Could this be pneumonia? (3.9yo)

[BoulevardOfBrokenSleep]

DS (3.9) has had snotty nose and chesty cough for a couple of weeks, I was assuming it was a virus that would clear up.

But he's got a low fever, he's very pale, and he seems to tire easily, nursery have sent him home a couple of times for 'not being himself'. He's not eating much.

And he has complained of having a sore back a couple of times, and a 'sore tummy'. When asked where the sore tummy was, he pointed to his chest.

Have booked an appointment with the 'nurse's emergency clinic' at our GP's this evening.

Does this sound like it might be pneumonia? Do you think I should be pushing for a chest X-ray?

IT could be a chest infection of some sort, but if he only has a low fever I doubt that it is pneumonia. I had it at about 4yo and had a raging temperature, so much so that I was hallucinating. I remember fainting several times when getting out of bed. There is no way that I could have gone to nursery. I had a lot of chest infections as a child, and TBH they were all much worse than what you are describing - especially high temperatures. I was also usually in bed for 10 days or so each time as I was so poorly.
I would still be thinking along the virus route. The doctor will be able to tell from listening to his chest whether he has a chest infection.

Other than making sure they check his blood oxygen stats - a clip on his finger hooked up to a machine - let the medics decide if an X-ray is needed, too many X-rays are bad for them & who knows what he might need in future - low blood oxygen levels will alert them that he may need a chest X-ray

It doesn't really sound like pneumonia - IME that comes with a croup like cough that sounds something akin to a seal barking

That said, there has been a bit of a nasty flu bug doing the rounds - my DD was in hospital recently & there were a lot of younger DCs coming & going with low oxygen & nasty chesty symptoms, they kept them in for up to a few days for observation, but they all picked up quickly & were discharged.

The "tummy pain" could actually be lymph glands hurting as they do their job of fighting the virus - some kids can be prone to this

Hope it goes well & he's better soon

i had back pain with no chest pain with my last episode
different gps listened to my chest and couldnt hear anything abnormal .
only the blood work and xray confirmed i had a serious pneumonia.
i ve had it 3 times now , and the symptoms have all been different.
i ve never had a runny nose though,
i d phone your surgery and ask to speak to the gp ,they might want to see him earlier for bloods, which down here need to be done by 12.

Thanks to all for advice. Hmm. He is prone to chest infections (and a bit asthma-y) but they don't usually knock him back this much. It is illnesses like yours, wfrances that are making me worry

Hopefully the nurse will be able to measure blood ox. I don't think our surgery actually does bloods, I think you have to go to some central place and queue up etc.

He has had flu nose spray thing for this year, but it could still be a related virus not in the vax I suppose.

Our whole family has had a similar thing, Dr says some sort of virus. Dp was pretty ill though, several days laid up in bed which is not like him at all, he had it for about three weeks in total.

When DS has had pnumonia even the milder cases he has had have involved sky high temp and being really obviouosly ill.

No harm in getting him checked over though and taking it from there

Ds had pneumonia over his 4th birthday so a similar age. His followed flu which he got a bit better from then went downhill. He didn't eat a single thing, was laughing manically, temp was 40 with medication, still played a bit but was very weak. I just knew it was pneumonia and had to really fight for a diagnosis. X rays aren't the best but stethoscopes didn't pick any infection up.

Fingers crossed your ds is just a bit run down, I'd expect him to have a much higher fever tbh.

Pneumonia doesn't have to have a cough or a fever.

When I had pneumonia I had sickness, severe chest pain, fast breathing and a fast pulse, and had to be rushed to hospital as I was obviously very ill. All symptoms came on suddenly within a few hours.

The doctors said it was quite common for pneumonia to not have involved a cold, cough or fever.

OK, so after making me worry for days, DS finally took a turn for the better yesterday afternoon and was pretty perky by the time we got to the nurse

His chest was clear, though nurse did concede he still looked pale so conclusion: a virus.

But I will be remembering possible pneumonia symptoms for the next time one of my kids has a bad chest. Again. They like to keep me on my toes. Thanks again to everyone who's helped!