety but if your other strategies are not working then also speak to your GP.
Exercise is very good. Can you go for a 5k run when it starts to feel overwhelming?

It's a shame to see a few nasty comments left here. What a strange way to get your kicks; trying to upset someone who is clearly already distressed.

As others have said, OP, it is statistically vanishingly unlikely that your children will die of strep. The way this is being reported in the media has undertones of Covid reporting and it's being presented as the start of a massive scary outbreak. It's true that cases are significantly higher than usual this year, but we are still talking about extremely small numbers of children. For most children this is a relatively common and easily treated illness. Be vigilant - as always - and seek medical assistance quickly if your child's symptoms require it.

It's difficult for lots of parents (myself included) to draw that line between vigilance and unnecessary panic. The stakes are extremely high as obviously it's your child's health on the line and this can make it hard to remain logical and methodical when assessing risk. And I think Covid has done a number on our mental health in a lot of cases. PP's just sneering "get some help before your anxiety affects your children" must not have noticed that over a decade of Tory underfunding has stripped our MH services away to almost nothing. Go where for help, exactly? People in full blown MH crisis can't even get seen. People posting on here looking for reassurance and a way to reduce their anxiety are trying to get help.

You can buy a test for strep A from Amazon, similar to a covid test. If your DC show symptoms you could test them and put your mind at ease or get antibiotics quickly.

The media are not helping and trauma from covid is very
Recent.
Be
Kind to yourself.

Just be careful with the online testing kit, a gp mentioned on another thread how unreliable they are compared to the tests gps use. If you use them and get a negative result, I'd still push to be seen anyway.

They're way more likely to die in a car accident. Yabu amd blowing it way out of proportion.

More like 10 million children!

Please don't worry op. I say this as having had it in the family.
My dgf had strep A a few years ago, he was very poorly. The family were all given a sheet of symptoms and were told to go straight to a & e if we developed any of the symptoms. We were told to tell them about the Strep A contact and we would be tested immediately.
None of us contracted it. Dgf was home and well again in no time.

@Guitarbar when my son had tonsilitis recently he wasn’t given amoxicillin (GP said it would have been the same medicine for scarlet fever too, as I thought he had it) it was a different type of penicillin and he was given a ten day course.

Also, it’s seven children now, as of this morning’s news :(

I had scarlet fever (strep A) when I was about seven.
As it was the nineties my medically trained mother had no childcare so sent me into school with it.
I threw up at school and couldn't eat the sweets she guilt bought me at the end of the day, though I did try. I don't think I had antibiotics, or if I did it was past the point when I was particularly 'ill'.
I was off school feeling a bit Ill for a few days. The only reason I remember it is because my mother retained a deep guilt she had ignored my reporting of the symptoms as standard don't fancy school itus'.
No one is my school caught it as far as I was aware.
I agree the the media is doing a good job about whipping up a frenzy and do have a slight worry because immune systems are poor after lockdowns, but I think as long you are allowing your child to carry on as normal and thus have exposure to normal bugs the likely outcome is they'll be fine.

@ElmoNeedsThePotty health anxiety is usually rooted in some kind of trauma related to illness or loss. Mine for example was triggered when I had to have a termination for
medical reasons at 20 weeks. But do go ahead and make your slightly sneery posts if it makes you feel superior.