Hand Foot and Mouth - Advice please

[sausagebear]

Hi
My 20 months old son has just been diagnosed with h,f and m by our rubbish gp!! He has blisters on hands and feet, but also has a really sore rash on his bum that seems to be spreading down his legs to his knee. I told gp and he said it wouldn't be linked and didn't even want to look!! My son has never suffered with nappy rash and sudocrem isn't doing anything, which it usually does if he is a bit red.

Has anyone ever experienced hand, foot and mouth? If so, did your lo have anything similar to this?

Advice much appreciated. xx

Hi sausagebear. Sorry to hear your LO has HFM, it's rotten My DS had it a few months ago, not as badly as yours by the sound of things, but he definitely had some rashy spots on his willy and surrounding area.

Not sure what the GP can do for him... Mine just said "it's viral, it will run its course in a few days" and didn't give any treatment, which was okay by me as the rash wasn't too bad. But do go back and be forceful if you think it needs further attention

Thank you. I have been doing some research and apparently they can get a rash on their bum!! It seems to be getting a little better today, so hopefully we're over the worst!!!

xxx

Hi SB, Just to let you know my 22 month old has just recovered from this (you're not in Somerset by any chance?). My GP didn't even know what it was I had to tell him! DD was exactly the same and especially bad around the nappy area. She also couldn't/ wouldn't eat anything. I just kept up with the calpol to keep temp down and let her have ice cream, anything to get some calories inside her and soothe her mouth.

She was over it in about three/ four days but is nasty tho.

Thanks. He's had it since last tuesday. The rash on his bum is a lot better now, but still on hands and feet. He's a lot more himself now, so is hopefully on the mend. We're not in Somerset - we're in N Wales. No idea where he got it!!!!

Yes, it's perfectly normal for it to be on the bottom - the GP should know this. It can be nasty for a few days but he should get better fairly quickly.

Ice cream and ice lollies are good if he has painful mouth ulcers.

yeah, they can get it on the bum too

your gp isn't as bad as mine. took my 3 kids in - one's got mouth ulcers, one's got spots on his hands, the other's got spots on her bum and feet. guess what the diagnosis was? the eldest has mouth ulcers, the middle one doesn't have anything wrong with him, the youngest has heat related excema - in November!!!

duhh. put forward the idea it might be hand foot mouth and he wanted to know what made me think that . . . maybe the spots on the hands, feet and mouth?? I dunno

hope he's on the mend soon.

GP "should" pick up HF&M with that description. Our GP asked a college to check as she wasn't quite sure what it was, no mouth ulcers, just hands, feet and bum. Looked a lot like Chicken pox but in wrong place.
I suspect some GPs havn't seen it all that often and children can present such different patterns of rash with it that it may be some time since a GP saw exactly that pattern.
be warned, its caused by 3 different virus, so a child can easily have it more than once.
The 2nd time I didn't bother with going to GP at all.

Thanks everyone. He is a lot better now and spots are starting to disappear. Its been a rough week but finally getting sleep at night again and have a happier boy during the day!!