Do I NEED to take DS to a doctor?

[Weegle]

I ask because doing so would be no minor feat on my part (long story), although obviously if I need to then I will figure out a way.

Will try to be brief: He is 12 months. he is crying virtually constantly - 20 min crying, 10 min off. Not like him at all. Temp going up and down between about 37.5 and 38.9 with underarm thermometer. Runny nose, lots of dribbling (so did wonder teething). Not eaten for 48 hours. Nappies fine. Woke twice in night and not napping for more than 30 min unless on me but he is sweating profusely so think that's making him worse. REALLY smelly breath. Obvious pain somewhere in face, hence keep wondering if it's teething but he's never been like this with teeth before. He also looks quite pale and red eyes but that's no surprise given he's not slept well and been crying so much.

Got to go, he's off again, will try to get back to check what people think.

have you tried calpol,teething powders just incase it is teething?

also meant to say - when he's crying he sounds quite wheezy

yes been alternating calpol calprofen all morning - not making much difference at all. doesn't let me near him with bonjela which is normally opens mouth for.

Ring the doctor's surgery and ask for a call back?

If he is bad enough that you are on here asking this question, then YES, take him to a doctor.

take him to be on the safe side weegle, he does sound an unhappy chappie, how long has he been like this for?

he might have an ear infection or something.

been like it about 48 hours but worse since about 3am.

I guess you're right I know I need to take him him. Just don't know how I can do it - I have Rheumatoid Arthritis, I'm having a flare up and can barely walk and am worried about getting him in and out of the car seat. Will just have to, mind over matter and all that.

Thanks for the opinions, I needed to hear them.

or his tonsils or some sort

poor lad

RING THEM FIRST, THEY SHOULD STILL DO HOME VISITS ESP FOR PEOPLE LIKE YOU

My DS had similar symptoms recently and it was tonsillitis - i would at least speak to a doctor even if you cant get to one. I was told to strip him to his nappy to keep him cool, offer lots of water and give baby neurofen and calpol alternatively to control pain and reduce temperature. Has he drank any milk?

Ifthey won't do a hme visit arrange for someone to meet you outside to get him out of the car seat etc.

agree with chhosy- they should do home visits if you explain the situation- or at least get a doc to call you and triage properly.

If he's been having the sympts for 48 hours if he has got an infection it will show by now so he can get sorted!

poor baby x

You could ask for a home visit anyway. they are usually v helpful when it comes to babies.

just rang the surgery they said to call back at 2pm - didn't even give me a chance to explain properly. I'm quite worried about him. He's taking some milk now though so that's good at least he's getting some fluids.

he does need to be seen by a doctor.

hope you don't have to wait too longfor a home visit.

he does need to be seen by a doctor.

hope you don't have to wait too longfor a home visit.

Thanks everyone for your advice. Took him in the end (you have to be at imminent risk of death to have a home visit apparently according to the receptionist). Poor mite has got tonsilitis so glad I got him there because at least now I know what's up with him. Just hope he feels better soon, poor thing is so distressed

I find that awful that you couldn't get a home visit in these circumstances. What on earth is a receptionist doing deciding whether or not a home visit is necessary?

Anyway, hope he gets better soon.

Hasn't anyone noticed, gp's haven't done home visits for a long time now. And even less since the new gp contract. I couldn't even get one a few years ago when ds had suspected meningitis.

no I hadn't noticed actually. Moved away from the UK six years ago. Very glad I did, the health care system is Belgium is far better.

What are people supposed to do when they can't get to a doctor's surgery? There are plenty of people who need home visits - the elderly, infirm, people with no family - what do all of these people do when they need to see a GP?

Struggle! Like I did. I had to ask my neighbour to put DS in the car (I only know him to say hello to). I then had to ask a stranger at the surgery to get him out again. A nurse kindly put him back in the seat for me and DH was home by the time I got back. And that's not to mention the pain and exhaustion nonetheless. Of course I'd do it for my son again but I need to be at my best to care for a poorly little boy, a home visit would have made a huge difference to us. No point getting wound up about it though, I'm rapidly learning the state systems are useless and if it wasn't for caring family/friends and charities an awful lot of people would be stranded.

Erm, our practice does home visits.

choosyfloosy, I'm not trying to be difficult, but, assuming you are a gp, how aware are you of how your reception staff vets your patients and decides who gets home visits. Are you sure that Weegle would have gotten one if she was your patient, or would she have been turned down as she was by her own gp's staff because her ds wasn't sick enough and no one bothered to check if the need wasn't simply because of her ds' illness, but also because of her own (and she was probably too agitated to articulate this to the receptionist). Have you tried calling your own surgery as a test to see if the phones are answered promptly or engaged? Have you tried pretending you are a patient with a sick child and gauging the reaction? I do think that there is often (of course not always) a large disconnect between gp's (and many other professions) and their staff and a lack of awareness of the quality of the "face" of their practice.
I do understand that I lived in London where there are simply not enough gp's to service the population and that it might be different in other parts of the country. But putting that aside, I certainly found that as a pushy, well educated person, I got much more out of the system than the average person. For example, I was dumped by my out of area gp during my pregnancy because I had complained about a receptionist to the practice manager. The receptionist had "punished" me for arriving late with my very ill infant ds. He had thrown up on the way to the surgery, so consequently we had arrived 20 minutes late since I had stopped to do a little clean up. It was in the dead of winter, ds was totally naked since his clothes were covered in vomit and he was clearly ill. I was made to wait for several hours while all the other patients were seen because I had missed our slot. (I am sure that the gp had absolutely no idea about what had happened). There was a shortage of gp's in my area and I had difficulty getting a new one and the one that I finally found, barely spoke english and was in my opinion fairly incompetent. So I told the hospital that I no longer wanted shared care and wanted to do the rest of my visits at the hospital. They said that that wasn't an option for my postcode (?!) and I said fine, then I'll only do half my visits because there was no way I was going back to my gp. They promptly managed to then fit me into the hospital only care program.
After that I moved and ended up with a very nice gp's with lovely staff, but the reality is that after the new gp contract when I called out of hours, I got fairly incompetent people taking a history before I could get anywhere near a doctor. And in the end I don't believe I would have gotten a home visit even if I had needed it.

would suggest writing to your GP about your experience, making it clear that you like the surgery and the standard of care by the GPs but perhaps the reception staff could be a bit more sympathetic to your conndition. it would need wording carefully mind, or else you might get struck off the list for reasons being the relationship had broken down too much