DS is sick and need advice

[Mumofone1902]

I don't know what to do.

Last night we took our temperature as we weren't feeling great and we all had a temperature.

In the night my two year old came in our room screaming and inconsolable. He has had night terrors in the past but my husband was worried he might be screaming due to pain, so we gave him Calpol and after a while he settled and went back to sleep. (With his night terrors they usually can't be fixed with Calpol so I assume it must have been pain).

This morning he woke me up by standing over me coughing. He has been coughing all morning. The NHS website was asking if we had been in contact with someone who was sick but I don't know.

I do know a man at nursery last week said to his child 'mummy is back tonight and probably bringing coronavirus with her'. I assumed was just a weird dad joke but now I'm wondering if he could have caught it from nursery this week?

He doesn't have shortness of breath just a cough and his temperature was 37.8 this morning which is orange on the thermometer not red.

Honestly no idea what to do. I do think that I should keep my son at home but am I meant to go to work? My mum is meant to be coming to see me tomorrow, should I be cancelling her?

(I have had a cold for weeks, no cough just temperature and constantly running nose. Don't know if that's important)

It is not normal to get a temperature with a cough or cold. Clearly it is more than that. Why so many threads from people with temperatures and coughs asking if they should isolate? As PPs said, it's quite clear.

@TeddyTeddy it’s very important that you self isolate and I’d ring back and tell the midwife that is what you’re doing. Hope you and bump get better soon.

Thank you @WiseUpJanetWeiss we are okay. Ironically I did my food shop as a click and collect not wanting to get coronavirus so luckily means that we weren't going around spreading it in the supermarket and have a weeks worth of food. Have messaged Playgroup and my mum and will call work tomorrow.

I understand everyone saying that it is obvious, but when you are in the situation it does seem different. I have seen my son have multiple colds and at my age have had loads. I was told coronavirus made it hard to breathe and was dangerous so I was thinking it would be more obvious to tell that we might have had it.

It also makes me a little but angry the government are advising to self isolate but there being no paperwork I can fill out. That means that loads could be self isolating and have had it and not be noted on any statistics? It's like it's a way of minimising how many people could have had it.

No one needs to worry, I asked for advice and have received it and will be staying home. If you hadn't have replied I would have checked online again and at worst called 111 coronavirus line for advice. I wasn't planning on guessing and going outside and risking people. I just needed advice.

I agree with doyoumind a temp of 39 in adults with a ‘cold’ is not normal. Children maybe but not adults.

Glad you have decided to isolate op. I do know what you mean about things sometimes not being clear when you are in the situation especially if you feel ok. It’s quite clear in your situation though.

We are self isolating too with young children. It’s not easy. The government has already said they think there are 10,000 cases in the community and they want that number to increase to 70% that is over 42 million. They don’t have a system in place or spare people at the moment to measure something so large.

No ibuprofen as the latest advice from the French medical services is that anti-inflammatories could make symptoms worse - the recommendation is paracetamol only for the fever and to seek medical advice before taking NSAIDs.

Skf108 -
Ibuprofen may aggravate the Coronavirus. Allowing your body to fight the virus with a high temperature might well be our best defence assuming the temperature doesn't get too high.

amp-theguardian-com.cdn.ampproject.org/v/s/amp.theguardian.com/world/2020/mar/14/anti-inflammatory-drugs-may-aggravate-coronavirus-infection?amp_js_v=a3&amp_gsa=1&usqp=mq331AQFKAGwASA%3D#aoh=15842601417108&referrer=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.google.com&amp_tf=From%20%251%24s&ampshare=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.theguardian.com%2Fworld%2F2020%2Fmar%2F14%2Fanti-inflammatory-drugs-may-aggravate-coronavirus-infection

I understand everyone saying that it is obvious, but when you are in the situation it does seem different

This, with knobs on.

We're isolating DD after she came back from school with a fever on Friday. There's been some liquid from her ear and she was moaning about itchiness so we're assuming it's another ear infection. But, having an ear infection doesn't mean she's not got Coronavirus either.

They have given you wrong advice

This with knobs on x 10.

There are no words.

For what it's worth children under 9 are normally asymptomatic with coronavirus. It is more probable that you son has something else - ear or throat infection perhaps.

I agree with other 39c in adults unusual. But again you shouldn't take temperature if you have just woken up.

Not sure why people keep asking the same Q: if you have a new cough or a temp over 37.8 then stay at home it’s not complicated to understand

If you and your husband have fevers over 39 you must be feeling terrible! I would be surprised if a common cold could cause such a high temperature, especially in adults.
This is not to say it’s definitely Coronavirus, it could be anything, no one can tell you that without testing. But the advice is very clear - a new persistent cough and/OR temperature means you have to self-isolate. You are not being self-indulgent by not going to work - it is government protocol.
I am totally confused by the advice given to TeddyTeddy - unbelievable!
I also hope that UK medical professionals will confirm whether Ibuprofen is okay to take or not because it is causing a lot of worry.

There will be statistics on the percentage of the population self isolating. But can I urge you all if you get a letter from the Office for National Statistics that you respond and agree to take part - especially if you can do the survey by phone. It is from these randomly chosen surveys that the best idea of how many people are self-isolating will come, and the fastest of these is carried out on a weekly basis.

I don’t feel like the advice is that clear -

My DD had a temp of 38.3 yesterday, gave her calpol and now this morning she’s down to 36.5 when last dose of calpol was 9pm last night. Does she needs to be kept off school? Or is it a CONSTANT temperature?

The reason no ibuprofen: a study in France showed that ibuprofen might make your covid19 infection worse, as the anti-inflammatory properties of ibuprofen are exactly what you DON'T want with this virus.

Stick to paracetamol and plenty of fluids and rest. Hope you feel better OP!

They're asking because they don't think the rules can possibly apply to them. Selfish.

@chaosisaladder it’s if you have a temp, 7days from then

@twinnywinny14 thank you

I don’t think most people are asking because they’re being selfish, but rather that the leadership on this has been poor and the instructions vague. For example, my children sometimes have random temp spikes as many do. That’s why I was asking.

This is absolutely NOT the time to ring 111 back to complain. Don’t jam up their phonelines with stuff like that. It is completely selfish and unhelpful. Yes they got it wrong (111 get things wrong like 70% of the time as far as I can see). If you must feed it back - do it online.

This is fake news! There hasn’t been a study. There was advice by the French government which is based on really shaky science. Ibuprofen is still definitely recommended - particularly for children who have a fever and are distressed by it.

Me and my husband were in the 39s temperature wise. It's just hard as when you feel like it's a cold it's like you are taking advantage of a virus by staying home?

No one will think that, and if they do stay at home. This is why I think self isolation doesn’t work particularly well because we all feel guilted into going in when sick. My boss had a call from a colleague who was in an almost exact similar situation to you and she essentially wanted him to make the decision, ‘I’m probably fine’ she kept saying. Thankfully he said no not to come in (although he did say 7 days rather than 14 days so I’m not sure what the advice is there).

@Mumofone1902

I was told coronavirus made it hard to breathe and was dangerous so I was thinking it would be more obvious to tell that we might have had it.

I wonder if this is why people aren't getting it. They think "well I just gave symptoms of a cold, not all the coronavirus symptoms" when the self isolation guidance isn't about whether or not you actually have coronavirus, you probably don't. It's for just in case - if 100 people with a cough self isolate and it turns out one of them has coronavirus, that's the spread minimised. Times that by 1000s of people and you get the picture. Hence the symptoms needed for self isolating are deliberately vague. You don't need to worry or guess about the right thing to do or whether or not you've caught it.

It seems to me people think anyone self isolating has coronavirus when at this stage it's more likely you don't.

@MondieBee that's a really good explanation of it. I have already cancelled our week. Luckily it is easy when you have a 2 year old as he's pretty much at home most the time anyway.

I feel like there have been lots of comments as though I want to ignore guidelines, but in reality I don't really understand the guidelines, hence why I came on here for advice.

Yeah sorry I was a bit harsh to start with. It's understandable that when you're in it, it's could be a bit more difficult to gauge.