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Covid

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Original poster

Trauma from PCR Tests

38 replies

bananahoney · 27/01/2022 14:13

Hi All, im just looking for some support really, im a working single mum to a nearly 4 year old, she has had 4 PCR tests since covid began due to requests from nursery the last being just this morning. Two done by her dad and the last two by me.
She had a full day of vomiting yesterday and finally a 40 degree fever for half an hour that broke after the final vomit, so i did the right thing and booked a PCR for this morning. after a full nights sleep typically she is fine today though still not eating much. however as she is due to go to her dads at the weekend (in 2 days time) for the first time in a month and while im away, where a member of the family in the house is recovering from radiation for cancer i thought best to still put her through the PCR even though im convinced it was a stomach bug 24 hour thing.

Boy do i regret it.

She HATES them, this time i talked it up for ages as a game and she was much calmer than last time and i really thought she was going to let me do the nose swab but after it touched her nose she flipped out and we had half an hour in the back of the car trying different methods, i nearly drove off but in the end just got it done by pinning her limbs and head still in her car seat, She screamed so much. Its horrible i cried the whole way home and i worry so much that she will be forever traumatised by these tests.

Ive explained to her im sorry i didnt want to hurt or scare her but we need to make sure she wont make anyone else poorly. she got over it almost instantly and said she was just scared but this cant be good for children..

Please tell me im not alone in feeling this way, is there anything i can do to help aleviate any possible long term mental damage by the tests.

OP posts:

Lalalablahblahblah · 27/01/2022 14:17

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Ijustneedtosleep21 · 27/01/2022 14:27

I feel exactly the same, I had to do 2 close together at Xmas time on my 2 year old and I refuse to do one again! I think if we continue to do it then it will traumatise them. I had to do the same, pin her down and tbh I'm never even sure if I've done it for long enough which would make it pointless anyway!

Katya213 · 27/01/2022 14:28

You're not alone, I had to do this with my five year old or she would've missed ten days of school. I felt terrible and she cried for ages. Don't keep mentioning it to her now, it's done. My daughter is seven now and does it herself.x

Ijustneedtosleep21 · 27/01/2022 14:28

Also there's no way my DC's would stay asleep when something was pushed up their nose and I think that's actually more dangerous if they react

Lalalablahblahblah · 27/01/2022 14:36

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whymewhyme · 27/01/2022 14:37

I understand why you get her tested but i personally don't do it, its far too tramatic for them at that age.

GrendelsGrandma · 27/01/2022 14:39

We've had this with my 5yo. It helped a bit to offer many bribes and let her pretend to test her dolls with a cotton bud after, I think that helped her process it.

Indecisivelurcher · 27/01/2022 14:40

For Pcr's you have to do the tonsils too don't you?

Ijustneedtosleep21 · 27/01/2022 14:43

@Indecisivelurcher

For Pcr's you have to do the tonsils too don't you?

Not for children

Indecisivelurcher · 27/01/2022 14:43

Personally based on my experiences I think the newer nose only lft's are very good so I'd get a stock of those and either bribe or do while asleep. My 4yo is absolutely fine with these now, he was scared the first 2 times.

ludocris · 27/01/2022 14:44

I absolutely hate it and avoid it as much as possible. The other day I managed to get DS to wipe a swab across the bottom of his nose, which was runny. It tested positive, which I expected, but I don't think I would trust a negative result.

I agree that's it's really traumatic for everyone.

Indecisivelurcher · 27/01/2022 14:44

What's the age limit on not needing to do tonsils of kids?

Whichjab · 27/01/2022 14:48

@GrendelsGrandma

We've had this with my 5yo. It helped a bit to offer many bribes and let her pretend to test her dolls with a cotton bud after, I think that helped her process it.

That's sad. Not what you are doing, that's obviously right, but that cotton buds up nose are such a part of life kids role play it.

Hullabaloo31 · 27/01/2022 14:48

My 9 yo didn't have tonsils done, he flat out refused at the test centre and having pinned him once before, I wasn't doing it again. Nose was enough for a result. It was that or nothing.

whatkatydid2013 · 27/01/2022 15:10

Our 5 year old hates them but if we let her do them herself she manages that much better than us doing them.

ArachnidArachnid · 27/01/2022 15:26

Calling them tickle tests or ‘mining for nose bogies’ helps deescalate it. I also let them (5 and 9) do their own tests. I get them to help when I do my twice weekly LFTs which has been going on forever. All helps. Still get the odd time when they are freaked out by it. Stopping and leaving it half an hour helps too. Order at home PCR if u can, they are more relaxed then and u can take your time.

LargeYorkshirePuddingAndGravy · 27/01/2022 15:38

My 7 year old hates them but I just let him do it himself and tell him to pretend he's trying to dig out a big boggie he doesn't put it far up at all but it must work because his tests came back positive this week

The 5 year old really really hates them and after pinning her down near the start of the pandemic I said I'd never ever do that again. Now sometimes she will do it herself like her brother and when she really doesn't want to I get her to blow her nose really well and then just swab what comes out. I figure that's going to work surely, the way they go on about how infectious it is.

RedToothBrush · 27/01/2022 15:47

It enrages me so much that the UK didnt approve spit tests for children. Spit tests are the norm in germany for school children.

There isn't an excuse.

LargeYorkshirePuddingAndGravy · 27/01/2022 15:56

At some point in the pandemic (timescale wise it's a blur tbh) our daughter was very sick so we rang 111 and they said to just let her spit onto the bit you drop the liquid when we needed to test her

firef1y · 27/01/2022 16:02

It's not only the trauma.
I've spent 30 years (older children and now younger ones) telling my children not to stick anything smaller than their elbow up their nose. And now all.of a sudden its fine for them to.be sticking swabs up their nose twice a week. Can't wait for this not to be normalised anymore and getting back the giggles at the thought of them trying to stick their elbow up their nose

MarbleQueen · 27/01/2022 16:11

but we need to make sure she wont make anyone else poorly

You didn’t need a test to know she’s not well. She’s been sick and she’s not eating and she’s got a fever.

She’s obviously got some sort of bug and you shouldn’t send her to anyone else’s house regardless of what bug she’s got.

Are you planning to send a vomiting child to someone else’s house as long as it’s not covid? Does it matter what the bugs called?

She’s not well, keep her home.

Original poster

bananahoney · 27/01/2022 16:19

@MarbleQueen

but we need to make sure she wont make anyone else poorly

You didn’t need a test to know she’s not well. She’s been sick and she’s not eating and she’s got a fever.

She’s obviously got some sort of bug and you shouldn’t send her to anyone else’s house regardless of what bug she’s got.

Are you planning to send a vomiting child to someone else’s house as long as it’s not covid? Does it matter what the bugs called?

She’s not well, keep her home.

Hi if you read the post she is due to go in two days time, she is not vomiting now or had a fever since 8pm yesterday

i would never send her if she was not well of course, but if her symptoms have subsided i need to be able to go to work/ her dad wants to see her.
i presume she would have still been contagious/risky to someone else at that point if it was covid?

OP posts:

Original poster

bananahoney · 27/01/2022 16:20

@LargeYorkshirePuddingAndGravy

At some point in the pandemic (timescale wise it's a blur tbh) our daughter was very sick so we rang 111 and they said to just let her spit onto the bit you drop the liquid when we needed to test her

and you didnt get a void result?

OP posts:

NightmareSlashDelightful · 27/01/2022 16:25

This thread makes me sad. What are these kids going to be dealing with psychologically in years to come when they've got memories of being in extreme distress, forcibly pinned down and things being shoved up their noses by their own parents when they were four?

jumpbounce · 27/01/2022 16:39

I would say you have done the right thing getting her tested despite it being traumatic, I work in a school we currently have multiple entire class closures due to pretty much every child in them testing positive, vomitting and a short lived high temperature have been by far the most common symptoms in the beginning of the illness with some children later going on to develop a cough and aches and pains.

Children have short memories, it's terrible at the time but I don't see the long time psychologically issues that people go on about. My 5 year old has had a hell of a lot worse done medically than a swab test and many more times as well....she doesn't remember much of anything that happened when she was 4 to be honest and I know many children who are older and have had regular medical procedures who aren't traumatised as a result. So try not to feel guilty about it

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