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Original poster

this horrible coughing & fever fluey virus - someone please tell me it won't last forever..

138 replies

geekgrrl · 11/02/2006 10:01

I've had it since Tuesday now and am soooo fed up. I've still got a high temp and seem to either sweat buckets (sorry TMI) or freeze. Dh's got over it quickly and the kids just had an irritating cough.
I'm so fed up. It's also brough my asthma back and I feel like someone's sitting on my chest all night long.
Sorry, just needed to moan.

OP posts:
GDG · 16/02/2006 17:26

SJ - your dd sounds sweet (antiviral tissue!!). Really hope you all get back on the mend soon.

Our half term has been a write off too. We've not left the house! OTOH it's better than misssing a week of school imo. Ds missed a party today and I'm not sure he'll be up for his swimming lesson and another party on Saturday.

He's perked up a bit today though - eaten a weeny bit more and is not so confined to the sofa. Fingers crossed he's on his way up now! He is so incredibly skinny and that's what has freaked me out - he has literally no 'meat' on him whatsoever. Cooking his tea now so just hope he tries a bit!

puddle · 16/02/2006 17:30

My ds is just recovering now. It laid him flat out for five days solid with temps of up 104 - we went to the emergency docs at the weekend and I called NHS direct twice too...

This is day 7 and he's just started to eat a bit more normally thank goodness. I went out with him today though and he has no energy at all - we half heartedly knocked a tennis ball around for 15 minutes and then he had to sit down, poor lamb. Am glad he's not at school this week as although he would be ok in a lesson playtime and lunch break would finish him off.

GDG I was offering my ds food every hour more or less, he picked at things terribly but I found bread and jam cut up small and very milky porridge went down well.

Hope all your children get better soon!

SleepyJess · 16/02/2006 17:34

Yes DS is living on little pieces of jam sandwich.. jammies dodgers.. banana and blackcurrant!! (Hope the Nutrician Police are not about!! But I am giving him what he wants as opposed to him not eating anything!)

Glad DS is nibbling GDG. Re getting out I was thinking some fresh air might be nice for DS soon if he makes progress again tomorrow. Made me thinks of years ago when whole large families fo kids used to go down with 'the influenza' and then be sent away to the seaside to convelese (sp?!). That would be nice

muma3 · 16/02/2006 17:39

took dd2 and dd3 docs and they got chest in fections and temps . both on antibiotics . really concerned for dd2 as she has severe asthma. think i will leave it a few days and then take myself. think my chest has flared up again . using inhalers to ease it but they not helping. feel like poo

SleepyJess · 16/02/2006 18:14

I had sent DS1 (13) 'into exile' to a friend's house last night because he has cystic fibrosis and I really really don't want him to get this bug. Now he has just come home with a head ache and gone straight to bed. Bloody hell.

And we have a surprise 40th party for DH on Saturday with all his family coming from hundreds of miles away. Bloody f*ck

Lonelymum · 16/02/2006 20:19

Oh God SJ! It just goes one and on doesn't it?

Well, to keep you going: dd is now so much back to normal eating that when my parents came for the day today, my mother was astonished to see dd eat a proper plate of meatballs and pasta at lunchtime. (dd has always had a poor appetite but it has got better lately but my parents don't normally see how much she can eat as she doesn't eat much of their food. Meatballs and pasta is oneof her favourites though.) Wuite gratifying to hear my mother's astonishment rather than have to listen to her carping on about dd's fussiness, and it means she is fully back to eating after the virus.

Lonelymum · 16/02/2006 20:34

Sorry, got cut short there by ds2 coming downstairs complaining of ear ache! Bugger! I think it might be wax though so I have put some oil on cotton wool and stuffed it in the offending ear.

What I meant to say was, hope everyone in your family feels better tomorrow.

WharfRat · 16/02/2006 20:36

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn

SleepyJess · 16/02/2006 20:50

Bit of an update, am hoping DS1 is ok after all. Seems our friends let him stay up til midnight last night (he gets v.spoilt round their house ) and he may just have been tired hence the headache. He got up after a nap earlier, came down, ate a large plate of curry and two pancakes which is a good sign. Also, remembered that he has had a flu jab so perhaps this will help protect him.

On the DS2 front, he woke up this evening after a long pm nap and threw a remote control at our friend's 2 year old's head which is definitely a good sign, trust me!! Even the friends seemed pleased at this sign of recovery which is saying a lot seeing as it is their child who DS always victimises!!!

Great news re DD's appetite revival LM.. and WharfRat, I think it's taking a while for kids to get their 'ooomph' back. Just goes to show what a proper flu bug can do.. think the word 'flu' is so overused (for bad colds etc) that it takes a virus like this to remind us what flu is really like.

SJ x

SleepyJess · 17/02/2006 16:19

DS1 DID/does have the lurgie after all! This feels never ending. Am knackered.

DS2 (five years old with cp) is on day 6 of the bug. Today his temperature has been normal and I have not been dosing him up half as much.. just giving him the occasional calpol to help him feel a bit better. He still has no energy and still needs frequent naps. Is this normal? (It is so ABnormal compared to his usual self.. he is basically healthy (usually) despite his disabilities.. and it seems a long time since we saw his usual chaotic self!) Can anyone whose child is recovering/has recovered from this reassure me?

SJ x

Lonelymum · 17/02/2006 17:22

My dd (similar age to yours, 6 next month) last had a nap on day 7 of her illness but after that was on the mend (apart form the cough which she still has). She didn't get it as badly as your ds though, I don't think, as her temperature was only occasional and lasted 3/4 days. So you might have to expect your ds to be feeling lethargic for longer than my dd did.

Bad luck about ds1 getting it. What are his symptoms? My youngest one came down with a runny nose just after dd started getting better, but that is all he has had so far, ie no temperature or lethagy, and eating OK.

SleepyJess · 17/02/2006 17:56

DS1's symptoms are high temp/head ache and achey all over (already had a bit of a cough). He is able to describe how he feels obviously.. whereas DS2 isn't.. but I think he must feel similar to him although am hoping it will be a shorter bug for DS1 as despite the CF is very healthy on the whole.

IlanaK · 17/02/2006 18:12

My 4.5 year old took 11 days to get over this. It seemed forever, but it did pass. He has a slight cough left, but has his energy back.

I know for those of you going through it now it is aweful, but it will pass.

CarolinaMoon · 17/02/2006 18:27

I've just seen this thread. Ds was coughing all night, miserable all day and now has a temp of 39.5 poor mite. And all this to look forward to .

GDG · 17/02/2006 18:29

Ds has had this for 3 weeks now - he's just coming out of it I'd say. Appetite still not fab but he's def brighter today. Not well enough for swimming lesson or party tomorrow though.

All 3 have the cough but only ds1 had the virus (and, ahem, he was the only breastfed one )

curlysmum · 17/02/2006 23:34

My daughter has had this for 6 days ,she is 4 and has barely left her bed or the sofa, hardly eaten anything just tiny little bites and lots of water. I was noticing today that her legs which were fairly chubby last week just seem about half the size, or maybe I'm imagining it. I'm going to go back to the Doc's again tommorrow morning see if they can give anything during the week the Doctor gave her an inhaler to stop the cough which he said shd then stop her being sick....I am not convinced this is right

muma3 · 18/02/2006 00:38

dd3 had a tooth come through today so even more reason for her to feel sorry for herself !!! (8months)
dd2 has been really poorly , very hot today and has had a slice of toast. she has been having her inhalers and i have been dosing them both up with calpol and calprofen . dd2 has been dozing on sofa looking very flustered .
dp has decided to go and get it now just as im feeling better. i went to bed at 9.30 and slept right through . went back to bed at 8 this morning and slept til 12pm glad i did as i feel better for it . be dp turn to stay in bed tmw.

muma3 · 18/02/2006 00:40

CDG - as you mention it both dd3 and dd2 were both breast fed and are always ill . dd3 is suspected to have asthma when old enough to confirm. but dd1 wasnt breastfed and is never ill .
funny that ???

GDG · 18/02/2006 10:51

I don't know when this will end - ds1 is right back to square one today. He isn't eating a thing and hasn't moved off the sofa since he got up at 8am. He looks pale, he is skin and bone and it's scaring me

welshmum · 18/02/2006 19:02

I have to add my woes to this thread. We are on day 5 of it with dd (3) who is just a different little girl and it's really worrying me. She lies on the sofa all day, eats next to nothing, has a temperature off and on and then coughs her way through the night. It's just dreadful. She says she can't walk and needs to be carried between the sofa and her bed. And she is so angry and irritable when she can summon up any energy at all.
I don't think ds (8 months) has got it thank God. He seems to have a cough and a runny nose and no temperatures so far.
Dh has had it badly for more than a week now.
It's really getting me down I so want them all to be well I just want to weep

GDG · 19/02/2006 10:44

Well, I've just posted on CD's thread as ds1 is now in hospital with suspected pneumonia.

He woke up this morning with rapid breathing and I thought 'enough is enough'. Sent dh down to A&E with him (I'm a big wimp, I know) and he's just called to say he's on oxygen, had a chest x-ray and they are just waiting for the paediatrician to come and confirm the supsected diagnosis.

Not sure yet if he'll be staying in for IV antibiotics or coming out with oral ones.

Lonelymum · 19/02/2006 20:29

Oh dear GDG how is he now?

Welshmum, to give you encouragement: only my dd caught this virus and was ill for a week. None of her brothers did. Two are older so you could say they have a more mature immune system, but the other is younger and he still didn't get it. Hopefully your ds will stay well.

yoyo · 19/02/2006 20:34

I'll add my DS to this list too. We are on Day 10 and he is so out of sorts still. He gave up sleeping during the day at a year old but has done so ever since this illness started.

How is your DS GDG? Think I may take mine to GP tomorrow just to get his chest checked out.

curlysmum · 19/02/2006 22:02

I took my dd back to Doctors on Saturday and he said he may have an infection and gave her antibotics and she has perked up today not been sic and had managed a few little bites of food on & off. She looked fairly chunky the other week and was looking at her today and could see her rib cage and her knees and elbows just seem to be sticking out ..its terrible what a week can do to them. I really understand what everyone is going through.

SleepyJess · 19/02/2006 22:28

GDG so sorry to hear this!! How scary.. and just when he seemed to be getting better too!!

Mine are on the mend.. but poor DS2 (5, with cp) has no energy or stamina.. there no way he can go back to school. It's been 8 days now since he came down with it and he still needs a couple of naps in the day and has no strength to get about crawling, playing etc.

Both boys missed DH's surprise 40th party.. so my mum did too as she offered to stay home and babysit.

Hope DS is soon on the mend GDG

SJ x