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Covid

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Original poster

Has anyone’s child been really unwell with Covid?

31 replies

Mistlewoeandwhine · 15/12/2020 09:27

I asked this before about 6 months ago and didn’t get many replies. My DS was 14 in May and was REALLY unwell with Covid (slim and no underlying health conditions). He had a raging temperature for 15 days which didn’t come down despite constant paracetamol and ibuprofen. He didn’t eat for all that time and barely drank anything. He vomited up the smoothie I forced him to drink. He developed a rash (I thought it was meningitis) and his heart was galloping so much I could feel it if I hugged him.

We had zero support and the GP wouldn’t come near him. We were just told that if his temperature didn’t come down by the Monday, to drive him to hospital. It started to come down on the Sunday after 15 days of not eating and barely drinking. He had kidney pains etc and I was scared that it was Covid too. It was bloody horrific. He told me afterwards that he thought he was going to die. He was gaunt and yellow for a couple of months afterwards.

He can’t be the only one to have been so ill? I don’t understand why I haven’t heard of any other teens being so unwell. Is no one talking about it or was he just very unlucky?

OP posts:

SirVixofVixHall · 15/12/2020 09:30

That sounds horrendous, and really frightening, your poor ds. I am worried about my dd, 15, as she has autoimmune disease, so my fear is that her system could overreact to Covid .

Original poster

Mistlewoeandwhine · 15/12/2020 09:33

SirVix, it’s weird because I’m older than my husband, obese and have autoimmune stuff but I was the least ill out of everyone in my family. It barely touched me. It doesn’t seem to follow the pattern that the government claim. So your daughter may well be fine xxx

OP posts:

RufustheSniggeringReindeer · 15/12/2020 09:39

Dd was the illest she has ever been (not as bad as your son) the first week of lockdown

Obviously she didn’t have a test so COVID can’t be confirmed but it did fit the symptoms

6 days of very high temperature, unable to stand unaided...vomiting when she brushed her teeth, loss of appetite and sense of taste etc

It was very scary and as i say she wasn’t nearly as ill as your son sounded

RufustheSniggeringReindeer · 15/12/2020 09:39

Oh she has ME/CFS

SquitMcJit · 15/12/2020 09:43

@RufustheSniggeringReindeer

Did your DD have ME/CFS before Covid, or do you mean she has developed it post Covid, if you don’t mind me asking?

I’m sorry she’s had such an awful time.

HMSBeagle · 15/12/2020 09:46

I think that globally older teens have ended up on life support so it happens, but I'm guessing it's quite rare? The lack of NHS seeing people who dont need hospital means we dont have a full picture of severity of disease in teens

Whyarewehardofthinking · 15/12/2020 09:48

We have had 3 students hospitalised in our large secondary; 2 over 16 and 1 14 year old in Manchester. This is out of around 100 confirmed cases. 2 of them were back after 3/4 weeks, one is now on week 7 and still off.

RufustheSniggeringReindeer · 15/12/2020 09:49

Sorry squit I wasn’t very clear at all

No she had it before so its quite difficult when she is struggling with exhaustion and muscle pain to see whether its JUST the ME or whether she is still recovering from the covid (though i dont think the covid...if it was covid... is affecting her)

I might ask her whether she thinks she feels worse when she wakes up

MrsBobDylan · 15/12/2020 10:00

I feel angry about how kids have been treated in all this. Covid is very variable in all people and because we know bugger all about it, the blanket 'oh he'll be fine because he's young' attitude pisses me off.

My 13 year old has Type 1 Diabetes (which we know doesn't react well with Covid) and Autoimmune Hypothyroidism. But because he is young, billions of perfectly healthy 70 year olds will receive the vaccine before him.

PISSES ME OFF.

Baileysforchristmas · 15/12/2020 10:01

Are you or your son black/Caribbean or South Asian? I only ask as the report I have seen on children that have been really ill have mostly been from this category?

jamanetwork.com/journals/jamanetworkopen/fullarticle/2773289

This is just one article, there are many online.

longshot · 15/12/2020 10:02

Yes my DD was very unwell. Initially she wasn't too bad, relatively mild respiritory symptoms (i was very unwell, hospital etc she had what I would call mild flu). After about 3 weeks she improved a lot and DH took her and her sister on a short bike ride. She then became very unwell. Weeks of temperatures, palpitations, shortness of breath, sharp chest pains in her heart, stomach pains, malaise, headaches, neurological symptoms (tingling, phantom pains). This has continued for 7 months plus exhaustion coming and going.

She's basically had long covid, went to the Covid hub a few times early on. No help really. She's under paediatric care now, had an ECG but no other assessment. She is actually much improved now at 9 months, back in school but unable to do anything very physical so no P.E.

No prior conditions, 8 years old and super fit and active before. Sadly she has followed the exact trajectory of me pretty much, I was more acutely ill early on but the 'long' bit has been the same although she is now 90% better and I am probably 70% overall. I was diagnosed with myocarditis a few weeks ago and I think she has probably also had that as her symptoms mirrored mine but no MRI allowed for her apparently (mine wasn't NHS).

longshot · 15/12/2020 10:04

Oh and she is white British...there are plenty of children who are 'long haulers' around the world who have also been very unwell. Not publicised much but without a doubt out there. I am just relived my DD appears to be mostly recovered now but we had many sleepless nights and it was by far and away the most unwell I have ever seen her for weeks on end. She also had severe brain fog which thankfully has now passed.

Original poster

Mistlewoeandwhine · 15/12/2020 10:05

@Baileysforchristmas

Are you or your son black/Caribbean or South Asian? I only ask as the report I have seen on children that have been really ill have mostly been from this category?

jamanetwork.com/journals/jamanetworkopen/fullarticle/2773289

This is just one article, there are many online.

Hi, no we are Caucasian.

OP posts:

TheDailyCarbuncle · 15/12/2020 11:26

He could well have had something else at the same time - maybe hepatitis if he was yellow? It sounds like he was on the edge of sepsis, which is a reaction to infection rather than caused by the infection itself IYSWIM. That can happen with literally any infection. It might be worth getting his liver and kidney function checked by the GP.

LittleSwede · 15/12/2020 11:45

I read on the Swedish news that there are at least 6 children (I think they were all teens) with Long Covid in Sweden, they are going to be part of a study into how Covid can affect otherwise healthy children. There are probably more who habe been very unwell but not long enough for it to be part of this study.

LittleSwede · 15/12/2020 11:48

Oh and although we haven't had confirmed Covid my DD had a very persistent cough back in March. It went on for nearly 6 weeks (during which time myself and DH had yt too). She was not herself and was off school for a week and a bit then we went into lockdown so at home anyway. Obviously not as poorly as your DC OP but definitely not just a mild cold as they like to describe it.

PinkPlantCase · 15/12/2020 11:54

My understanding is that teens get it the same as adults, it’s generally children that are pre-puberty that get it much milder.

That’s what I’ve heard from a lot of colleagues at schools. It’s why the primary schools haven’t been impacted as badly as the secondary schools.

So sorry to hear your DCs have been so poorly. I think the teenage years are often when people get illnesses that their bodies react to in a weird way or feel the effects for a long time.

LazyMaureen · 15/12/2020 11:59

I know of one teen who was hospitalised with it.

DianaT1969 · 15/12/2020 12:00

None of the children or my friends and family have been unwell, despite most of the families having a confirmed Covid case.

Baileysforchristmas · 15/12/2020 12:20

I know lots of teens who have had it, their parents were very ill, they had hardly any symptoms.

SquitMcJit · 15/12/2020 14:55

@RufustheSniggeringReindeer

Sorry squit I wasn’t very clear at all

I might ask her whether she thinks she feels worse when she wakes up

Thanks so much for explaining. I’m asking because we have someone in the family with Post viral fatigue (from a previous year) so I’m very cautious about Covid and what catching it might mean for them.

So sorry your daughter has had Covid to contend with too. I hope she’s doing okay.

MoirasRoses · 15/12/2020 15:04

It’s not much reported on because thankfully it is really rare. Yes, some do get really quite poorly but it is a very small minority.

You ask anyone & they’ll tell we don’t vaccinate for chicken pox in the UK because it’s mild. Well, my friends kids both ended up in intensive care with it. It happens, it’s horrible & you can’t predict if your child will be affected or not. But the doctors told them it occurs in less than 5% of kids. So we don’t vaccinate.

Covid in children is the same principle. It’s mild for 98% of children. Sadly not all. And of course, children with underlying conditions are different.

Homealonefan · 15/12/2020 15:49

Did you ds have a Covid test op?

I ask because you say that this was 6 months ago when testing wasn't widely available.

In answer to your question my ds had Covid and wasn't too unwell thankfully.

Frequentflier · 15/12/2020 16:01

My nephew in the US- 20 yrs old, v healthy, no conditions- has had long Covid symptoms for months now. Brain fog, headaches ( which are slowly disappearing), fatigue. He has had to take a year off college. I think we are still discovering the long term effects of this disease.

V sorry about your DS and hope he is better.

Frequentflier · 15/12/2020 16:17

Adding that my nephew is S Asian.

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