Should I accept GP's advice or would you be worried?

[mammal]

DD became ill with cold/flu type symptoms nearly two weeks ago with 40 degree temps and vomiting. She seemed to improve but then fever and vomiting returned with a bright red rash on her face, her face was puffy and she developed conjunctivitis in both eyes. Fever has finally gone but she is not right.
She wakes in the morning after 13 or 14 hours sleep and wants to go back to bed almost straightaway. Is having two naps a day when she hasn't been napping for nearly two years.
My son now has the same. He is into his fourth day of 40 degree temps that reduce with Nurofen and calpol but do not go down to a normal temp. His rash has been on his chest instead of his face and I noticed his tongue was pale and covered in red spots. All other symptoms the same.
I have taken them to the GP three times in the past week and been told it's nothing to worry about but I am worried.
My son especially is very irritable. He whimpers like an animal in pain.
Any ideas what is wrong with them?

Scarlet fever?

I would take them back to the GP, there are lots of nasty virus's doing the rounds but it does sound like it could be scarlet fever (i know there have been several people with dc's with it on mn), my daughter had it a couple years ago and had all the symptoms you describe, started with high temp and vommiting and i took her to the gp 4 times before they agreed that it was scarlet fever, anti-biotics soon cleared it up.

Scarlet fever would usually have a strawberry tongue, so not pale. The rash looks like sandpaper though.

One characteristic with scarlet fever is that, although the cheeks go red, the area directly around the mouth stays pale. And I thought the tongue was initially coated with white and only become strawberry at a later stage. But hey, I'm not a doctor. I'm just rather concerned about scarlet fever because my mum caught it as a young woman and it led to rheumatic fever, in the post-war period where antibiotics were not yet given. It damaged her heart so badly she had to have a valve replacement. Luckily that's incredibly rare these days. But please get a second opinion (any other doctors in the surgery?) on whether you need antibiotics.

Measles?

Symptoms from the NHS website:

cold-like symptoms, such as runny nose, watery eyes, swollen eyelids and sneezing,
red eyes and sensitivity to light,
a mild to severe temperature, which may peak at over 40.6°C (105°F) for several days, then fall but go up again when the rash appears,
tiny greyish-white spots (called Koplik's spots) in the mouth and throat,
tiredness, irritability and general lack of energy,
aches and pains,
poor appetite,
dry cough, and
red-brown spotty rash.

Thanks everyone.

DS's temperature is lower today, and DD is more her usual self, although still tired.

I don't think it was measles as they have both been immunised. DD had her booster about 6 weeks ago.

Their symptoms match Scarlet Fever more closely but DD's rash was also on her upper lip so perhaps not. It also seems to be resolving on it's own without antibiotics so that probably makes it less likely.

Just relieved they seem to be improving today.

Sounds like Fifth Disease/Slapped cheek to me.

Sofia I wondered this but GP says not.

DS had an all over rash that lasted a week. No other symptoms. GP said allergic hives... 2 weeks later DD got slapped cheek. 48 hours after her cheeks came out she got exactly the same rash as DS, everywhere.

But unless the GP does a blood test you aren't going to know. Would the treatment be any different?

No, I shouldn't think so. Their rash was confined to the face and chest so I think that makes Slapped Cheek unlikely? Anyway, the main thing is they are improving.

Ok Mammal, just be aware that you can still catch measles even if you have been immunised - the vaccine isn't 100% effective. There are a couple of measles outbreaks around Wales and Liverpool at the moment.

Sorry if it sounds like I'm banging on about it but a lot of people think they can't catch measles if they've had the vaccine and that means it gets spread around more because they don't keep their children away from others!

mammal, my dd got slapped cheek a few months ago and she had rash to her body (legs and arms) as well as her face. GP took about 3 secs to diagnose it. I thought maybe he was wrong, but when I started googling images of it, it turned out that in fact there were a few with a similar all over rash....it's just fairly unusual. If the rash comes and goes over a few days that's pretty classic. It's also quite a lacy looking rash.

You don't usually get as high a fever or be so poorly with slapped cheek though.

Symptoms FromNHS:

The symptoms of slapped cheek syndrome usually begin in the first couple of weeks after your child is exposed to the parvovirus B19 virus. The symptoms tend to follow three distinct stages.
First stage
The first stage is usually characterised by mild flu-like symptoms, such as:
a high temperature (fever) of 38C (100.4F), although your child?s temperature will not usually rise above 38.5C (101F)
sore throat
headache
upset stomach
feeling tired
itchy skin
In many cases these symptoms do not occur, or are so mild as to be barely noticeable.

Though, I have learned with my ds that not all kids follow the usual symptoms. Ds had appendicitis last year and very uncharacteristically for appendicitis was running a very high fever in addition to all the other classic symptoms. I have a wonderful gp who listened to me when I insisted that although it was uncharacteristic for appendicitis to have a high fever, it was characteristic for ds to have a high fever when others would have a low fever. Ds doesn't do low fevers. So he sent us straight off to the pediatric surgeon at the hospital and a few hours later ds was having his appendix out. GP called me later that day to check on ds and tell me how glad he was that he had listened to me.