Really high temperatures in 2 year old and possibly flu

[Okaaaay]

To start with, my DS (who is now 2) had sepsis following bacterial tonsillitis when he was 16 months old. Following that, I am incredibly anxious when he is poorly.

My husband has what we think is flu (not Covid, unusually unwell, all flu symptoms). My DS has now started with a raging fever and horrid cough. He has had the flu vaccine but is poorly and I’m scared (also it may be a different virus of course).

DS seems to get so poorly - since the sepsis 18 months ago, we’ve had another 2/3 episodes of him being frighteningly poorly. I don’t know if he’s generally a bit of an exception or whether it’s normal and it’s just me worrying (my DD never got anywhere near as sick). When he gets ill (more than a cold) he gets into these cycles which include raging temps (40s) which initially respond to calpol / ibruprofen, but peak throughout the day and night, and then after 2/3 days stop responding. When he ‘goes off’ in these cycles , he moans in his sleep, cries, his respiratory rate goes up, he’s red and burning and he appears very unwell - it’s frightening. Nighttime’s are awful and always the worst. Today is day 1 of this. We usually end up with antibiotics by day 4 after sleepless nights and an increasingly unwell little boy. When he got sepsis, we were 24 hours into oral antibiotics, but they didn’t touch the infection and he required IVs after a scary dash to hospital. We don’t believe he has any underlying health issues but is possibly a little susceptible to ENT type issues.

The thing is, whenever DS gets sick like this it always seem to end in antibiotics (which result in him getting better). We go through the ‘think it’s viral but will trust your judgement’ with GP and then he perks within 12 hours of starting antibios.

My ask is, does anyone else’s small people get temps like this, and for as long, and then just get better without antibiotics? Also, do your DC generally get really high temps when poorly? My DD never got into these cycles at all. She never had a temp over 39, and was never as sick as DS gets.

Sorry - rambling as I’m scared. Also, I have no interest in him having unnecessary antibiotics at all. But they do always seem to sort him out when he gets like this.

Bumping

Have you got an inhaler for his chest/cough?

Yes my child always gets temps and it's always the first sign of illness for us.
We found nurofen is the best to bring it down.

I would get him checked over giving his history for peace of mind.

@SunshineClouds1 thanks for your reply. He doesn’t have any inhalers (it’s not an ongoing problem but is part of the package with this latest illness). We’re using ibroprofen too - he’s had a reasonable day but then spiked again tonight. No warning signs at the moment but the temps are just nuts and make him appear so unwell when they spike.

DD1 always had a high temperature at that age. She ended up in hospital once for IV antibiotics when oral ones didn’t help. It was complicated by her potential allergy to one type of antibiotics. DD2 is 3 but we shielded so she is going through the amount of illnesses you would expect a much younger child to have. Her nursery attendance over the last month has been around 30%. Her temperature has been around 40c when ill. She sleeps under a cotton sheet and just a nappy next to me when ill. DD2 infections have all been viral, we have gone to see the GP on day 6 but it takes to day 8/9 for temp to go.

DD2 used to get high temperatures, even over 41C a few times.

However there were two differences to your ds. Firstly although it didn't respond to calpol/ibroprofen at the time, after 3 days at full dose of both it would then return to normal.
The other difference was she never appeared especially ill with it. I remember her running round the garden in full spirits while I tried to get her temperature to drop from 41.6C.
My other two would be clearly ill with a temperature of 38.5C.

I think it may be worth having a chat with your GP about these episodes and getting a plan of action-it may be that they will give antibiotics sooner. For my ds, he got regular ear infections (talking every 2 weeks) and the normal course of action is not to give antibiotics, however we found with him that if he didn't get antibiotics the ear drum would burst, and he'd be really ill. At one point we had a reserve prescription so we could get him started asap.
If it's always connected with tonsillitis then it's worth asking about removal of the tonsils. They don't do that easily now; if it's like grommets then they are looking for about 8 bouts in 6 months, but it may make a difference as he's so ill with it.

It probably is something he will grow out of; I don't think dd2 has had that high a temperature since she was 5 or 6, and they do get less bugs too as they get older.