Dd UTI with high fever

[YukoandHiro]

Dd (3) has been unwell since Sunday. Sun night and Mon night a mild fever and very slightly off food. Tues all day very high fever with chills, saw GP early Wednesday once Covid was ruled out and she diagnosed a UTI after dipping urine. At that point Dd also conplained of stomach pain and vomited once so it all fits.

My worry is that she's not been given enough meds for how ill she is. She's got a three day/six dose course. She's had the first two doses and still has a fever. In the early night she still had shaking chills and temp up to 39 (had been 40 before seeing GP). Now it's down to under 38 at 5am and she hasn't had calpol since 11.30pm. She's due the next dose of calpol and antibiotics at 6am but will let her sleep and rest.

But I would have expected no fever by this morning... am I being unreasonable in my expectation? How long do I give it before I call back?

I should add I saw a massive improvement in how well she felt (appetite, energy, stomach pain gone) within 3 hours of the first dose.

My experience of UTIs, and of having antibiotics for them, is that the first dose of antibiotics clears the infection. If your DD is still having a fever after that, I would go back to the dr immediately.

I'm not a doctor so take this whence it comes. But it's my belief/experience that a UTI is not a 'wait and see' infection. It's a 'hit the infection hard and quickly, and keep hitting it till it's gone' illness. For acute UTI infections, like the one you are describing, anyway. That's what I've learned from the doctors over the years.

Best of luck. I hope you DD feels better soon

Thanks @DolphinDreams - that's what I thought too, but it does say 24-48 hours online. I think if she's still running a temp this morning I will call the dr back for advice

I did think it had done the trick yesterday as she perked up so quickly after the first dose and had no fever at bedtime. So I was gutted when she seemed worse again in the night

Hi OP, generally I would give up to 48 hours for a fever to go after starting antibiotics. Also three days antibiotics to treat a UTI is a standard duration so hopefully enough for your DD. Do call back if she worsens over the day though or if she still has a fever tomorrow morning (Friday). I’m a pharmacist btw

Thanks @CountRostoff - I called this morning and they said the same as you! They also sent off the sample for culture so the results will be in tomorrow and they will let me know if we need a different antibiotic

She seems to be a bit better this afternoon - but then I thought that yesterday afternoon

Good to hear Yuko, hope she continues to improve, it’s horrible to see them so unwell!

I hope she is still improving OP.

I hope she's improving OP. Most UTIs are Ecoli, and the standard course of treatment now is only 3 days antibiotics which seems short I know. If she's not any better in the morning I'd ring the GP again as it's Friday and she needs to be seen before the weekend. In the meantime try and get her to drink lots of plain fluids eg water, milk, apple juice.

Spoke too soon. Just woke at 11 with a temp of over 39 again, although doesn't look as ill with it as she did last night (no shakes, pallor etc).

I've given calpol and nurofen together to help give her some rest and I'm calling the GP as soon as they open. Hope the culture is back. Either way I think she needs more than one more day of treatment - I've never known her so unwell, it's day 5 now