DD is sooooo unwell. Advice please.

[Twopeapods]

DD1 has been poorly since Saturday. High fever. I checked her tonsils as she has recurrent tonsillitis and is waiting to see a surgeon. The last couple of times she has had it the GP told me not to take her in as they would no longer prescribe antibiotics.
So today being day 5 with a temp of 40, I took her in to see GP. She's been shivery and dozing on couch since yesterday and is generally getting worse. She has also started complaining of a bad head ache and it's nippy when she pees.
The GP thinks it's strep throat and prescribed a 10 day course of antibiotics, and if she has a urine infection the medicine will treat that also. She also said I should have taken her in Monday. , even though being told not to previously.
I'm just worried as she isn't drinking much. What do I need to look out for? Is there a point that I need to go back? How long do the antibiotics take to work? I phoned her school and they were great and said just to go back when ready etc.
And sorry for being silly, but what's the difference between strep and tonsillitis?

[Gunpowder]

That's so sweet she wants to go in. I think you are right though it sounds like she needs another day off. Hopefully after the weekend she'I'll be fighting fit!

[Twopeapods]

I'm so glad she is better. Yup you wish you could swap.

DD wants to go to school tomorrow but I don't want to push it. She's been having consistent doses of calpol etc, and needs it. Plus her tonsils are still huge red and covered in puss and she looks drained.
I think Monday would be better!

[Gunpowder]

Poor thing. It's so hard to know isn't it?

We're over 48 hours after ABs now and she is miles better thank you. Laughing and playing with her sister before bed and her fever has gone. I hope your DD gets better soon too. It's horrid when they are ill. I always wish I could swap places.

[Twopeapods]

What about your little one Gunpowder?

[Twopeapods]

She is a bit up and down. Still keeping up her calpol brufon as the fever keeps coming back, and still nippy when she pees. She hasn't felt the need for a sleep though, just had the odd quiet time just lying watching tv on the sofa.
Still complaining of a sore head but is drinking, so not sure if it's dehydration or just due to the infections
I'm honestly kicking myself that I didn't take her Monday. And will definitely take her back every time now.

[Gunpowder]

How is she today OP?

[Sunshineandlaughter]

Ignore GP and take her everytime she's ill - honestly what rubbish and unhelpful advice is that to give you not to bring her

Wetting self fits with urine infection too

Antibiotics you usually see an improvement in the first 12-24 hours so yes if you don't see an improvement during today take her back later - maybe to a diff GP or ohh

[Floralnomad]

I would also go in every time you feel its tonsillitis , don't know if it's different for children but when DS had recurrent tonsillitis as an older teen we were told that the decision on whether you got them removed or not was more or less based on how many courses of Abs you needed in a set period . In our case DS literally had ABs every month . Hope your DD feels better tomorrow .

[LadyMetroland]

Do you think perhaps you should call 111 just to rule out sepsis? That would be my worry
I would also ignore what your gp said about not going in - they can't tell if it's viral or bacterial without seeing her. Go with your instincts!

[Twopeapods]

She is 5.
She has woke up and got out of bed and wet herself about 10 minutes ago (for some reason she does this only with a very high fever and the doctor doesn't know why) but back to sleep now. I did manage to get a sip of water in her and a dose of calpol. She had neurofen about 9pm but the fever doesn't stay down long.
She's on 250mg of penicillin 4 x daily and has had 3 doses today so hopefully some improvement by tomorrow evening maybe.
A friend of mine was just hospitalised with tonsillitis (age 27) as it had caused sepsis and this had made me worry worse since I heard that.
Whenever she has tonsillitis usually she improves herself after about 3 days so 5 days in getting worse is unusual for her.
I guess we'll just need to keep going the way we are for now.
Thanks everyone.

[IwillrunIwillfly]

Theres not really a difference. Tonsilitis is an infection of the tonsils most commonly caused by a bacteria called streptocaucus (excuse the spelling!) so some people refer to a 'strep' throat but without taking swabs theres no way to tell exactly what bug has caused the infection.

Antibiotics take at least 48 hours before they start working so dont worry that shes still having high temps. The important thing is to encourage her to drink. If shes sore (which she probably will be) give her regular painkillers. You can buy a spray called difflam from the chemist that is great for sore throats. If shes not keen to drink you might need to be a bit mean and force her. About a teaspoon (5mls) every 5 mins if she wont drink properly, but things like ice lollys are good too. Until shes eating again make sure she has some sugary juice/lollys to give her energy.

Things to worry about kind of vary with age (dont know how old she is) but mainly watch thats shes passing urine and keeping sone fluids down and not too sleepy/lethargic. If youre not happy call 111 for advice/gp but hopefully the antibiotics will help soon.

[Butterymuffin]

Not sure I can be a lot of help, but what antibiotics is she on? If they're powerful ones they ought to work quickly. Are you also giving Calpol or ibuprofen and is that helping at all? Is she sleeping now?

Have a look at this about tonsillitis and strep. Just to be confusing they're very similar but strep is its own specific type of infection, I think.
www.healthline.com/health/tonsillitis-vs-strep-throat#Symptoms2

If she's still really unwell tomorrow, I would call the surgery again to ask what else you can do for her.

[Gunpowder]

Poor thing. It's so horrid. AFAIK antibiotics usually take 24-48 hours to work. DD2 has strep throat too (it's bacterial tonsillitis caused by streptococcus) at the moment and the GP said there should be a definite improvement in 48 hours. We are 30 hours in and she is so much happier and eating and drinking lots more.

I think if it were me I'd call OOH tonight if your DD isn't weeing, if she's not properly responding to you or if her temp doesn't come down with calpol or nurofen. DD will only drink after nurofen so I've been giving that and ice lollies, jelly, yoghurt. Also chocolate seems to help a bit weirdly!

I'm not a doctor though, of course seek further medical advice if you are worried.

I hope she gets better soon.