Quite concerned about DD, what would you do?

[ElfOnTheTopShelf]

DD recently has been getting really difficult to wake up in the morning. She is five years old and her bedtime is seven. Mostly she is asleep by 7:15. I wake her up approx 6:45/7:00 in the morning so we can get ready to leave the house, so nearly 12 hours sleep a night.
For a few weeks she was complaining every now and again of a tummy ache, took her to the docs who said UTI and she had a course of antibiotics.
This week she has become extremely clingy, difficult to wake up in the morning, very emotional, and has been going to bed sooner and sooner each night, and getting more difficult to wake in the morning. She's also a bit off her food, one day this week she had a slice of toast for breakfast, at lunch she ate half a sandwich, and tea she had half a toastie, and she didn't want anything else.
Yesterday she had spent nearly 45 minutes crying at the childminders house before I picked her up, she alternates between saying nothing is wrong / she's just tired / she's worried the new baby will be smelly (I am 35 weeks pg, but up til now, she's seemed fine at the idea of having a sibling). I took her home last night, she was in bed and asleep at 5:45, she slept until 7:10 this morning. I have picked her up, and apparently she has been asleep "several times" today in class, slept for an hour at the childminders, and is currently lying in bed now.
I did try to get her in our docs, but they cannot see her until next thursday.
In these cirumstances, WWYD? DH says to ring nhs direct, but I'm not sure if we're just being paranoid. Any advice would be appreciated. Some people have suggested that she may be naturally worried about the new arrival, and this is what is making her a bit emotional, but surely wouldn't put her off her food and make her sleep excessively?

[nobodyimportant]

Just seen you're off, good luck.

[Becaroooo]

Hope you get some help.

I would be insisting on blood tests at this stage tbh

x

[Sirzy]

Good luck hope you get answers.

[Whatevertheweather]

Good luck hope you get some answers - I would ask for any blood results to be fast tracked x

[ElfOnTheTopShelf]

The people at the walk in centre have looked over DD, they asked for a water sample, and said she has some nitrates in it, but there wasn't enough urine for them to send to the lab for testing, so they have asked me to drop a sample at my surgery tomorrow so that it can be sent off to the hospital for testing.
They told me I should get DD seen by the doctors, and push for an emergency appointment (can your doctors refuse to see you if you request an emergency appointment?), and to not wait past monday for her to be seen by the GP.
They did her temp (normal) urine (nitrates) throat (clear) ears (clear) and listened to her tummy and had a feel where DD said it was hurting.
DD in bed now. Said she wanted to go to school tomorrow but then changed her mind, know she'll change her mind again tomorrow morning!

[moosemama]

I hope she's ok.

We've just been through something very similar with ds2 (6), so I totally understand your concerns.

I ended up with him off school and sleeping for half of every day. He also lost his appetite and was eating just a few mouthfuls of every meal. In addition he had really horrible pains in his legs, bad headaches and his schoolwork had taken a big slide.

GP took bloods, pretty much straight away, which came back fine - apart from slightly low iron. By the third visit to the GP we were all starting to get seriously concerned about him, but they still couldn't find anything wrong and were about to refer him to a paediatrician, when he suddenly started to get better.

All we had done was improve the quality of his diet, although it was already very good, make absolutely sure he got a full dose of multi-vitamins and omega oil every day and also that he drank plenty throughout the day.

Other than that, we did find out that he had been very low and worrying about his relationship with his brother (who had just been diagnosed with Asperger's). I made sure we spent some relaxed time together 1-2-1 and casually raised the issue, rather than asking him questions and he came out with his worries bit by bit. We talked it all through and have made sure we keep the dialogue open and relaxed now, rather than him brooding about things and not talking about his feelings.

We still aren't 100% sure what was wrong. Most likely a combination of things, maybe a bit post-viral, plus slightly anaemic, plus a growth spurt, plus anxiety and worry.

I hope your dd starts to improve soon and you can get to the bottom of what's causing it.

[moosemama]

Cross posted.

If the walk in centre have said she needs an emergency GP appointment, then your surgery should agree to see her tomorrow. I'd call first thing, as soon as they open and insist on an appointment tomorrow morning, as you don't want to be left with out of hours care only over the weekend.

To be honest, most surgeries prioritise children anyway so they should be able to fit her in.

[blinks]

no they shouldn't refuse you needing an emergency appt. phone first thing and say you want your daughter seen on same day as emergency, as advised by another health care professional. they have appts reserved for such cases.

[youretheoneformefatty]

Just wanted to say, hope all goes well tomorrow. PLEASE let us know what GP says.

[ElfOnTheTopShelf]

I think I need to be firmer with the doctors in relation to DD. Last time we had an issue we took DD to the doctors as she had a sore throat (she would have been three) and they thought she may have an infection but didn't want to give her medication as they were not sure. This was on Xmas eve. So we ended up with DD getting more poorly over Christmas day/Boxing day, she refused food and drink, was really ill, became dehydrated, and we ended up with NHS direct, the walk in centre and they then referred us to the hospital as an emergency where she was treated for dehydration, and infected throat. I know she could have been just as poorly even if she had received medication on Xmas eve, but I did feel disappointed with the surgery.

I will phone the doctors tomorrow morning and arrange for her to go in and be seen. For the people around me who know DD, they all have seen the difference in her, she's typically like the energizer bunny, on the go all day long, so this is very unusual for her.

I'm not massively concerned about her diet, though will probably get her some multi vitaims just in case, she generally has a really good diet; drinks lots of milk / eats lots of cheese/yoghurts, eats lots of green veggies and loads of fruit, she doesn't eat a lot of meat but hopefully she gets enough iron from other food items. She does bruise terrible easily, and is particularly clumbys at the moment (she's just had a bit of a growth spurt, and I'm always convinced it takes her a while to get used to her new dimensions!).

[CarGirl]

I hope you get to the bottom of this soon, sounds very worrying.

[ElfOnTheTopShelf]

I am not sure whether she is bruising more easily, or just getting in more circumstances where she is getting more bruises, if that makes sense. The other day she looked like she'd been hit with a hammer several times up her legs with the bruises she had, from falling over in the playground, falling up the stairs etc.

[nobodyimportant]

Make sure you mention the bruising when you see the GP. I'm sure they have to give an emergency appointment. Just make sure you're on the phone as soon as they're open. I wouldn't send her to school tomorrow.

[saggarmakersbottomknocker]

Yes - I would insist she's seen tomorrow Elf. Tell them that the walk-in said she should be seen as an emergency. Get her to do a wee first thing and take it with you. Like others, I thought diabetes when I read your first post - it doesn't always present in the usual way in small children.

[moosemama]

Our GP did take it seriously straight away, but would have brushed us off after the bloods came back ok. I just kept taking him back though and after a couple of appointments they agreed I'd done the right thing. It went on for about three and a half/four weeks in all.

Your dd's diet sounds similar to my ds's, except that we are veggies. There wasn't much to be done with his diet really, but we tried to cram a few super-healthy meals into his already healthy diet, got a few more lentils and pulses into him and started him on the vegetarian omega oil supplements.

One thing the GP was concerned about with my ds was how his legs/shins were covered in bruises. They made sure to ask him if he remembered when he'd done some of them, but he pretty much had a reason for each one. He has always bruised easily as well and is much worse when he's going through a growth spurt (I once got four calls in one day to tell me he'd fallen over and bumped his head. - Its school policy to call every time there's a head inury.)

I was reading about vitamin D deficiency this week and several of the children in the article had very similar symptoms to ds, so I do wonder whether that might have been another possible cause. His multi-vitamins have vitamin D in them and of course he's been outside a lot more since the weather improved.

[FAB5]

I hope you can get seen tomorrow.

[washnomore]

Check her while she sleeps, listening for noisy breathing, snoring or apnoea episodes, sweating, a flushed face and tossing and turning frequently. DS has enlarged tonsils and adenoids which make it hard for him to breathe at night. This results in poor quality, disrupted sleep, daytime tiredness (hyperactivity in our case), bad breath and general clumsiness. In our case this is accompanied by a sore tummy sometimes, due to mesenteric adenitis (enlarged abdominal lymph nodes).

Maybe irrelevant but it took us a long time to piece it all together and get a referral - now awaiting surgery. Hope she's better soon.

[MillsAndDoom]

My ex-MIL was a Practise Manager and she told me that by law a GP has to see you if you turn up and request an appointment, although you may have to wait until they can fit you in. Just in case you get fobbed off on the phone.

Hope they get to the bottom of it quickly and your DD is on the mend soon

[ElfOnTheTopShelf]

thank you all for the responses. I will update you tomorrow with what happens at the doctors.

[kingbeat23]

I havent anything useful to say, but Ihope your DD is feeling better tomorrow...x