Does your child with SN seem to get iller than you'd expect?

[5inthebed]

Kind of a thread about a thread.

DS2 has been poorly all week, and was off school on Thursday. His brothers have had the same thing and weren't half as ill as he was. And I just know he'll catch everything that is going around now for the next few months. He always does!

When he had chicken pox he was nearly admitted to hospital due to dehydration and infection. He was ill for months after that, getting everything that came his way. It was horrific.

Does anyone elses SN child seem to get more iller than the rest of your DC? Is this on par with having a child with SN?Or could it simply be early signs of man flu?

hmm im probably no help but ds3 and ddnt both have immune problems so there always picking things up

I have no kids without SN to compare my boys to, but DS1 is always really badly affected by all the little colds and everything that go round, but then, he has asthma, so that complicates anything respiratory. He had so much time off school in reception though, through illness - and believe me, he's such a handful that I don't take keeping him off school lightly and usually can't wait to get him back.

DS2's been clobbered quite badly, this year. He had a tummy bug, earlier this year, that had him pretty wiped out for a week. He had a bit of a sniffle, early last week and slouched rather more than usual and ended up with a torticollis after straining the muscles in his neck. DS1 had the cold doing the rounds at the start of the week and coped much better than usual. DS2 started with it, yesterday and he's just so poorly with it, at the moment and he was just sick, a few moments ago. Poor kid needs a break

My DD has always caught everything and also gets a high temp whenever she's poorly which is something my NT DS rarely had.

My DD struggles when she's ill - I hate it even when she gets a cold as it affects her strength so things are just that much harder than usual for her. She falls over more and her muscles get stiffer so co-ordination is worse

Completely the opposite, DS has the immune system of a particularly robust camel and heals like a dream without infections. He rarely gets bitten by bugs either.
If he is ill, I have to tell him as unless he's vomiting he doesn't register what's wrong. He just gets cross.
One of his battle-weary teachers remarked on his hardiness a few years ago.

ds1 used to pick up everything now he has the constitution of an ox. we all had the d&v bug. he was fine. i take immunosuppresants (sp) so get everything and im sure he gets things, it doesnt even register with him and he passes them to me and ds2

Up until the age of about 8, ds1 used to catch everything going. The difficult part was having to guess when he was ill as it would never have occurred to him to mention it.

Ds2 rarely gets ill in term time but is often ill during the holidays with various mild bugs. I sometimes wonder if he's like those people who run on adrenaline during working weeks and then get ill as soon as they have time off.

So far it's NT dd who has spent most time in hospital. She seems to be prone to respiratory infections, yet oddly enough is the only one who doesn't have asthma.

I've got one of the 'opposites' here too. Very rarely ill (even if he gets a 24 hour but it only lasts about 3 then he's bouncing around again), but when he is it seems to come as a shock to him and he's a bit of a drama queen. I actually wish he would have a cold occasionally so I can have a couple of hours off while he sleeps himself well.

dd always gets what ever it is worse,
she is poorly now with a cold.....

My little one (has ASD) is very healthy and resilient. He hasn't been ill at all since going into reception class (9 mths) which I take to be through a combo of him being uninterested in other kids and the other kids being less liberal with body fluids. His brother who's two and a half years older and NT(ish... officially at least) was the sickliest child I've ever met although he is improving now. Not only was he genuinely prone to sudden and protracted high fevers, profuse vomiting and slow recovery but his anxiety would lead to (for example) him being scared to eat/drink because it might make him sick or difficulties assessing his level of discomfort cos he'd get all panicked about something being wrong... It was a nightmare for about five years there.

So we're just half and half then really aren't we?

I'll just put ds2s dramatic illnesses down to him being a mini man

Thanks for all the responses everyone.

My DD always has quite severe reactions to general viruses exposed to in the classroom etc. This resulted in her having quite a considerable time off school (5 months last school year). In September her consultant at GOS put her on a prophelactic for the winter months and this has made a dramatic difference. She takes the antibiotic for 3 out of every 14 days from Sept to May.

Could you speak to your child's paed about his severe reaction to general childhood illnesses and ask about this option?

Just had this conversation with another mum who also found winter prophelactics made a big difference. Going to look into that for the winter as DS school attendance is also awful.

Everything lasts longer and is much more dramatic and he obviously suffers more - either from from severe symptoms or the stress of not being able to cope with the discomfort/understand it will pass.

Probably all of the above.