Anyone awake - anxious about my son

[Anxiousmother23]

He came down with a temperature and very off colour yesterday morning, we kept him off school. His fever was at 38.9 last night, gave calpol and about 30 mins later ibuprofen to help, which brought it down to 37.5 (this is forehead temp)

Now he’s woken up in the early hours with a horrific cough and can’t stop coughing, his fever is back at 38.5 I’ve given him more calpol. But his cough sounds horrific. He was totally fine on Thursday, the whole thing started yesterday morning.

I’m mega anxious when it comes to illness, especially his. As I always think the worst, especially at night like this.
He’s also very rarely unwell with a fever etc.
He can’t seem to get back to sleep with this cough - obviously he needs to sleep to help get himself better.
Is it worth taking him to out of hours in the morning just to get him checked over? In case it’s an infection and he needs antibiotics?

Also, my sons couldn’t be ill without vomiting copiously! I stopped using calpol or tried different brands in case it was part of the problem.

One of mine was hospitalised a couple of times for suspected meningitis, because the vomiting gave him petechia on his face and even down his arms.

You sound like a lovely caring mum. It's hard to say don't worry because you will. Flat cola (the NON diet stuff) helps

It could be flu, there’s a lot going around. Throwing up (and stomach pain) is quite common with it as well as the high temperature, sore throat, headache, cough.
People often say they have the flu when all they have is a bad cold but actual
flu is nasty. My DDs temperature was constantly so high she was hallucinating at times. It was scary
Plenty of fluids and rest. Plain food where possible. Drs can’t do anything, antibiotics don’t help. Day 3 is usually the worst but then it usually improves. Not going to suddenly just feel better though.
However still phone 111 if you are really really worried just in case it’s something else. As people have said though, if he’s eating, resting and peeing and his temp can be controlled they will probably tell you to keep giving him paracetamol and ibuprofen and wait it out. Dont just take him to the surgery, if it’s flu they will not be happy

Empathising with you OP as I’m currently sitting with my poorly 7 year old who has had 30 hours of occasional high fever and 5 episodes of vomiting. He’s only required paracetamol twice during this time as his temperatures come and go. He always picks up after his medicine and then starts to flag again about 5-6 hours later.

He hasn’t managed to keep any food down since Friday night but he’s still drinking so I’m reassured by that. He’s obviously not urinating as frequently as normal but that’s to be expected.

When he’s having his good periods he’s sat up chatting away and watching films on his iPad so I’m happy that there’s nothing seriously wrong with him. There are a lot of tummy bugs going around his school at the moment.

If he was having persistent fever, unable to keep fluids down and appeared flat and exhausted I would be a lot more worried, but as it stands I’m just letting him ride him out.

I won’t be taking him to the GP as I think that would make him feel worse, however, in your son’s case with his bad cough, if there’s a potential for a chest infection then it’s worth getting him looked at in case he needs antibiotics.

Ok now you should contact someone and tell them you've been giving your son ibuprofen and he's started getting stomach pain and vomiting. That can be a serious side effect of the drug.

I’ll stop giving him ibuprofen- I was only giving him the required dose. He’s never reacted to if before. Unless it’s the paracetamol /calpol? But I feel he needs something to keep his temp down and keep him comfortable.

Remember that a temperature is the body’s natural way to fight infection, so by reducing the temperature you are taking away that protective factor.

Not including this episode of sickness, if your son is otherwise ok, eating and drinking and playing on his iPad then don’t worry too much about the temperature unless it goes whopping high, which you would be alerted to by the change in his behaviour and temperament.

I was always told to look at the child and not the thermometer 🤣

@NorthernGirl1981

He's currently doing a jigsaw with his dad.

You don't need to keep his temp down. You really only need to treat it when it gets too high and makes him uncomfortable. A temperature is just the body trying to kill the infection. You still need to contact someone now just in case it is the ibuprofen that has caused this. More than likely it is just a bug, but because this started after he's taken multiple doses of ibuprofen it needs to be ruled out.

This does not say children under 7 should not be given Ibuprofen. It says there are certain situations but for a generally healthy normal sized child it’s perfectly safe to follow directions on the bottle. Babies can have ibuprofen it just needs to be prescribed between 1 and 3 months.

Ibuprofen needs to be given not in an empty stomach

But with the children's one that's in an oral soultion it's different

So OP you've been doing the right thing

www.nhs.uk/medicines/ibuprofen-for-children/how-and-when-to-give-ibuprofen-for-children/

And I'm delighted for you that he's turned a corner with your caring skills

You've done really well and helped him and yourself through what was a stressful medical time

And hopefully OP now you've gone through this experience you'll feel more confident moving forward with situations like this

Honestly, vomiting with flu is quite common especially in children. All you need to do is read the threads on here about this year’s flu to see that it’s making loads of grown adults vomit too. Could also be that he’s managed to catch norovirus at the same time although I hope not for your sake!

OP, tomorrow morning please go to the GP and get help with your anxiety.

Your son has a nasty cold. He is fine.

Antihistamine might help a bit with the cough. Hope he feels better soon.

Take him to the out of hours and get him checked by a healthcare professional, kids can compensate and then go down hill very quickly . Not to worry you but this happened to my son who was then admitted imyo
hospital with pneumonia. Hopefully it’s nothing but let the professionals decide .

I've got to say op I do agree with this, this is quite an extreme level of anxiety to experience, it must be very stressful for you.

There is absolutely no need for that.

He is eating and drinking and is awake, responsive and playing with his dad. He has a cold.

it may be a lot in an empty stomach if he isn’t eating much. He sounds like he has flu or a bad virus - and is responding to meds. Try not to worry - these sorts of illnesses can take a while to overcome. Glad he’s able to play - stay calm and he will be better soon x

@lostinthememory my son was running around AE and then ended up in Resus. Why not get the boy checked over?? Hopefully it is just a cold !! Armchair medics make me laugh 🤣

Respectfully, that's very rare. OP has described a child with a heavy cold. A&E and the other out of hours services are already overloaded, OP's son sounds absolutely fine.

Quite.

A boy who is eating and drinking, watching his iPad and doing jigsaw puzzles with his dad rarely require a trip to A&E.

Based on what OP has described her son has a bad cold or flu and is coping well (whilst feeling rotten of course). There are no red flags which suggest that he needs to be checked over. A&E and out of hours are absolutely rammed at the moment so the poor lad would have to spend hours and hours feeling poorly and uncomfortable waiting in hospital only to be sent home after being told it’s flu and to keep doing what they’re doing. He would also infect other people in the waiting room who are probably already clinically vulnerable given that they’re in A&E/out of hours. That is irresponsible. So many people have posted a clear list of red flags to look out for and if any of those happen then, yes, she should take him. Until then, staying quiet and looked after at home is best.

You obviously all know best !! To the poster trust your instincts and get him checked out if you feel it’s necessary.

He’s not had a fever the last two days which is good. All of yesterday he was fine and didn’t need Calpol or Nurofen, same overnight and today too hopefully.
We were going to send him to school today as he was running around the house yesterday being silly and obviously no fever. He’s still very snotty and got a bit of a cough though, he also tires easily. He said he didn’t want to go to school today and to be fair he does look tired still and quite heavy eyed. So I think we’ll keep him off today and hope he can go in tomorrow.