High Fever, wont go down with meds. Please help!!

[sagarika]

My ds who is 2.5yrs has had fever for 2 days now. T ranging from 38.5 C to 40.4 C. With sneezing, runny nose, red puffy and watery eyes. He is eating and drinking ok, not as normally but reasonable. he is playing but again not as he would do, when well. We have been using Calpol and Ibuprofen but his temperature does not go down below 38.5. he shivers a lot. we are trying to cool him down as much as possible.There was one time in 2 days when it came down to 37.7 (yesterday night, but we had done nothing different then, from what we have been doing) but since his T has not gone down below 38.5. Took him to the GP this morning but GP said its viral and advised to continue what we have been doing. he said his ear drums are red but it is viral as there is no pus. he looked for rashes etc. ds is suffering so much, what if its not viral? What should I do? is it worth taking him down to the A&E? Anybody with similar experience recently? Previously when he had fever it would usually go down with medication. But not this time. Please advice. I am so worried.

Thanx

Is he big for his age? He might need a weight based dosage of calpol / nurofen rather than aged based. A doctor would need to work this out.

Keep a close eye on him and if not reducing to below 39 then you should get further medical help. Also consider if he is unusually sleepy, vomiting, has pain in his arms or legs or has a headache or light aversion then he should be seen. I think for now he needs to be kept comfortable and cool - dress him in light clothes (t-shirt and nappy?) and keep dosing him up alternating the calpol and ibuprofen so you have 24hr cover so the temp is not allowed to go up too much in the meantime.

BEAWHEESHT, its actually the contrary, he is less than 12 kg
beautifulgirls, he has not exhibited the symptoms you have mentioned. yes we are trying to keep him cool, light clothing. we have also partially opened the windows in his room (he cant reach the windows), with no heating(I hope its not extreme, even then he's quite feverish as I mentioned before). in doing so his feet mainly and hands are extremely cold and somewhat purplish. is this something to worry about?just taken his temperature, after 5 mls of ibuprofen, 3 hrs ago and 7.5 mls of calpol half an hour ago, its 38.0

Just be careful you don't chill him - if he gets too cold he will shiver which will increase his temperature.

Cold hands and feet ime is normal but I'd worry about the purple colour and probably check that out with a doctor.

The good thing is that it seems that the temperature does come down with calpol/nurofen (although the fever doesn't go totally away).

It is still early days, I think if after three days you do not see an improvement/see a worsening, I would take him back to the GP. Also, if during the next few days, he develops a rash/severe pain/difficulty breathing seek medical help.

Otherwise, try to make him as comfortable as possible, let him play if he wants, rest if he wants, eat what he fancies, if it is a virus he hopefully will be soon over the worst.

Often (but not always), bacterial infections are much more severe, eg fever doesn't respond to medication, child is clearly ill, doesn't want to eat/drink/play. Ultimately, you will have to use your judgement of course.

Earache is horrible, he may like to lie on the painful ear on a hot water bottle wrapped in a towel. I think that nurofen works better than paracetamol with earache.

Hope he gets better soon.