10 year old fever still on day 5

[Ljd401]

My poor son has had a fever for 5 days now. It’s just spiked 39.3 whilst he was sleeping (he woke up feeling unwell). I’ve given ibuprofen and he’s sleeping again. During the day yesterday he seemed to be perking up a little (temp still around 38) but was playing and even ate his dinner (he’s been off food since he was ill Friday). I’m worried that he’s not getting better. Couldn’t get his temp down (stayed at 39.4) with calpol on Sunday so saw out of hours GP who said to come back if fever still present on day 5. He’s got a bunged up nose, had two episodes of vomiting just once on Saturday and Sunday night.

If you've reached D5 of high temperatures it is always good to be seen again - sometimes there is an evolving tonsillitis etc. where the signs have become apparent, sometimes it is just seeming like a miserable viral illness (lots of flu this year seemed to give long duration of illness), sometimes there are signs emerging of medically important causes of fever that aren't infection (eg Kawasaki disease which is a type of inflammatory disorder, though overall rare).

Thank you for your reply. He’s had his tonsils removed but I think they’ve started to grow back again (he said he doesn’t have a sore throat though). He’s woken up without the fever although still not feeling well - saying tummy hurts a bit but not as bad as yesterday. Really hoping he is on the mend and wondering if it’s flu because of the congestion. He had the flu nasal spray.

Definitely go back to the GP today if he’s still feeling rough. Poor kid. My initial thought was glandular fever but that usually comes with a sore throat. Whatever it is I really hope he feels better soon. Must be awful for him and you x

Thanks so much. Ended up going back to the GP (didn’t get to see one of course). He started getting a bad headache and a temperature again (38.2). The person we saw said it’s probably something viral like flu and said fevers can last longer than 5 days with something like that. Said to give calpol/ibuprofen through the night to stop the night fevers he’s been getting.
He picked up after the doctors as I gave him calpol and he ate all of his dinner. Now he’s mentioning a headache again so I’m praying that it doesn’t turn into anything and that he is better tomorrow. It always worries me when they’re ill especially when no one else has caught it.