Fever of 41C

[Natsku]

My 5 year old had fever in the night, checked her temperature at 6 and it was 40 degrees, gave her paracetamol and it went down to 38 but soon went back up again and now its 41 (possibly higher as our thermometer seems to measure low).

She has said a few times that its hard to breathe but now says she can breathe ok. No other worrying symptoms but she says her legs hurt.

I don't want to take her to the doctor unless absolutely necessary as she gets very distressed and I know they will do the fingerprick CRP test and that will be extremely distressing for her so I want to avoid any of that if possible and she is prone to high fevers when ill but 41 is higher than its ever been before. I've given her paracetamol again and she has a cool damp cloth on her forehead and is drinking water - is there anything else I can do to help her? At what point should I take her to the doctor?

[Natsku]

Thank you all for advice and experience! She finally can go back to daycare tomorrow which is great as she is driving me up the wall now she's got her energy back

[FoodieToo]

Brilliant news, delighted !!

[Comiconce]

for you both .

[Natsku]

Her CRP is down to 47 and she's looking and acting so much better, almost normal so whatever it was, the antibiotics seem to be doing the trick! :)

[Comiconce]

Glad she's getting better

[Natsku]

She seems lots better today, has much more energy and hasn't needed any painkillers so far so I think the antibiotics are working :)

[Natsku]

Her temperature is finally back to normal today actually. If it wasn't for her CRP going up I'd be sure the antibiotics are working and she's getting better as she seems a lot better today, has been able to play a little.

If she has fever or pain in the morning I'll take her straight back in. Part of me thinks she must be getting better but part is worrying.

[Comiconce]

Op, please keep a close eye on her this evening and tonight and get her back to the doctors tomorrow. If I read your posts correctly she has now had a very high temperature for 7 days, plus chest pain and breathing difficulties. Do you feel the antibiotics have made any difference yet? She may need a different type. I once went through three lots of antibiotics to get to grips with pneumonia.

[FoodieToo]

If the temp doesn't start to reduce within two to three days on the anti biotic go back .
When Ds was admitted they put him on two different intravenous antibiotics and within twelve hours the temp had lowered . I think his CRP was in the 300's when we were admitted.
The funny thing is when they matched the infection to what was the best antibiotic to kill it they found that penicillin was the one.
Had he been put in it at the start when we visited the GP he probably would have been fine.
He had been put on Distaclor and it just didn't work.
I hope your Dd is better soon!

[Natsku]

Oh dear, sounds like it was very nasty for him and tough to diagnose Foodie

They haven't done blood cultures as its the weekend so the lab isn't open, there's nothing they can do at the weekend unless they want to send her to another hospital but she just doesn't seem that ill any more. Her CRP levels have risen though - the kwiktest only measures up to 160 so they're at least 160 but no idea how high they might be. But she was looking and acting so much better today so the doctor wants to just check again the day after tomorrow. I will take her in first thing in the morning so if they're still high the x-ray and lab will be open to do other tests.

The doctor seemed rather blasé about it really, said that another child had been in recently with high CRP levels too and they had just gone down with no treatment so seems to assume it'll be the same with DD. Now that I think about it, not sure what I'm supposed to do about the antibiotics - the doctor on Friday only prescribed them for two days but the chemist was very confused by this and told me to give them for 6 or 7 days.

[Treetopchallenger]

Have they done blood cultures with a CRP that high? I wouldn't be happy being sent home without an infection source if her infection levels are that high.

[FoodieToo]

My post should say 'diagnosed '!!

When Ds had it we were going to docs for three weeks. He was also seen in a and e by 4 different docs, including the head of paediatrics. They all listened to his chest

Nobody could believe it when the x Ray showed up a lung full of pus etc. They took a litre of pus off the lung.....said it was more than an adult would have!!

He also had ongoing stomach pain, loss of appetite , exhaustion, was very pale etc. interestingly he didn't have a cough . He was also leaning to the side of the infected lung , he couldn't seem to stand up properly.

Thankfully made a full recovery although the lungs took 6 months to clear properly.

[Natsku]

Seems its not rare then for it to not be heard on the chest so why do they just dismiss pneumonia if the chest sounds fine? Urgh.

[Haudyerwheesht]

Yes ds had pneumonia which you couldn't hear and was diagnosed via X Ray which they reluctantly did in an 'this will prove to the paranoid mother there's nothing there' kind of a way

[Natsku]

I'll ask about the x-ray tomorrow if her CRP levels haven't gone down. The chest pain is back again now, poor girl thinks she's never going to get better :(

[Buntingsmum]

I had wondered about pneumonia too. My DD has had confirmed-by-X-Ray pneumonia 3 times and not one doctor has been able to hear it with their stethoscope. Many doctors listened to her but her chest always sounded clear. They are always reluctant (understandably) to do X-rays but with that ongoing fever and chest pain it might be worth asking for them to consider. I hope she feel better soon.

[Natsku]

Eeek that sounds nasty Foodie!

The doctor did say it might be some lung infection that's too deep to be heard by listening to the chest but the x-ray department was closed by the time we got seen so we couldn't get an x-ray done.

She's still feverish (goes up and down with the meds though) and having to give painkillers regularly but this morning they were only working for about an hour and a half before she'd start screaming about the chest pain again. This afternoon seems to be going better though so fingers crossed that means the antibiotics are starting to work.

[FoodieToo]

Something a bit like that happened with our son. It turned out he had pneumonia but it could not be heard from outside and was only disguised with a chest x Ray that a and e did as part of routine investigations! He had an entire lung full of fluid and was in hospital for two weeks on a chest drain!
He also had ongoing temp of 41!
I hope this is not the case with your child but something to watch out for!

[KP86]

I would say go in because of the breathing problems rather than temp.

High temp is the body's way of fighting infection and if it goes down with paracetamol and child is relatively ok (ie. eating, drinking, not vomiting, not lolling about on the floor unable to move) then unfortunately they are unlikely to do anything more - been there, got the tshirt.

[misspym]

Poor little thing. Hope the antibiotics have her on the mend soon.

[Natsku]

She is still ill :( went back to the doctor today and her CRP is very high - 130 when it should be under 8. But urine is fine, throat ears, chest etc. all fine so we gave no idea what is wrong. She's got antibiotics now to see if they help and back to check on Sunday, if not then off to the paediatric clinic in the big hospital. She is so fed up of being ill now!

[Natsku]

Didn't check urine but she has been weeing just fine, no pain or strong smell and I told the doctor that so she probably thought no need. Did listen to her chest and checked her throat and ears, they were fine. Reckon she must just be one of those unlucky children that are prone to higher fevers when ill.

[Haudyerwheesht]

Didn't they check urine, throat, chest or ears?

[Natsku]

No, just checked her belly and legs to see if they were very sore and said she's just ill but as long as she keeps drinking and eats a little its OK. She is still quite ill though, fever stays up despite paracetamol and ibuprofen but not above 40. She was sick everywhere in the night though :(

[misspym]

Did the doctor give you any reason for the high temp yesterday? Poor thing still sounds unwell.