worried about my 4 year old ds1 (masses of ulcers)

[zonedout]

i feel like i am coming on weekly to ask for help for one of my ds's; what an awful run of it we have had since july. so the latest panic is my poor ds1 (4.1). he started complaining of a slightly sore mouth on thursday evening and struggled to eat anything. i noticed a mouth ulcer and assumed he had bitten his cheek and the ulcer was the result. since then he has been complaining of ever worsening pain and had 4 ulcers last night, has been unable to eat or sleep and is (quite understandably) very whingy and miserable. i checked his mouth this evening and he now has 8 horrific looking ulcers all on the insides of his cheeks. he also sounds a bit coldy this evening but has had no temperature at all and i have checked his hands and feet which are clear so i don't think it can be hand foot and mouth.

anyone any similar experience?

ds2 has just recovered from severe stomach bug, having spent the whole winter in and out opf hospital for breathing problems. ds1 has spent most of the winter on antibiotics for recurrent ear infections (and tonsillitis 2 weeks ago). i know in the grand scheme of things these are all fairly minor but combined with the sleep deprivation (ds2 up hourly) i am starting to struggle with the incessant onslaught
will be going to gp first thing but i am just looking for some clues/reassurance/further reason to panic and berate myself for not calling out of hours this weekend in the meantime.

DD1 had this and it was indeed HFM. She only got one blister on her hand and that didn't appear until about 5 days after she had a mouth full of ulcers.

See what GP has to say, but hope you all are feeling better soon.

Could be HFM, could also be primary herpes (not sexually transmitted don't worry).
Basically it is what tends to happen when someone is first infected with the cold sore virus - anyone in the family have one?

Difflam mouth spray is good for relieving the pain for a bit - as is icecream.

thank you both so much

that's interesting nigglewiggle and in a weird way i hope it can be explained by HFM as i know it will pass and that will be the end of it.

wuglet weirdly enough i had herpes of the toe as a child but none of us have or ever suffer from cold sores (except my mum but we haven't seen her for 10 days as she has been extremely ill with probable norovirus )

bumping for any more mouth ulcer experiences

I used to get them when i was stressed, i think my DDs get them for the same reason...make sure your Dc is getting enough vit C as that can help and stress depletes the body's store of it.

thanks shitemum, my initial thought was some sort of deficiency (his diet is ok but not amazing, he does eat a fair amount of fruit though) and i have also suffered from them when tired, rundown and stressed but i think the sheer quantity in his mouth might make this less likely... i obviously am no expert and am just guessing so shall definitely be looking into his diet if a virus isn't the cause.

goodness, ds1 starts reception in september. i feel like his poor body just won't cope with full time school if this is how often he gets ill when at pre-school just 4 mornings a week