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experience & advice appreciated!

4 replies

zonedout · 22/11/2009 21:20

please help! and i fear it will be long so bear with me if you can...

the week before last ds1 (3.9) had a nasty chesty cough, followed by an afternon and evening complaining of very bad ear ache. he had no temp and was fine in himself and the next morning said the ear pain had gone so we didn't go to docs. he was a degree under at the start of last week, drinking more water than usual (always a sign something is brewing with him) a little bit less of an appetite than normal and pooing up to 4/5/6 times a day rather than his usual once or twice (once even in his pants much to his distress ) not diarrhoea as such but a funny yellow colour nonetheless. he seemed fine in himself so we continued as normal. by thursday he was complaining of severe tummy pain and things were by now very much diarrhoea so we went to the gp. he diagnosed a very bad ear infection and sent us home with antibioics (felt mortified that i hadn't taken him sooner to check his ear). by that evening his fever was hitting 40+, his chesty cough had returned and his poos were getting worse. meanwhile, i started to run a fever of up to 38.4 and developed a nasty, painful chesty cough. friday he was very poorly, lay on the sofa all day with fever, tummy ache, diarrhoea, cough. phoned doctor who said to hang in there but send a stool sample if worried (which i did but no results yet). friday night he vomitted up his nurofen (i should add as an aside that i am an emetephobe, a co-sleeper with ds2 and dh is away for 10 days so am not enjoying myself that much at this stage, and all the while my fever rages on!)

to cut an extremely long story short the poor mite is still having the most awful, explosive, watery, smelly diarrheoa, the likes of which i only remember having on trips to africa or central america. i am getting fluids into him (although he won't touch the dioralyte) and i know it does at first sound 'typical' swine flu but i actually don't think it is swine flu, i think he has 3 different bugs going on at once; an ear infection (which he is prone to) some weird coughing and fever virus (which i and now ds2 have) and thirdly a most unpleasant tummy upset which i imagine will put him in hospital for rehydration if it doesn't stop soon.

so, my question is does any of this sound familiar to anyone and can anyone shed any light as to what the stomach thing might be? i am finding it all getting on top of me now and am really quite worried/exhausted/tearful/ in need of wine but too feverish to drink . he had rotavirus as a baby so i don't think it's that...

also wondering how co-sleepers cope with a poorly older child in the night (and no dp/dh around)...

phew, that was long...

OP posts:
zonedout · 23/11/2009 03:48

up for my 5th consecutive night, this time with a feverish ds2 so bumping for the insomniacs/early birds.

OP posts:
mamakoukla · 23/11/2009 04:57

Zonedout, I can tell you a bit of our story with DD and ear infections... some of it does sound similar.

She had a persistent cough/cold, then she developed tremendous diarrhoea (more than a week; stools all came back negative). She then went on to develop vomitting (maybe 3-14 episodesin 24 h; antacids helped bring this under control; on them for a month and was fine when she came off). Four courses of antibiotics later, it was finally cleared up.

In the young, ear infections can cause gastric upset. It may be possible that your son does have an ear infection and that he is not on the correct antibiotics for the infection.

Whenever DD develops a fever, because of her history, I take her to the Dr to get her ears checked out. The Dr may be annoyed but it has been the best way to tell as there have never been any outward symptoms despite her ears being clogged with fluid (late speech development was another clue).

I am not saying that this is the same for your son, but it may be. Go back to the Dr's if the antibiotics are not working - you normally see an improvement within 24 h, 48 h tops.

Is there anybody nearby to give you a little bit of help? At least time for a good hot shower/bath and possibly to drop off some food?

Hope you all get better soon.

TanteRose · 23/11/2009 05:20

sounds horrendous! you poor thing...

My DD used to get ear infections all the time so I feel your pain (or she feels your DS's pain!)

One thing - the antibiotics might be causing the tummy upset, as ABs kill off the "good" bacteria in the gut, as well as the "bad" bacteria causing infection.

I would take him back to the docs (with DS2 and yourself..get everyone seen to) and ask for different ABs or something to help the gut bacteria work again (like a pro-biotic)

really hope you are all better soon - as mamakoukla said, is there anyone at all who can come over and help. You are going to get exhaustion at this rate

zonedout · 23/11/2009 21:41

thanks so much for your replies and apologies for taking so long to get back... has been a rather fraught day with 2 poorly boys and not a second to even have a wee

mamak your story is very interesting. i did at first think the diarrhoea was linked to the ear (as previously he has always complained of tummy ache and gets lots of painful wind when he has ear infections) but despite the antibiotics, it just kept on getting worse to the point of the explosive, watery, bug-smelling stuff, if that makes any sense. so i am fairly convinced he has a tummy bug as well as. the diarrhoea is starting to pass today (but things a long way off normal) and he is still off all of his usual favourite foods. only wants to eat plain rice and melon which, i suppose, is quite a sensible choice for now. the poor lamb would blow over in a stiff wind but you are totally right, and i have learnt from this to always go straight to the doctors and get his ears checked in future at the slightest hint of a problem.

tanterose we are going back for a check up on weds so will get myself and ds2 checked if we are no better. poor ds1 has had blood coming out of his ear today (called doc, apparently it is normal )and he has developed sores on his lips from being so run down. yes, i am a great believer in probiotics and shall start him on some asap (although the diarrhoea did start before the antibiotics bit still a good idea after antibiotic/stomach bug combo!)... and you are right, i am on the verge of exhaustion (ds2 is not a good sleeper at the best of times so i have no sleep 'reserves') i dread what tonight may bring, ds2 is terribly feverish and chesty and last night the boys literally played sleep tag all night!

thanks again to you both for taking the trouble to reply

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