To think dr was wrong?

[lucie333]

My son who is 3.5 came home from nursery with a temp, crying in pain whenever he tried to pee, he was ago sick when he got home had a temp of 39.5 & very lethargic- never seen him to unwell actually. I took him to dr who requested we did a urine sample- I tried my best but he was crying in too much pain he just couldn't do it, he then examined him and his boy parts seemed okay, no signs of infection or anything like that. He told me to go him and give him regular calpol, I said I wasn't happy to get sent home with nothing as I'm positive he has urine infection but he said it's too early to tell, he also said he can't prescribe without pee sample and I asked if it was possible to get sent to hospital for them to do one and he said it wasn't necessary, I trusted his word and left... I'm now thinking that possibly wasn't the right thing to do. I tried my best to get him to pee for me when we got home but he was crying saying please no mummy😢 he eventually let one out when he was in the bath ( yuck I know but it seemed more comfortable for him)

I guess my question is, was the dr right with not prescribing antibiotics?

why would you think you can’t say penis?

Just to warn you, the antibiotic used for urine infections tastes vile. Pop a large chocolate button in each of your son’s hands so he’s in control of getting them in his mouth, get medicine in, he eats buttons and you quickly refill his hands with 2 more buttons for him to shovel in. It distracts and gets rid of the taste quickly.

@callmemavis the gp would have looked at the penis and his balls so what’s wrong with saying boy parts. Op was clearly trying to be polite using sensitive language. We all knew what she meant surely?

@callmemavis why does it matter? You clearly knew what I meant ?

That's really not true at all, don't know why you needed to put it so rudely. My son wasn't peeing at all for me to get a sample he hadn't peed all day! It wasn't just pain he was in he had a temp of 39 that spiked to 41, he was vomiting, he was lethargic& unable to walk for the most part

They won’t prescribe antibiotics in a child without a definite source of infection due to antibiotic resistance. Over prescribing at a young age would cause all sorts of issues for your child in adult hood. They’ll also want to send the sample to the lab to find out which bacteria specifically is causing the infection so they can target that specific bacteria rather than throwing just any antibiotic at it.

Exact same symptoms my son had when he had a urine infection.

The Dr collected his wee in a little bag that stuck to his thigh. Not sure what it’s called, but it’s exactly for this purpose. Just attached like a plaster to his leg and his penis was pointed inside. Only way we could catch the wee.

I was told by our GP it's standard practice to prescribe antibiotics immediately with boys /men who have symptoms of a UTI.

@lucie333 I'm not wrong I used to be a paeds nurse in ED and I've never in 20 years seen a dr catheterise a child specifically for the reason of getting a urine sample. It's just not a thing. We'd do it if the bladder scanner said he had a full bladder and isn't peeing because that's retention and not good. However if the scan showed he wasn't in retention then no we wouldn't catheterise a child because the parents failed to get a urine sample they'd just have to stay there in the emergency department until they managed to get the urine sample or they choose to go home but we wouldnt prescribe antibiotics without a urine sample and children aren't Catheterised just for that.

In fact I'd go as far to say the only children I ever saw catheterised were burns patients about to be transported out to the burns unit

Our local hospital don't cafeterias children. I had to put a nappy on my daughter when she was 14. She was heavily sedated so sleeping mostly in HDU.

My little girl had the exact same symptoms at a very similar age, it was a very severe itinerary infection, she was almost 3 and it was actually due to constipation (potty training) at the time. More common than you would think at that age. The only time she would pee was in a warm bath and the only time I could get a sample was first thing in the morning in the potty as bladder was full. Give as much fluids as you can and get that antibiotic into him straight away. It will kick in very quickly at that age. I really hope he’s feeling better soon x

Yeah I think she knows now. Just because it’s a bit silly doesn’t mean now is the time and place to a point it out, twice.

Hope you and your little one are ok, OP.

I recall sitting holding a sample bottle trying to catch ‘the moment’
with my 4 month old. Apparently they needed a ‘clean’ sample to culture. He was in hospital at the time and iirc antibiotics were started before the results came back as the sample
ended up being lost anyway. I was told at the time that urine infections are common in little boys as the urethra is short. Not sure if this is true.

Quite. I was waiting for someone to steam in with "Oh OP, what on EARTH do you mean by 'boy parts...'?"

And then someone else would trundle along to have a little sniggery dig on the back of it.

Pointless but predictable.

OP, I hope your little boy is better soon.

You know the unnecessary catheterisation of a small child is going to really not be nice for him?

Dont be getting him to wee into a sample bottle - get him to pee into a clean seaside bucket or a jug or something wide rimmed so he won’t miss. Then pour it into the sample bottle!

The doctor was correct in what he said. Make sure he’s drinking regularly so he can wee and take the sample in today(Thursday).

If he gets worse, pop him to a walk in clinic if you can’t get another appointment today. They’re open 8am-8pm.

This is v good advice

Interesting. My then 3 year old saw the doctor for a UTI. I got a sample by sterilising the potty. The sample didn't show anything but he prescribed antibiotics anyway.
Tbh I think he may have been at the tail end of it anyway.

You did the right thing op. UTI is one of the main causes of sepsis. Get those antibiotics into him asap.

Please go to A&E to rule it sepsis, it is ringing alarm bells.

You don’t seem to have responses to the other poster mentioning sepsis but I thought the same thing.

Better to be thought slightly overanxious than to risk something awful happening. Your child sounds very unwell.

We had similar recently and they gave antibiotics straight away bt asked for a sample to be done before we gave it to check for infections. We managed to make a sample and started antibiotics straight away.

I’m glad you’ve got antibiotics now, and I don’t think the first doctor should have sent you away. But also, the above.

Yes. Totally ridiculous. My little girl has had two urine infections, I did have to get a sample for the GP in the UK, luckily she did a tiny bit in a potty, but it wasn’t easy and they weren’t going to give her anything without testing it even though all the signs pointed to a urine infection. But in Spain the doctor asked the relevant questions and did a short examination, happily prescribed antibiotics because it was obviously a urine infection!

^ This

@IndiaPaleAle are you in the UK? That was one of the first things they did to get a urine sample quickly when I took my 2 year old to A&E with signs of sepsis because it wasn't clear where the source of infection was.

Get the potty back out and ask him to pee in there and Ames to the doctors as soon as you have it. Keep monitoring him and give him calpol.