Ds5 temp not coming down with nurofen/calpol

[Camlinmagic]

Hi, my ds5 had a cough from Monday with snooty nose but otherwise we'll. But since Tuesday evening he' been getting high fever. But nurofen wa holding it off for almost 10 hours. But since yesterday it can only hold it for 5 -6 hours and calpol does nothing to reduce it. We have been up all night due to high fevers & fast breathing. Eventually headed to a&e at 6am the Dr heard his chest & said has chest infection and started on Antibiotics Amoxly.

I gave his 1st dose at 10am & 11:30 gave nurofen as his temp had reached 40.1C now his temp came down but now again his raised to 38C not sure why nurofen is not holding it. I need some handholding as I don't know where to go now....
Please any mom's out there can help.
Thanks

Contact the GP or 111 again if you are worried, I no it’s hard when you’ve already seen a doctor, but just because DC was ok x amount of hours ago, doesn’t mean they won’t need to be seen again.

Its probably just normal because the antibiotics won’t have kicked in yet and you are still in the thick of it, but if in doubt call again.

Nurofen is ibuprofen, it won't do anything for a temperature. You need to be giving paracetamol.

I should also add, it needs to given regularly, don't miss a dose, it works on a build up basis.

Id ring GP or 111.

Ibprofen absolutely does reduce a temperature. My son is the same where calpol doesn't touch it but ibprofen usually does. When this last happened when nothing brought it down I took him to the GP who diagnosed infection.

This is incorrect advice OP, ignore.

Have you tried nurofen and calpol at the same time?

That said I’m generally in the camp of let the fever run for a bit as it will help to kill the bug faster. He’s got antibiotics hopefully by tomorrow he’ll start to pick up.

If his behaviour changes and he starts to seem much more poorly in himself I’d take him back to A&E but apart from that it’s a sit back and wait for the medicine to work.

Could it be a urine infection

How is your son’s breathing now? Is it still fast?
Do you have a pulse oximeter you could put on his finger to check his pulse and oxygen?
I would ring 111 as (if I’ve read your post correctly) it’s another 3 hours until you can give nurofen/ ibuprofen and paracetamol isn’t working.

Hi thank you all for your replies.
I am in tears as he has never been this sick. I did ask the a&e dr about giving calpol & ibuprofen together his advise was to give it 1 hour apart. I have just given him calpol but will only have 1 more dose by 10pm tonight as exhausted the daily limit by then. The last time he had antibiotics in Oct he pepped up in the 1st dose. But fingers crossed.
I told my dh if we can take him back he just laughs at me even this morning he was like oh u r wasting everyone's time at the a&e I had to drag him along.
I will call my gp now. I did have a phone consultation yesterday & also had 111 in the night who were going to arrange a nurse call me back. But I am happy we went to a&e

His next AB dose is at 4pm just hoping his fever comes down.

They didn't check for that as the Dr said he could hear crackling in his chest...

I do have oximeter & his oxygen sg is around 97/98 & heart rate is raised at 140bpm

Will 1st call my gp now & will try 111 also

You can piggy back ibuprofen and calpol. It will take 12-24 hours for the antibiotics to kick in.

Ibuprofen absolutely does reduce fever.

OP try not to panic which is hard I know when they are so poorly.

Antibiotics usually take at least 24hrs to kick in.

Keep giving fluids and meds. If the nurofen is reducing the fever even for a short while that's a good sign.

Hopefully he'll start to improve soon

Ibuprofen has always always worked in getting his fever down but just not this time that's why I am getting worried.

@DelilahBucket please be careful about what you post. Both your statements are incorrect.
Ibuprofen is antipyretic ie it works to reduce fever.

Paracetamol does not 'build up'

Hth

You’re doing great, you’re doing everything right. You aren’t wasting anyone’s time. You’re being proactive here, you have limited treatment options for the rest of today, and you need to know is there anything else that you can do to avoid another trip to A & E xx

Remember it did come
down- it was 40.1 and came
down and it’s now 38. That’s a sign it’s responded to the ibuprofen which is reassuring 👍38 is only
0.5 above a normal temp and with an infection it will still be raised on calpol / nurofen, you just need
to see if the number came
down at all when you gave the nurofen which it did. The antibiotics will take 24-48 hours to work their magic, sending hugs as know how scary it feels xx

Just spoke to GP he said temp @ 38c don't rush for paracetamol or ibuprofen especially if ds is feeling ok and not lethargic and to add calpol/paracetamol to the daily mix even if it doesn't get it down. And that wait 24 hrs atleast to see big changes.

Thank you to everyone 🙏for reassuring me and yes @ wobblymum1 you almost dittoed what the GP said 😊

He is still @ 38c have given his 2nd dose of AB & calpol hoping for better times..

If you can OP I would try to alternate the max doses of both calpol and nurofen and alternate them so DS always has some cover with something.

I normally aim for something like this:

7am - calpol
10am - nurofen
1pm - calpol
4pm - nurofen
7pm - calpol
10pm - nurofen

That gives you one more dose of calpol to use overnight. Obviously if you give calpol in the night be sure to leave at least 4 hours before giving the morning dose of calpol and make sure you stick to the max of 4 doses of calpol and 3 doses of nurofen in a 24 hour period.

I hope he starts to improve soon, it's miserable when they are so poorly. Trust your instincts and don't be afraid to get more advice/take him back to a&e if you think he needs further attention.

My understanding from speaking to GPs in the past, is that the Calpol / Nurofen is deemed effective even if it only brings brings the temperature down by 0.5 of a degree. It won't necessarily get them back to a normal temperature, particularly if they have a bad infection.

Both my DC have a tendency to get high temperatures when they are ill - 40 degrees isn't unusual for them and normally calpol / nurofen only reduces it to the low 39s. Frankly if they 'only' have a temperature of 38, and are playing happily, I don't give them anything.

one of mine is like this too- don’t think I’ve ever not seen her hit 39-40 when ill And she gets pretty much everything going around. I’m lucky if we go 2
months between bugs.
my other child is totally different, rarely is ill and not too hot when he is!
I feed them the same, love them the same so 🤷‍♀️🤷‍♀️🤷‍♀️😂

@Sunshinegirl82 Thank you for this.

I did give him calpol at 7pm so hopefully I can stick to these times. His temp is still in the range of 37.4 to 38C so slightly better than before. But still off food and quite weak due to this fever. I feel so miserable to see him like this. I completely freeze he's my only child and my absolute world 😇just want him feeling his usual self soon...

It sounds like overall his temperature is trending down so that's positive, hopefully the antibiotics are starting to have an effect.

Hopefully another 24 hours of antibiotics and he'll be starting to resemble his usual self.

Fwiw OP when ds had a chest infection and was very unwell with it his temp was over 40 with nurofen and Calpol and he was delirious and very unwell.

It really does sound like your ds is improving

Have you tried alternating Calpol/brufen?. When my two had stupidly high temps for days this is the only thing that helped some.