DS I'll for 9 days

[Tiredmum1223]

Hello, my Ds has been ill for 10 days now. It started last weekend when he started with a cold and then went downhill quickly. he was then diagnosed with strep throat in hospital and put on oral antibiotics and sent home. After a day he started being sick and then got dehydrated and we were told to stop the antibiotics. He has not got any better, is sleeping all the time and not eating. He is now complaining of a sore chest and ear and has a hacking cough. I'm going to be taking him back to the doctors tomorrow but could this be another infection on top of what he had and how to tell if it could be something like Pneumonia?

Sorry, I did post in children's health but have had no responses. I have managed to get a drs apt today but not til later this afternoon and I just don't want to be fobbed off with how ill he still is.
TIA x

How old is he?

I think see a doctor definitely. But there's a load of awful viruses going around atm.

He's 5, I've heard that there are so many going around at the moment and they seem to be worse and staying for longer to! X

There’s a lot going around atm. My three year old has had three lots of antibiotics for three different things since the end of January.

If the strep's not fully shifted, the earache could be from the tonsil on that side swelling with infection/tonsil stones, but I don't believe it causes coughing. I hope it's not a chest infection, poor little lad.

My dd was similar lately. I took her to a&e and dr listened and said no infection. But temp and sats were off so luckily another dr said chest xray and it turned out she had pneumonia that needed 2 different antibiotics to get rid of.

I will keep repeating my daughters story.

2.5 years old, unwell for 5 days and 2 doctors visits.

There were no clear reasons why she was unwell but the main symptoms were as follows:

-Lethargic, as in if we sat her on the couch she would just lie/fall down.
-Uncontrollable temp with full dosage of paracetamol and ibuprofen, temp would cause her to shake.
-Constant whine/cry - it was as if she was in pain but couldn't or didn't know where

2 GP visits, first said viral ( red ear and throat) second said ear infection with antibiotics.

Day 6 we went to GP who still wasn't sure and advised us to go to A&E as we were so worried and when we arrived she was seen by triage nurse who then rushed her through immediately and after 2 lumber punctures diagnosed with bacterial meningitis.

She had a 6 day stay in hospital and a further 4 days as an outpatient.

This isnt to scare you, its to say that if your unhappy or worried then please dont hesitate to go somewhere else like a pediatric A&E.

Why did they do the lumbar punctures? Did they do bloods first? What was the triage nurses reasoning? I only ask because we got sent to the hospital when dd had a very high temp, then she had a rash when we got there. They prepped her to do bloods but then when consultant saw her said there was no need and sent us home because she had perked up.

Her CRP results were 279, they took many bloods, done chest x ray then Lumber puncture.

However I think but not 100% sure they had started her on antibiotics even before her CRP results were back.

My husband had taken her ( 1 parent allowed) and then i was called to come down by him and when i arrived she was just being taken down for lumber puncture.

The consultant came in and said that whilst they were waiting on the results they had started her on antibiotics for meningitis as they thought it was pointing to that, I was shocked and said she doesnt have a rash, the consultant said to me that if there is a rash only 10% of patents will walk out of hospital without any effects, he said she was really lucky.

@Banrion It's so hard to know what Is causing them to be so unwell but I'm glad you got the right diagnosis in the end. What symptoms did your DD have?

@foodglorious I'm so sorry , that sounds so scary! My DS has had a temp for 8 days not but some days it isn't a constant temp if that makes sense. He has just been sleeping all the time and not really getting out of bed at all which is so unlike him. I'm just worried we will go to the doctors today and be told its just a virus but he jas been ill for 2 weeks before he started to go really downhill.

There’s a 100 day cough going around atm
weve been unwell for like 2 months now having had antibiotics and all sorts to try clear it
sorry to hear he’s so unwell 💐

I'm on day 20 of a very similar sounding illness- still feel dreadful. But as he's so young I would get him seen by a doctor but try not to over worry

Christ what an ordeal. I’m so glad she was ok. Thank you for sharing

You can actually see from the GPs A&E referral letter it wasn't entirely evident to her that it was meningitis but i think because i was so worried she listened to my husband and what we were saying.

Hmmm no idea why that image is rubbish

This was what she wrote in the letter:

Thank you for your assessment of this normally fit and well 23 month old girl.
Persistent high fever for 8 days, with predominant features of lethargy, irritability and poor oral intake.
[Patient's name] has been unwell since last tues - persistent high fevers which will only come down with regular calpol / ibuprofen. Notably irritable and lethargic. On Friday would not get up and by Sun notably worse. Seen in OOH and erythematous TM noted only. JIC px for abx given. Mum really worried; continues to be very lethargic, says she has barely took 10 steps in last 3/7, tries to walk and then cries to be picked up. Seems in pain but difficult to work out when this is. Crying and irritable with different whiny cry. Drinking small amounts orally fluids - one sippy cup per day (200mls). Barely eating anything. This morning she has been awake and alert, whiny cry. Slept for max 4 hour intervals and awoke miserable with high fever. Yesterday only damp nappy twice – dark urine. Not moved bowels for a week.
Clinically:
very irritable. Whiny cry. Clingy. Seems in discomfort.
alert and interactive. PEARL. no photophobia. no meningism. no rashes head to toe.
Obs: 37.8 RR 28 Sats 97% HR 150-170. Cap 3 secs centrally.
Resp: good a/e nil focal. HS 1+1+0.
Abd: tense when crying - soft in between? uncomfortable. BS active. Hips: FROM - no pain. Ears: red++ TMR. mild erythema left. throat: mild pharyngeal erythema - no tonsillar enlargement / pus.
nappy - mod wet - dark urine.
Imp: red flags – with persistent PUO - I do not think clinically possible AOM right ear explains clinical picture here.

Thank you so much for taking the time to put that on. I worry so much about dd she gets 40 degree temps quite regularly lately. Did the temps come down with Calpol/ ibuprofen then or has the dr made a mistake there?

@toomanyleggings They did come down but only for a few hours max then right back up so it was constant paracetamol and ibuprofen at the max dose in 24 hours.

None of her symptoms were clear meningitis but she was just so ill when you looked at her and i feel like the GP actually listened to what we were saying instead of solely focusing on the clinical picture.

We are lucky that we have a major pediatric children's hospital/A&E near us so i feel like tey just knew when they saw her.

Hi, just a little update. We saw the doctor yesterday evening and she said it could be flu that he has.
DS still has a nasty chesty cough and is still complaining of pain in stomach as well as chest hurting when coughing. Dr said his chest sounded clear yesterday though. Hasn't had a temp for 24hrs now which is good but I'm still a little worried as still no energy either and also when to worry about cough not getting better. I know you can't always hear a chest infection/pneumonia when listening to chest with a stethoscope.

If you still feel worried by late afternoon then your perfectly entitled to go to A&E,do you have a children's one near you?