5 year old - delta symptoms - please read!

[PollyDarton1]

Hi all,

My little boy who is nearly 5 (as in next week) has a high temp, very sore throat, has complained of headache and sore stomach and hasn't eaten much. He has SEN and testing is near on impossible, as is getting meds into him.

This is day 3 now and he's listless, fatigued more so than normal with tonsilitis (which he gets regularly) and I'm wondering if anyone with similar aged kids who have tested positive could share the symptoms their children have had?

He's just started school and has only been able to go in for 3 days because of this.

Both me and DP are double jabbed and to my knowledge there isn't a positive case in his school, but cases are on the rise in our area.

I know the only way of being 100% sure is PCR but my son is really traumatised by anything medically due to SEN.

Thanks in advance x

Although not 100 % reliable, could you try a later flow test. It does not require a throat swab. I have managed it with my child. I know it sounds a bit daft but it works... I say they have a big bogey and as the swab is small and looks like a cotton bud I gently insert in each nostril and swab it around the required times. Distract them playing a game on iPad or phone at the same time and it has worked for me. Worth a try. Good luck and I hope he is feeling better soon x

*lateral flow test

Sound just like my 5y olds symptoms, he tested positive with pcr on Monday..he had a very high temp for 4 days, complaining of sore throat, hardly ate anything just slept on sofa most of the day, his tonsils were actually swollen when we did the test we could see, we thought it's tonsillitis but the test came positive, another day or two after that no temp and he is back to himself now, isolating until Sunday, me and my husband had COVID few weeks back but finished our isolation well before his symptoms started. He didn't want the test either as of course it's not the best but my husband managed to swipe the tonsils and that was enough to test positive..if you can manage to test I would, make sure he drinks lots of liquids if he doesn't have appetite hopefully it will pass soon

If it's day 3 of a high temperature and he's listless you need to speak to a doctor not MN.

Best calling drs really could be covid or could be something that requires antibiotics.

Sal

@Geamhradh

If it's day 3 of a high temperature and he's listless you need to speak to a doctor not MN.

Thanks for this, I've already spoken to a doctor who has advised treating at home.

@onedream

Sound just like my 5y olds symptoms, he tested positive with pcr on Monday..he had a very high temp for 4 days, complaining of sore throat, hardly ate anything just slept on sofa most of the day, his tonsils were actually swollen when we did the test we could see, we thought it's tonsillitis but the test came positive, another day or two after that no temp and he is back to himself now, isolating until Sunday, me and my husband had COVID few weeks back but finished our isolation well before his symptoms started. He didn't want the test either as of course it's not the best but my husband managed to swipe the tonsils and that was enough to test positive..if you can manage to test I would, make sure he drinks lots of liquids if he doesn't have appetite hopefully it will pass soon

Did medicine touch it at all? I've managed to get some meds into him with a fight and he's perked up a bit but expecting a crash again in an hour or so.

Test him when he is asleep.

@Mummytotwonow

Although not 100 % reliable, could you try a later flow test. It does not require a throat swab. I have managed it with my child. I know it sounds a bit daft but it works... I say they have a big bogey and as the swab is small and looks like a cotton bud I gently insert in each nostril and swab it around the required times. Distract them playing a game on iPad or phone at the same time and it has worked for me. Worth a try. Good luck and I hope he is feeling better soon x

I did a LFT on him yesterday twice, both negative - we called it the tickle test but we didn't get a brilliant amount of time up the nostril.

There is absolutely no way he would let us do his throat sadly. Not without two people holding him down and even then he wouldn't open his mouth.

@PollyDarton1
I kept giving him calpol which always helped to bring the temp down but after few hours it went back up again..it is so difficult to test I totally understand your struggles, I hope he feels better soon

Pcr you can just do nose too.

I'd do a pcr test, they can do it just on their nose and you could book a home test if it's easier than going to a test centre

You don't have to do the throat. You have options though. Test or isolate him for 10 days.

I have to test my little one when he's asleep. It can take so long because he stirs but it's the only way we get it done..

If you can afford to get a private test, Halo do a saliva PCR test - its a bit onerous as it needs more spit than you'd imagine, but it is easier for children to do....

If he'll let you do a LFT then get a home PCR test? They are exactly the same.

Ask yourselves - do you need to know whether it is one particular respiratory virus over any other one? Is it going to make any difference to anything? Did your GP test him for tonsillitis before diagnosing that? Please don’t traumatise your little guy with this unnecessarily. Just do calpol and TLC and keep him off school until he’s better like you normally would.

As he has covid symptoms, if you don't test him he has to isolate for 10 days from the start of symptoms. In your situation this would persuade me to do a PCR (you can just do both nostrils) to avoid isolation which might not be needed.

@SweetBabyCheeses99

Ask yourselves - do you need to know whether it is one particular respiratory virus over any other one? Is it going to make any difference to anything? Did your GP test him for tonsillitis before diagnosing that? Please don’t traumatise your little guy with this unnecessarily. Just do calpol and TLC and keep him off school until he’s better like you normally would.

Well you do need to know if it's covid for isolation reasons- it wouldn't be good to send him back in if he's better in a day or two but still contagious ...if you can keep him home for ten days from start of symptoms then you don't need to test

My baby was admitted into hospital with a very high fever. Fatigue, crying and just not her normal active self. They did a pcr. Negative. Turned out to be viral tonsillitis which causes high fever.
She caught it off her 8 ur old brother who had exactly the same symptoms and a negative pcr.
Hope your little boy gets well soon.

Thanks all for your replies. He was so poorly yesterday but perked up a bit, had a reasonable night and seems ever so slightly better today.

Just such a shame for him to miss school so early. I don't think it's Covid but have a PCR test coming today to rule it out.

I'm not in the UK so I'm not sure exactly what the rules are. In my country it's beneficial to have a positive pcr recorded (rather than just isolate) as then you are deemed immune for 6 months. If he is positive now you could just isolate for 10 days and have it over with, or, everytime he is unwell in the next 6 months he will require 10 days isolation too. Obviously he may well be negative each time, but the isolation period is generally much shorter with a negative result. Hope that makes sense. And I hope he feels better soon.

I can't really offer much advice but I feel your pain. Ds is autistic and testing him is horrific, he is 10 and it's still hell. He had to have two tests last year due to hacking coughs and it was awful getting it done. We didn't do the throat but doing the nose was bad enough but definitely easier than the throat.

It might not be covid at all. There's plenty of other things going around. Those symptoms are typical of any other respiratory virus too. If you manage to do get a pcr done then you know for sure, if you don't then it's isolation. I think we would have to take the full isolation
Next time DS gets sick. Testing him was awful last time. We were in the test centre for 1.5 hours trying to get it done.

I really hope he feels better soon op . They do bounce back really quickly at that age. Plenty of rest, movies, fluid and eating if he fancies much. He'll be better in no time.

I believe my two had covid early last year before the first lockdown. They were very poorly and at the time I said I had never experienced anything like it in my several years of being a parent at the time. Whatever it was, it was nasty. Very high fever, extreme fatigue, cough etc. A family within the school had gone to Asia before Christmas so I do believe it's a possibility they had it. Many kids and teachers were also sick. They were very poorly for 5 days then all of a sudden better! Like nothing happened! Neither me or Dp caught whatever it was. Of course I can't know for sure if it was covid and if it was it wasn't the new delta variant of course.

Sending you all well wishes.

@Kales29 it's so hard isn't it. We think (have no diagnosis yet) that DS is autistic and ADHD which is sort of a melting shitpot to be honest! Hoping now he's started school the teachers will be wise to it and we will get some intervention. But my goodness it's tough.