heatstroke in 5 year old dd, now has temperature..

[hazeyjane]

..is this normal?

She is off school, because she had a headache and has streaming hayfever. We were out yesterday afternoon, she wore a hat and suncream, and we were in and out of shade, but when we got home she said her head hurt and she felt sick, I have been giving her cold drinks, we have the curtains drawn and fan on.

She has seemed fine in herself, but about 10 minutes ago started looking very flushed, and floppy, I took her temp and it is 39 degrees - I've googled, but am not sure that heatstroke comes with a temp?

I will call drs when they reopen at 2, but just wondered if anyone knew whether a temp is normal. I have given Calpol, btw.

Thankyou

Check her temp again in 15 mins, if it hasn't started to drop at all i would call nhs direct just to be safe.

Thankyou, temp has gone up, not down, so calling nhs direct.

when I was a child I sometimes had heat stroke. often I had a temperature the day after.
cool her down, wet socks from the fridge (change often), give ice-cubes to suck, fan is good, strip her right down at home being naked shoildn't be a problem.
hope that she's better soon. good for calling someone.

If you suspect heatstroke, you should call 999 immediately - it is a potentially life-threatening condition.

In the meantime, you need to try to control her temperature - a cool shower or wrapping in soaked towels.

Nhs direct said they would call me back in an hour! Drs have said to bring her over, so we are on our way. Thankyou.

I have been told by hospital in past not to use cool showers or towels to reduce temp, as it can cause temps to spike.

Reducing the temp from heatstroke is different from reducing a temp from illness.

Cool (not freezing) towels and water are definately appropriate in cases of heat stroke the body must be cooled as quickly as possible.

Good job you are on your way to the drs though, hope all goes well.

Hope you're getting on ok. The key thing with heatstroke is definitely bringing the temp down and getting medical attention if necessary so a good call by the docs to say to bring her down.

Thankyou.

We are back from the drs, he said that her sinuses were inflamed and as she had a rash he thought that she had a virus not helped by her hayfever (hence the headache), rather than heatstroke. Looking at her, her face is all puffed up, but it is hard to tell what is heat/hayfever or virus! He said the fact that she said her whole face hurt, pointed to sinuses.

Malinois, apologies, you and everyone are right - if it is heatstroke it is ok to cool towel etc. I am so used to advice about ds (frequent chest infections) that I end up applying that to everything.

She has had some Piriton, is due some more Calpol and is just going to have a cool bath - thankyou everyone.

So glad she is okay, thanks for the update.

Hope she is feeling much better after a bath and a sleep, at least tomorrow will be cooler.

Glad she is ok.

Heatstroke is really nasty although presumably pretty uncommon in this country. I've seen cyclists almost die from it in France though

As other's said, with heatstroke it's vital to get the temperature down as quickly as possible - aspirin/paracetamol etc won't work as the high temperature is not physiological - it is caused by high external temps and the cessation of sweating. Therefore the best way of reducing the core temperature is to use large quantities of cool water, effectively artificial sweat. And rehydrate as quickly as possible.

Emergency services in France will put you on saline drip and pack the saline bags in ice - not sure if they would do that in the UK, it's pretty drastic.

Glad she's ok and hope the sinuses get better soon!

at thought of an icey drip, I've had some pretty cold ones but not one that's actually been chilled...I can see the logic in it though I guess...