Help - can't get 6 year old dd's temperature down

[deviladvocate]

I took my 6 yr old into the docs yesterday with a high temp >39 and stomach pain. The doc diagnosed mesenteric adenitis,

Background: she came home early from school last monday with severe nausea but wasn't actually sick. She was under the weather for the remainder of the week, I kept her home on friday (my son complained of stomach pain (no fever) that day and was sick but only once, after a day on the sofa he's been ok but is getting urticarial rashes so clearly still under the weather too) DD complained of stomach pain on sunday morning and by evening had a temp (mid 38's)

After getting back from docs yesterday calpol kept the fever and pain down for a couple of hours but was up in the 39's again for most of the afternoon, no further stomach pain though. neurofen did nothing, calpol brought it down a little. Ok over night, then over 40 this morning, gave calpol took three hours for temp to return to normal. have given both this afternoon but can't get temp below mid 38's.

waiting for doc to ring, but is there anything else i can do to get her temp down?

Have you tried giving her a little wipe down with a flannel? (WARM WATER! NOT COLD!) or wet wipes?

Opening a window a crack (not so there's a wind blowing through obviously)

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Try not to worry.

Hope you're household is better soon.

Oh and only wipe her face with the flannel/wet swipes BTW!

are you giving ibuprofen? you can alternate it with calpol?

My very unmedically trained thought is that I don't think you actually need to get her temperature down to normal range?

She is ill, and the temperature is helping her body fight it off. So long as the meds are keeping the temperature from getting out of hand (i.e. keeping it under 40), and stopping her feeling too awful in herself, then they are doing their job.

I would keep alternating calpol and calprofen, and make her as comfortable as possible with lots of fluid and sleep. Hope she feels better soon.

Yes, she's had both this afternoon, will try the wipes, I had tried a cold compress - didn't realise that might make it worse

I'm with lukewarm - the temperature is a sign that her body is fighting the illness, you're not obliged to get it down, particularly if it's only 38.5 which isn't that high. The risk with a temperature is that if it's very high it might trigger a febrile convulsion, but that's (AFAIK) a pretty small risk, particularly for a 6 year old.

yy - I forgot to write that bit - there's been a change in the way the medical profession see fevers nowadays.

The raising of the body temperature kills off the bugs! I know you're worried about febrile convulsions - but truly, as Bramshott says - they are relatively rare.

I know a child who had a febrile convulsion which is why i'm probably more twitchy about them than perhaps I need to be. I've opened the window and stripped her off and she looks a bit happier, although temp still mid 38's.

She looks awful though and isn't eating - not even chocolate

I think convulsions are more triggered by sudden sharp rises in temperature, rather than just having a (well-controlled, not too high) temperature.

So long as she's drinking, she'll be fine. The chocolate is for her hard-working mum!

Yes keep getting liquids down her and just keep her confy. Poor little thing (I have a messed up thermostat myself, and did actually have febrile convulsions as a child - and I turned out OK. )

temp finally down she's had a small snack and looking much brighter. phew!

bother. spoke too soon, temp shot back up to 39.5 shortly after last post. Doc has booked her in for blood & urine test in the morning as her fever's now been ongoing for 3 days and is worse not better.

It's OK. My son is prone to spiky temperatures. Try not to get too worried.

Wet wipe her face to cool her little head, give her some more liquid and keep an eye on her.

She'll be ok.

she's rarely if ever ill which is why i'm concerned, particularly as she's not displaying any symptoms to explain why she has the fever - the stomach pain stopped yesterday morning so it now seems unlikely to be mesenteric adenitis.

It's probably a virus. Lots of tummy bugs around at the moment, and virus' tend to cause the spikes in temperature.

She got worse during the night, we took her into A&E - turns out it's a bladder infection. One dose of the evil tasting antibiotics in her so far. Temp's still over 40 :-(

Oh poor thing, she sounds really poorly. Hope the antibiotics kick in soon, and you all start to get some r&r.

Thanks mulledwhine (love your name by the way) 3 doses of antibiotics in she still has a temp over 39 but a little brighter in herself today - has actually made it out of bed as far as the sofa

Glad to hear it. At least they'll all be well again in time for Christmas

No temp today, first day for 6 days!!! Ongoing battles over getting antibiotics into her but i'll take that over the last week. Thanks for your support x