Does this warrant a call to 111?

[Lovemusic33]

I tend to panic when dd is unwell so I don’t want to call 111 and be one of those parents. Dd is 14, she has ASD so can’t always tell me if anything is wrong and totally freaks out if I need to take her temp or give her any medicine, hates being touched and just wants to be left alone.

She’s come home form her dads, been in her room playing, came down stairs and noticed her breathing wasn’t right, occasionally she takes small gasps, to begin with I thought it was a stim as she often makes throat and nose noises but it didn’t seem to disappear. Thought I would check her oxygen levels as I have one of this monitors that go on your finger, oxygen levels were fin but her heart rate was near 120bpm. She’s starting to get annoyed with me now as I’m poking her around so she goes back upstairs, I tell her to lie down for ten minutes and then I check her again, heart rate coming down but oxygen level dropped to 96%. She’s now in bed, won’t let me near her, still not breathing right but no real difficulty, just small gasps occasionally.

Does it warrant a 111 call? It could be something like a blocked up nose? Though she doesn’t sound congested but she does make weird breathing noises when she has a cold.

Just to add, she has no cough, no temperature (no covid symptoms).

If 111 told you she had to go to hospital, would she go?

Possibly not but I’m more worried they will send an ambulance and that would freak her out even more.

If you hadn’t put the monitor on her, so you didn’t have that information, would you be concerned about her now ?
Has she settled down and gone to sleep ?

She’s in bed but awake but that’s pretty normal, I guess I was worried about her breathing but wouldn’t have known her heart rate was fast unless I checked. She seems ok in herself other than the breathing thing.

I think if you describe breathing issues they may tell you to get at covid test before anything else.

Can you try to convince her to let you test her one more time (eg in 20-30 minutes)? That might put your mind at rest.

I will try and test her again in a minute. In a way it will be easier to judge if her breathing is a issue once she’s asleep, if it’s a stim then it will be gone when asleep. Sometimes if I make a issue out of something it makes her do it even more.

As she seems ok I would leave it and see how she is in the morning, with a couple of checks on her before you go to bed.

Keep an eye on the oxygen level too as this dropping too low would warrant a call aswell.

If I had any concerns about my child's breathing, I would call 111.

Just checked on her, heart rate 100 but possibly because I made her jump when she was almost asleep, oxygen going between 97 and 98 which is better. Maybe she’s just coming down with a cold or covid (though no other symptoms).

In your shoes I'd book her a covid test and test her again in an hour. The levels you've just had aren't too worrying (especially if there's a reason for the higher heart rate) , but I'd definitely keep an eye on her

I don’t think I could get her to comply to a covid test, she’s had one recently, it’s was almost impossible and now she knows what to expect she’s not likely to let anyone near her with a swab 🤣

I will see how she is in the morning, she’s asleep now.

120 is very high for a 14 year old. For that matter, 100, lying down, is still pretty high for a 14 year old. I always tell our junior doctors never to ignore an unexplained high heart rate, as it tends to be a sign that something significant is going on. I would say that it does warrant a call to 111.

Have you (or she) actually taken her pulse by feeling for it? Sats probs are one of the least accurate bits of medical equipment we have.

We are booked in for a covid test this morning (wish me luck as she’s not going to let me swab her without a fight). Her breathing still isn’t right but her oxygen levels are fine, heart rate fine. She says she’s unwell which isn’t like her, she’s usually keen to go to school even when unwell but doesn’t want to go today.

Good luck OP - I think it's the right thing to do, but if she gets worse call the GP/111

Thank you, hopefully results won’t take too long, I think it’s probably a cold, we are in a low covid area but her schools in a area that has more cases, school was deep cleaned a couple weeks ago due to a few cases. If her breathing gets worse I will call 111 and at least we can tell them she’s being tested.

Not to scare you but 111 will send you an ambulance when you tell them she's short of breath or gasping ect. If it's advice your looking for contact you GP.

If you don't want an ambulance from 111 you need to make it clear that you refuse one. Otherwise they'll force it upon you!

@TeenMummy

Not to scare you but 111 will send you an ambulance when you tell them she's short of breath or gasping ect. If it's advice your looking for contact you GP.

If you don't want an ambulance from 111 you need to make it clear that you refuse one. Otherwise they'll force it upon you!

That’s what I’m worried about. We have just been for a covid test. She seems ok in herself other than her breathing not being right. I’m going to keep a close eye on her today, if her covid test comes back clear and she’s still not breathing properly I will get her seen through GP. She will freak out if we have to go to hospital especially by ambulance.

Hope you get the results back soon.

She’s not got covid (negative)

Now trying to get her seen by our GP. She’s saying she feels unwell, breathing still not right but she doesn’t seem really unwell. Hopefully GP will see her now she has a negative covid test.

Hope you manage to get an appointment and get to the bottom of it op. Hope it's something straightforward to sort out

How's she doing op?

She’s been back to school today, pretty sure it’s a vocal tic/stim linked to anxiety. I feel bad as I had a go at her on Saturday because she constantly takes food from the kitchen, usually shouting at her gets me nowhere due to her autism but this time she got really upset, so I maybe the cause of her anxiety. Yesterday evening I sat down with her and told her that she doesn’t need to be anxious of me and that I love her despite the steeling. She really doesn’t seem to be able to control some of her behaviours (mainly the steeling which has been a battle for years). She seems a bit calmer this morning, breathing seems to be a bit better too and she’s managed a day at school.

I did speak to the GP yesterday and he agreed that’s it’s likely to be anxiety related rather than anything physical as her stats are ok (other than the spike on Sunday).