dd off school unwell for 2 weeks now - what else can I do ??

[notwellstressedout]

Dd (7) will have had 2 weeks off school tomorrow. She’s been really unwell and we’ve been to the GP four times ???

Started with a very high temperature and severe headache and aches , we were told viral and not worry. Rest, fluid, Calpol etc. after 48 hrs she was worse and gp said could hear some mild ‘crackles’ so prescribed some amoxicillin for a week. Dd has just got worse and is coughing all the time , we’ve seen the gp another two times and they said there’s nothing else they can do we have to wait as coughs can linger but she literally hasn’t stopped and cant sleep so even though she hasn’t had a fever in a week we can’t get her to school as she’s exhausted from constant coughing. I don’t really know what to do

Honestly? I would give her cough medicine and send her to school. She could have a cough for weeks and she can’t miss weeks of school. I couldn’t miss weeks of work either.

this is one of those things that, even at the age of 7, I would need her to power through.

Just give her time, don’t rush her and she’s more likely to stay well once back. If she gets worse, take her back to the GP. Some illnesses last ages, that’s life. V stressful if you need to work or the school are stressing about it, but you’re following medical advice and helping her rest, that’s all you can do.

Is it whooping cough?

I’d invest in a nebuliser

https://amzn.eu/d/b6GZtEI

No point her going to school if she's too exhausted to actually benefit. Plus I doubt anyone wants a constantly coughing child around them! It might just be that she needs more recovery time, in which case there's nothing you can do but wait it out.

Can you go back and ask for a reliever inhaler for nighttime use to let her get a good nights sleep?

She literally can’t power through she hasn’t slept more than 2/3 hours each night due to the coughing and is just lying around exhausted . On a few occasions the coughing has made her vomit , she already has inhalers and we’ve increased them as advised but this doesn’t seem like a worsening of asthma as not actually wheezing. I think I will take her back to the gp tomorrow but that will be the fifth time !

Whooping cough is on the rise. I know a child who has only just been diagnosed today after a very similar time frame and illness pattern to what you're describing.

She is fully vaccinated so I wouldn’t have thought so ?

Can that happen if a child is fully vaccinated? I’ve just looked up the symptoms and it does sound similar but surely very unlikely as she is up to date with all her vaccines

Vaccines aren't 100% effective. I'm not saying it is whooping cough but don't rule it out as a possibility based on vaccination status.

What stops me coughing when im ill is holding an open pot of vicks vaporub and just breathing it in from the pot (i have asthma too).
Disclaimer: I am not a medical professional.

Whooping cough vaccines don’t last long - I’ve got it at the moment and it’s bloody grim. My GP said the vaccine only protects for a couple of years - but fewer parents are vaccinating their kids putting us all at risk 🙁. If it is WC, she can have ABs within the first 3 weeks which stops her being contagious.

She should be less severely affected as she’s vaccinated but it’s still a grim road to recovery I’m afraid 😢

I will go back to the gp and ask them I assume they can do a test for whooping cough ?

I have quite bad asthma but don't wheeze. I end up with several courses of steroids each year despite high dose inhalers. Sounds like she might need steroids. Take her back to the GP who might change her inhalers and possibly prescribe steroids.

They can but my GP diagnosised on the basis of my symptoms and especially my cough - it’s very distinctive.

Yes, the Drs should be able to take swabs for testing.

I've just had this, my DD is 12 though so new to secondary. She was diagnosed with pleurisy just before Christmas, she was completely wiped out and the cough was terrible. She had an ok-ish weekend just before the last week of school, so I sent her on the Monday and she lasted 2 hours before they sent her home. So after being off a week, at least the school had seen her and knew she was quite unwell. She started to pick up again so she went back on the Thursday and managed a full day. On the Friday however she was back down again so they rang just before lunch to collect her.

I took her to the emergency doctor on Christmas Eve and asked for more antibiotics, but he said the pleurisy had cleared up and it was all now viral. She slept all day Xmas day, spent most of Christmas in bed, hardly eating. She managed a few hours out with us on NYE, then slept almost all of NYD. All this time the cough never went.

It's now 7th March and the cough STILL hasn't gone, so had I kept her off because it's disturbing her sleep she would have been off school a LONG time. We've had 6 further GP appointments since Xmas and all still saying viral. DD now has a prescribed inhaler and nebuliser which she takes on a night which does help and the cough is better on a night, but it's not gone completely.

Overall since before Christmas and a few days in the new year she's missed 11 days of school, and she got terribly behind. In your position, I'd try to get her to at least a couple of hours. It gets them back into a routine and also she might pick up whilst she's there. It certainly helped my DD seeing her friends, but the lack of sleep on an evening was knocking her so I can relate. These coughs seem to be pretty hard to shift though and you can't keep her off forever sadly.

I feel sorry for your DD. It seems that sending her to school is more important than her health.

I would not send her to school until she feels good enough.

My DD had chest infection for over six weeks. GP did not diagnosed the chest infection, only got diagnosed when we went to pediatrics A&E. I would strongly suggest that focus on her health and wellbeing above any school time.

It wears off.

Has her chest infection gone? My friend who is GP mentioned she has seen a number of children for whom the line of defence antibiotics aren’t clearing chest infections.

Keep the school informed as to what is going on and keep going back to the GP, especially if your DD is not sleeping and you’re seeing symptoms get worse, rather than better. The NHS is so stretched at the moment, doctors are probably relying on people to follow up a lot, to know if an illness is serious.

What do DD's coughs sound like? When she coughs, does she make a nasty wheezing sound in between each fit? If so, that's a red flag for whooping cough

Like other posters I am wondering if it is whooping cough. My neice had it a few years ago despite being vaccinated when she was little. Like other posters have said apparently the vaccine wears off so you can still get it.

I had whooping cough when I was 5 (couldn't have the vaccine due to a family member having a severe reaction to it) and I still remember how awful it was. I would cough till I vomited, the coughing fits were uncontrollable and I remember many occassions when I couldn't even breathe because of the coughing and I thought I was going to die. I had 5 weeks off school. Even then it was months before I stopped coughing.

Has the doc mentioned an inhaler at all? DS has a brown inhaler at the moment and has helped massively, he’s a new child now. Obviously won’t work for all coughs so maybe they would have prescribed one if it was relevant. DS’ is to do with inflammation/reactive airways following a virus, the constant coughing was almost debilitating as he was so exhausted from it. And the inhaler has calmed things down massively. It’s so stressful OP! 💐