To be upset at A&E fobbing off my toddler?

[IWineAndDontDine]

I hate to be that person. I acknowledge they are overstretched and understaffed but I'm concerned about my daughter. Shes had diarrhoea for 3-4 weeks since covid. Lost her appetite around then, its got to the point she is probably eating 150 calories a day if that. Just a couple of mouthfuls of food. She's not herself, she looks gaunt, her eyes look sunken, she's gagging constantly as if she's going to throw up and occasionally does throw up. She's been warm for over a week. We haven't tested her temp with an actual thermometer but she's been clearly warm to touch and sweating. Just gradually getting worse since covid.

We have been told by everyone covid symptoms drag and drag so we kept thinking she would improve, but I just looked at her this morning and thought, this has gone on too long, you look super poorly and malnourished, so I called gp (my husband gets a private gp line through work). He said he wouldn't wait and get her seen before the day is up.

We took her to a&e as per drs orders and they checked her temp which was, 39.6. Checked to see if her tummy was tender, checked her lungs with stethoscope, and that was it. Said they weren't worried so long as she was drinking. Said the temp was worrying but only if it goes on for 5 days and as we havent tested properly they werent going to count it, despite it being over a week since we could feel she was clearly warm. No tests, no bloods, no advice. Am I being a paranoid mother? Have we been fobbed off or is this all I should expect from an a&e visit?

Has she vomited after every 1-2 mouthfuls of food for 4 weeks?

@IWineAndDontDine have you actually now started monitoring her temperature with a thermometer? If you are not already, write down her food and liquid intake, vomiting episodes and wet nappies, don’t rely on your memory.

If I still wasn’t happy, I would phone back the GP line, ask for a video call so they can see your DD and then ask if they recommend you go back to A&E. You and your DH are your DD’s advocate and it is up to you to keep seeking help if you are not satisfied with the medical advice you have been given and her recovery.

Your experience in A&E has hopefully reminded you that you must continue to monitor a temperature with a thermometer until it goes down. In case it makes you feel better, I once took my DD to an urgent care center because she was crying non-stop (which was unusual for her) and refusing to eat or drink. Doctor asked if she had a temperature and I said I had checked her forehead with my hand and she seemed fine. Doctor used a thermometer and she had a temp of 39C. I got a proper dressing down for not using a thermometer and have not relied on my hand ever since.

Nope her appetite started wavering week 1, but she was still eating. Week 2 she started eating maybe 1 meal a day and some snacks but was fussy, only this week she has got worse. She's been very gaggy over the last few weeks and vomited a couple of times but generally she was OK until this week

Lesson learnt. Usually when she has an awful temp (39+) she's miserable. She was obviously warm but OK so I thought it wasn't as much of a problem and the not eating/vomiting was more of the issue. She's now not herself and her temp is a bit higher

Had the same with my daughter, it went on for about 10 weeks, she was referred and we are still waiting but fortunately she has turned a corner and back to herself. Very worrying time. Get the GP on Monday to do bloods, TELL them you want them done and stool samples also.

Op, can I just check-do you feel she’s had a consistently raised temperature since having covid 4 weeks ago?
how often is she vomiting and how long has that been going on for?

I'm not sure about the temp. She definitely had it for the first week but not too bad (just over 38) then it kind of became a bit of a background symptom. We were getting on with life, her covid symptoms went (snottyness/cough) and she was ok in herself so we weren't monitoring her temp. We assumed her appetite would come back and she would start getting better so weren't focusing on it. And then her appetite started to drop more, diarrhoea carried on, started getting more gaggy, then really noticed in the last week as things have carried on/got worse. Sick has been intermittent over the first few weeks and getting worse in the last week

How old is she?
did you go to a dedicated children’s A&E or one that’s part of an adult A&E?
she could well have picked up another bug/virus that’s causing new symptoms so it may be nothing to worry about but if she continues to get worse then don’t hesitate to go back. A child with symptoms that are continuing for that long needs a good once over. If you re-present with the same issue they’ll likely take a more thorough look, doesn’t mean anything’s wrong but it would warrant another think about what’s going on.
Trust your gut and please don’t listen to strangers telling you not to seek medical advice if you feel worried.

Sepsis doesn’t take 4 weeks though, so unless anything specific has changed this is an ongoing problem.

That's not my experience of gp services. Is it yours?

You can be ill for a month and then get worse you know.

You can't say that - she could have developed an infection after the virus

The o/p says she sought medical advice because it had “gone on too long”

no change or worsening of symptoms to suggest she had developed anything secondary to the original illness.

a 4 week illness that has “gone on too long” is not sepsis.

Could she have picked up another bug while recovering from covid? We recently had covid in the house followed the next week by another bug that caused vomiting and a temperature though this was relatively short lived. I hope she’s better very soon.

Get a finger prick blood test done for her blood sugar as well as a urine dip. Def not just a urine dip.

So you did actually test for covid ?
How old is your daughter ?

She needs to see the GO and have tests.
A and E checked she was not in immediate danger. But they are not a GP service. You have a private GP, get her seen today and tests ordered.

And it probably is just her illness going on a long time.

It wasn't true until my DD had something out of the ordinary. Then it did take lots of pushing and calls and visits to get it sorted. I'm not bashing GPs at all - I've never had a problem with them. Most children's illness are viral and you can't do a full work up on every child that has a bug. It's not surprising that level of parents' concern and number of visits for the same thing factors into their decision making.

How's your lo now , hopefully eating and drinking ok ?

Currently in hospital as she was still spiking a fever this week, oral antibiotics were prescribed for UTI but they werent working. Huge improvement over the last few hours and she's playing again! So happy to see her smiley self again. Thank you for asking 😁

Trust your gut instinct , irrespective of whether this has gone on for four weeks or less. Sepsis can develop with any infection irrelevant of how long she’s been sick .