Temperature of 106 - Cooling meds?

[nannynickers]

DD is 16 months and has been running a temperature of 41.1 (106) and just under for 2 days now.

She has a cold and a tooth coming through.

When I called NHS Direct they said just to give her regulare medication & NOT to give her cold baths or sponge her down.

Mum is looking after her whilst I'm at work and has called to say she is grumpy and hot.

Anyone reccomend a baby med to get this bleedin temperature down?!

NHS said it will be an hour before they can call me back.

I've tried:

Calpol
Nurofen
Medised

None seem to work, they have just given her the runs.

Don't mean to scare you but I think you should at least ring the GP if she's had such a high temperature for 48 hours and medication isn't working.

The calpol and nurofen should work - we were advised to give them alternately every two hours. I know you've been told not to sponge her down but we were told to strip her down to bodysuit and socks and put a wet (lukewarm water) flannel on the back of her neck.

It was around the same age that our DD had a temp like this for nearly a week. Turned out she had tonsilitis and needn't have suffered that long

Can your Mum not ring the doctor's surgery to get advice direct from GP? That's what I did and they sent me straight to pediatric admissions at the local hospital.

Probably not what you want to hear but a temperature of that high, over 2 days, would have me contacting my doctor or the A&E.

Don't bank on them calling back!!!!!

I called last tuesday as DS had high temp and shivering,thay told me they will call back with in 4hours and am still awaiting their call.

I think as you have tried most of the medicines get her into see the GP,not sure what they will say but better than worrying!!!

Sorry if im not helping !!!!

I'll try and call her now and see what's going on.

Tonsilitis Crikey I didn't know they could get it that young

Take her to A&E. That is a very high temperature. NHS direct take ages to call you back and they generally tell you to go to A&E anyway, ime...

And I agree with Cashncarry. You shouldn't give them cold baths because it can be a shock to their system, but you should have them in cool clothing and sponge down with luke warm water. It's the evaporating action of the water which takes the heat out, not the temperature of the water itself.

Sponge her down, strip her down to her nappy & give Calpol/Nurofen alternately & give plenty fluids (if she won't drink, give to her via a medicine syringe).

if her temp isn't coming down with nurofen and has been that high for a couple of days I'd take her to A&E personally

(again don't mean to scare you but DD was like that at 18 months and she ended up with intravenous anti-biotics for pneumonia .. which at that age could only be diagnosed by x-ray .. she didn't have a cough at all)

Don't panic - Tonsilitis isn't that dangerous. It's just important that they catch it and treat it early so that it doesn't turn into anything nasty.

Your DD is probably like mine - she never complains much when she's ill, just sleeps so I always take her to the GP just in case. I was mortified when they told me - can't believe I didn't realise something was up!!

Mum has just re-tested temp has gone to 38.0 so at least going in the right direction, she has also just let me know that she hasn't given her any medicine! So the last dose she had was at 8.00am when I left for work! She's great but sometimes I could really strangle her.

I've given strict instructions, Calpol first then call GP and see what they say then test temperature after about half an hour.

good news on the decrease in temp

I'd second that NHS Direct are pretty useless in this type of situation - general advice is ok. I would push for a GP appt pref. this pm even if her temp does come down to normal. It never hurts to double check and if nothing else will put your mind at rest.

Let us know how you get on...

calpol does NOT reduce a temperature .. it stabilises it (if its going down on calpol only then she's probably getting better)

ibuprofen reduces a temperature

just so you know

really Twiglett - I didn't know that. I always wondered why the calpol never did the job and that calbuprofen stuff did...

DUH

NHS just called back, they said to give her calpol, then 3 hours later give her ibroprofen and continue with 3 hourly alternating doses, and that she can also have Tixylix on top of that.

She said if the temperature goes above 40 then there is an increased risk of convulsions so I should take her to the doctors straight away - so why didn't they tell me that on Saturday!

So ultimately their opinion was 'dose her up if not better by tomorrow or temperature goes up then hospital.

Am going to call Mum for an update.

Surprise! I can't get through...another strangle moment.

Apparently my darling younger brother (17) is keeping the phone line clear so he can make a phonecall about his decks - He shall be getting strangled too!

Doctors appt for 17.10 so will find out once and for all hopefully.

if her temp has gone down to 38 with calpol I wouldn't worry unduly to be honest .. its only if it doesn't go down with medication

Are you sure about Calpol not reducing temperature Twig? According to netdoctor, calpol is used to reduce fever see here

ibuprofen is also an anti-imflammatory, which calpol isn't

iuprofen

its what I was told by hospital Paed and what has happened with my kids

but no I'm not totally certain in an empirically researched type of way

"Ibuprofen and paracetamol work in different ways to alleviate pain and fever and have different pharmacokinetics:

Ibuprofen is a non-steroidal anti inflammatory drug (NSAID). It works by blocking the action of the cyclooxygenase enzymes peripherally known as COX 1 and COX 2. Cyclooxygenase is involved in the production of various chemicals in the body, some of which are prostaglandins.

Paracetamol works to reduce the perception of pain by inhibiting the synthesis of prostaglandins cerebrally. Paracetamol does not alleviate inflammation.

Numerous studies have studied the safety and efficacy of ibuprofen (Lesko 2003) and paracetamol (Meremikwu & Oyo-Ita, 2002; Losek, 2004) in the treatment of pain and fever in infants and both have proven to be safe and efficacious and equally tolerable (Wahba, 2004) (see also Table 7).

Whilst both drugs have good effects studies show ibuprofen can reduce fever more effectively and for a longer duration than paracetamol (Czaykowski et al, 1994; Goldman et al., 2004). Ibuprofen has also demonstrated a significant reduction in temperature after just 15 minutes, in the treatment of hospitalised children with pyrexia (Pelen et al, 1998). "

The doctor said she has very red swollen tonsils but want to wait until Thursday before giving her any antibiotics as it might be viral.

I asked about the calpol vs ibroprofen thing, she said they both belong to the same group of drugs and do both lower temperatures but Ibroprofen is more effective.

Fortunately the Calprofen got her down to a normal temp. Fingers crossed she's on the mend by tomorrow as still very under the weather today.

Have just seen this NN - poor you and DD - tonsilitis is the pits (DD is just getting over another bout of it herself )

Glad her temperature's down as that's the main cause for concern. Hope she's feeling better soon