anti biotics for chest infection but cough now worse & temp high again

[migola]

DD has had cough/cold since last saturday. Took her to docs on weds & they said she had a chest infection (& said her ears were 'a bit red') and gave her anti-bs. Cough was still there but temp came right down after less than 48 hours. This afternoon her cough seemed to get worse and her temp this evening is really high again.

Gave nurofen earlier when it was 39, 3.5 hours later it was back up to 39.3. Gave Calpol half an hour ago when it was 39.6, now down to 39.1.

Does this mean the anti-bs have stopped working? Or has she got a new virus? Am absolutely paranoid in case it develops into pneumonia

I would get her checked again. DD had a chest and ear infection 2 weeks ago, had it for a week before they stopped saying it was viral and gave her antibiotics, her temp came down after 24hours of antibiotics and didnt go back up again. She did develop the cough again after the antibiotics finished but doctor said chest is clear, but if her temp has returned i would seek advice, maybe nhs direct

thanks mtp, am seeing doctor shortly.

Cough can actually sound worse when it's clearing up because the stuff's loosening and coming out rather than stuck inside the chest.
When dd1 had pneumonia she didn't start coughing at all until she'd had 3-4 days of antibiotics. The dr. said it was a good sign she'd started to cough.

thanks DeWe. Doctor said her chest is now clear, which is good, and thinks temp is just because of the virus (not sure how temp would have stopped for 3 days then come back , but the bad news is he thinks she may be asthmatic and I've come back with an inhaler for her

It is very difficult for a doctor to establish whether a chest is clear is not. Most doctors are not able to do so. I was told by paediatricians (when dd was admitted with severe pneumonia after weeks of various GPs saying not to worry as she just had a virus) that the only way to establish whether a chest is really clear or not is through a chest X-ray, clearly not very practical. So they often rely on other symptoms, such as high persistent fever, coughing etc. to come to a view whether it may be pneumonia or severe chest infection. You also cannot say whether it is viral or bacterial without testing. In the case of dd it was too serious to wait to find out which bacteria caused her pneumonia so she ended up on anti-biotics drip with a number of different anti-biotics to cover all options. Similarly, it is very difficult to diagnose asthma except if you are able to measure peak flow over a period of time. Did they give a peak flow meter so you can put a chart together? If she still has high fever and a cough I would be wary (asthma doesn't cause fever and an asthma cough is a dry smoker's type cough). If it persist I would take her to A&E so they can take an X-ray. Pneumonia is very serious and many cases are being missed by GPs

dikkert your poor DD, sounds really scary.

Nope, didn't give me a peak flow meter, just a prescription for the inhaler. He said there's an asthma nurse there should I need further assistance - I think I may book an appt with her just to talk it through and find out a bit more.
Her cough was initially a hacking cough, like a smokers cough I suppose, but now I'd say it's dryer, and a bit barky at times.
Since we got back from the doctors she hasn't really be coughing that much [hopeful]