How do you soothe an ill 4 year old?

[sugarplumfairy28]

DD is 4 and is very rarely ill unlike her brother. DD has come down with the most awful cold. She hates hates hates taking any medicine and am shocked that she has had any at all. She has a temp of a 101f, red eyes that have been watering all day (probably tired), runny nose, a horrible cough, she says everything hurts, including her head. Every time she has a coughing fit she ends up crying.

She hasn't slept all day which I can't understand as she was up half the night. Tried laying down in bed with her with something boring on telly (which normally sends her off), cuddles on the sofa, we did have to go out this morning and she nearly went off in the car but that didn't work, and she simply doesn't want to go to her bedroom.

It breaks my heart to see her in pain and so upset, what can I do?

Oh poor dote. My almost 4 year old was quite sick last week with cough and high temp for 4 days. If you syringed the Calpol into her would that be easier? Over and done fast with a drink of water to hand. Even if she gets upset about it briefly would it be worth it to have the temp down and form better.
Our dd was in our bed while she was sick, unusually for her but it was the only place she wanted to be (and slept much better there).

How is she now- I would be really thinking about doctors soon also if no change.

I didn't think you were meant to mix antibiotics, but surely the logic of 'if it gets it in her that's better than nothing' applies? Sounds disgusting but maybe something as overpowering as marmite (which she loves) would mask any horrid taste? Our DS was very poorly earlier in the year, had an infection which he was then allergic to at the same time, came out in hives all over, his face swelled up, which was the worst bit, we got given a lot of medication, including Amoxicillin, and he is as good as gold with medicine, but he struggled to take it, had him in tears, I tried to show him it's OK but ummm I gagged on it. We'll just to see how she goes, she's been nearly normal during the daytime, the stream seems to have helped a bit.

Dd was crawling onto my lap weeping she felt so bad. I got some
Nurofen into her and convinced her to lie down on her bed while I read a story (she didn't want to lie down). She was crying and whimpering in bed while I stroked her hair and read book, but 15 minutes later the drugs were working and she perked right up and started joking.

We did the towels on rads and sat with her and bowls of steaming water, I put a cushion under her pillow so she was a bit more raised up. Put her in her bed, she didn't come in once nor was I woken up by crying although I did keep waking up every hour. Shes told me that she kept waking up, but clearly no where near as bad as she didn't cry or come in to me.

We're going to get hold of a proper one, last night was my DIY attempt but definitely helped.

She's a lot perkier this morning. HalfStar it's just awful when you 'that' cry, makes your insides hurt for them.