Has your child ever appeared delirious?

[ProfessorGrammaticus]

DS1 has just concerned me a bit. He has been off school today with a runny nose, cough and temperature. I have taken his temp three times, each time it has been between 38.2 and 38.6 degrees. He seems no different now. I gave him Calpol an hour ago.

I just put him to bed, left him listening to classical music while I read a story with DS2. I heard some funny noises from his room after a while, so went in. He was puffing and panting with his mouth wide open in a way I have never seen before, then going "Oh my God O my God" (which he knows not to say in front of me). His eyes were staring ahead, but he responded when I told him to stop, then started up again. He did it 3 or 4 times. I then suggested that
I get into bed next to him, he agreed, then seemed to settle down.

In the midst of this he said he was going to go downstairs and kil one of us! Now a more gentle child you really cannot imagine. Is it the temperature? He had a disturbed night last night, could it be tiredness?

Has anyone ever seen anything like his?

Yes. When DS#2 had a very high temp from an ear infection. But he was only small and was babbling about zebras on the bed I mentioned it to the doctor expecting her to tell me it wasn't the case, but she told me it wasn't uncommon in children.

It could be the temperature apaprently when I had a temperature when I was little i'd try to climb the walls! It also sounds like sme sort of night terror but I wouldn't have thought he'd been asleep long enough to get one of those.

It could be the temperature apaprently when I had a temperature when I was little i'd try to climb the walls! It also sounds like sme sort of night terror but I wouldn't have thought he'd been asleep long enough to get one of those.

ds gets 'odd' with a temp, roles his eyes and goes very distant and blue around the lips has rigors etc. The gp thinks he might have fits with his temps. I find calpofen far better at getting his temp down. Ring nhs direct for a bit of advice??

Yes ds when DS has a fever we get a recurring one about volcano's and molton lava.

Its scary !

I used to every time I had a temp... Until my early twenties!!

Was he definitely fully awake? I have a friend who used to be fast asleep but her eyes were wide open and she could hold a conversation!

When my DS1 was about 4 he used to hallucinate when he had high temperatures - was terrified of things (monsters) he was clearly seeing, etc. It is terrifying to watch, but certainly in our case DS1 grew out of it.

Dd1 was delirious when she had tonsillitis. She kept calling my brother dad and talking to the flowers on the wallpaper (not my choice of wallpaper lol).

She also did alot of mumbling.

Ooohh thanks all - I'd never seen it before! He's 9 but if you managed it till your 20s Xena I guess that's ok

I'm not sure he was properly awake, no, he could have drifted off.

Feel better now. I'll Nurofen him when i go to bed (I could do with a bit more sleep tonight than I got last night!)

My dd1 gets like this when she has a temperature. It can be quite scary as when she is like this she is literally 'not in the right mind'. We find that the best thing to do is to take her out of her situation (eg lift her out of bed and take her into another room), put a cool wet cloth on her forehead, and hold her hand and talk to her gently until she comes out of it. She is often angry in her delirium, but a bit scared too, though not consciously so. Usually lasts 3-5 minutes, and then she goes right to sleep afterwards.

Is she older Jennifer? i think i had the idea that this was something a younger child might do, but was surprised to see it in a 9 year old (who has had higher temps than this before)

DD has febrile convulsions brough on by high temp and during the last one, the sugns it was coming were that she went delirious and gibbering nonsense and shivering, V scary.

I remember having a high temp when I was about 7, and hallucinating a flower pot on my father's head

Apparently I was often delirious with high temps. These days its usually from lack of sleep when my LOs have them...

Hope he's better soon.

this is a bit different but last yr dd got stitches in her head after a fall. she was awake when they did it but was given a drug called ketamine (horse tranquiliser). we then had to keep her in a dark room for an hour til it wore off as she was hallucinating. she thought myself and her dad had penguins for hands. coming out with the funniest stuff. pmsl. 'tripping away' as the nurse said.

I remeber vividly my dd doing this. She was about 9 too. She had the most horrid cold and temp, so I slept in with her. I spent most of the nigth just mopping her brow. At one point she was saying, 'where's daddy, where's daddy' over and over and when I explained he was sleeping in the other room, she sat bolt upright and hissed 'I'm Daddy' in a kinda Poltegeist voice! Scary stuff at 3 in the morning!

Hope he's feeling better tomorrow.

my ds was very delirious when he had a fever although he went from 102 to 104

Maureen, just pmsl at "I'm Daddy".

DD2 has been like this on a few occasions. She was convinced her bedroom floor was covered with snakes. She is 11 and this was recent.

Its prob tempreture.My daughter had a very high tempreture and said tell that lady to go away.She was delirius,scared me to death just got her in to bed with me and hubby and said close your eyes and sleep .scared me witliss.I was looking for a lady thought she was dying and some 1 was coming to take her.glad to say next day she was fine.its the tempreture makes them see things.Still scary has my mum had died and i thought she wanted to take care of my little girl.If any thing she wanted to tell her she was fine.not take her.

He's fine today, thanks - says he fell asleep very early on in the CD and only remembers "a really bad dream where you kept interrupting to tell me to stop"! So I guess he was only half awake. He scared Ds2 a bit though with the heavy breathing!

Really reassuring to hear of other older children doing it too, thanks everyone.