AIBU? Tonsillitis. Worried it’s more.

[CaffeineChaosandCuddles]

My 5 year old girl started coughing on Monday night into Tuesday, but she seemed ok- she wanted to go to school as normal on Tuesday because it was her nativity and she was Mary, I could tell when watching her she wasn’t right.

when she came home she was a little under the weather, but was dancing and energetic but she felt warm.. she spiked a temp throughout the night and this morning. Still coughing, but mildly and a headache. Tested her for flu a b & Covid and all negative

took her to the doctors as her temp was high, like 38.5-39.0 and she listened to her chest: clear, looked in her throat and immediately said ‘tonsillitis’ and prescibed her with antibotics. Only have got 2 doses into her as we only got it at 3pm.

but she’s still spiking temps, calpol is bringing it down a little bit.. lowest it’s been for her is 37.8?

she’s also shivering & mentioned her head a few times tonight.

I’ve never had tonsillitis, can it really make you feel this bad? I also never assumed it would start with a cough.

those whose kids suffer, please tell me this sounds normal for tonsillitis?

and if there siblings managed to avoid? Paranoid about my 18 month old getting it- they’ve been kept apart today!

thank you xxx

Yes. Tonsillitis that needs antibiotics is a nasty thing. I nearly ended up in hospital in my twenties with it. I was delirious.

Antibiotics will kick in soon. It's very good you've got them.

Not sure about siblings catching it. If it's bacterial they won't but they could catch the virus that caused it, if it is viral. Doesn't necessarily mean they'll have tonsillitis too though.

Oh and children's nurofen might be better because it's anti inflammatory so will help bring swelling down. I know when it's v bad you can alternate between Calpol and neurofen because the latter is a different painkiller type.

Thank you! She seems ok in herself, really chatty all day today and wanted food, but only nibbled it? She didn’t want to go to sleep and was making up any excuse!

I worry with fevers & any infection really, my son was born extremely premature so it’s triggered health anxiety into me. He’s only 18 months. I’ve kept them completely apart, so here’s to hoping!

I just want her to be better, I’m hoping the antibiotics kick in asap!!

We’ve been alternating, the nurofen is bringing temperature down quicker than the calpol!

Try not to worry. They bounce back quickly usually.

Tonsillitis is so minor. She’ll be fine

Tonsillitis makes you feel awful. Poor kid. But 24 hours of antibiotics will make all the difference.

She doesn't sound bad at all? Mild fever, normally chatty, energetic and asking for food still?

I'd give the antibiotics chance to work.

When DS had secondary tonsillitis, he was seriously ill with a 41 degree fever and needed some help to breathe due to the swelling. Pretty extreme but it was on top of Covid.

Your DD's dose sounds mild. Horrible of course when they're ill but nothing is ringing alarm bells.

It can be minor, and it can be really nasty. I used to be wiped out for two weeks a time with it, feeling really awful, high temps, antibiotics. It wasn’t life threatening or anything, but it was horrible and took a lot of getting over.

Thank you!! I think with my health anxiety, I’m more worried it’ll get worse and won’t get better. I was shocked when she said tonsillitis as like I said, she’s not mentioned her throat

Tonsillitis sucks, it usually takes 2-3 days of antibiotics before you start to feel better so if she's only had 2 doses it'll take another day or two before you really see her temperature come down I'm afraid

My daughter suffered from repeat tonsillitis at that age and it sometimes took 76 hours for the fever to break. All of the symptoms you describe sound familiar.

My poor DS spent 18 months going from tonsillitis to chest infection and back again. He was also premature so I understand that worry. Something we found helpful to sooth his throat (it was actually suggested by a lovely GP) was honey and warm lemonade. Local honey is best but any honey will do. We would also squeeze some fresh lemon into it. It really helped DS.
None of my other 3 DC ever caught tonsillitis off Ds, not even his twin with whom he shared a room at the time.

How is she today @CaffeineChaosandCuddles ?

Actually it can be really serious because your throat can swell up and you have trouble breathing.
And it's a really horrible illness, even when relatively mild. I've had some hideous bouts of it in the past.

Having a cough does make tonsillitis less likely and in all diagnostic tools it's presence counts against in as a diagnosis, suggesting it to be more likely a pharyngitis. Either way antibiotics make minimal difference - even with an actual group A strep bacterial tonsillitis antibiotics if given only reduced the duration of illness by 16hours in studies, with complications rare in both instances.

Also fever is a natural defence against infection, whilst I'd Def encourage use of Calpol to relieve discomfort/happier child more likely to drink well - the obsession with elimination of fever is not helpful/or a useful indicator of severity of illness - working on the ambulance service I've seen many a parent ignore their clearly worsening child until it very late because of this stupid notion that because the fever came down when they gave paracetamol and ibuprofen they were getting better.

If they're up and about, drinking well, no sign of difficulty in breathing, can open their mouth fully, don't experience any sudden worsening - just need to keep encouraging drink/cuddles/rest and distraction. If you do see a picture of increasing tiredness to lethargy, falling oral intake, noisy laboured breathing, disinterest, not going to the toilet - go see a Dr whether fever is present or not.

Thanks, why is coughing main symptom of tonsillitis on the NHS website if it makes it less likely? https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/tonsillitis/

thank you. I have health anxiety, so I’d always go more on how my child is acting- than a fever, but as she seems relatively well. I’m unsure why the fever keeps going up.

Not always! It can be tougher for some kids. Speaking as a mother whose daughter had to have hers removed, stop minimising things. The kids clearly going through it and she’ll be fine in the end but it can get pretty nasty and isn’t always minor.

Tonsillitis is normally of the back of a cold/virus, it tends to be a secondary infection. So if my child got ill with a normal standard cold or cough it most likely ended up with bacterial tonsillitis. Within 24 hours of antibiotics your daughter should bounce back. Just so important to keep her fluids up and her try and get some food down her.

Ps the fever comes and goes. You sound like you’re doing the right thing