Child Health

Dd(13) felt a little under the weather last night.  Red cheeks but no fever, a little cough.  I went to wake her up this morning and she has a fever of 102.7.  She said she tried to get up, but fell back on her bed.  She seemed a little out of sorts, but that is also normal for her waking up at 5:30am.  She asked for water, drank, then I gave her an advil.  She laid back down and asked for the covers to be pulled over her and went back to sleep.

I am not one to run my kids (or myself for that matter) to the doctor at the first sign of illness.  I tend to keep an eye on how sick they are acting and whether or not it is improving over the course of a few days.

With that said, I don't want to be stupid here.  I am not in a panic over H1N1, but I also don't want to delay treatment if needed.  At what point to I take her to the doctor?

Bethany

I'm the same way, I never run the kids to the doctor unless symptoms last awhile. But a couple weeks ago when my 12 yo. came home ago with a fever and cough, I had him at the doctor the next morning for a flu test. With everything going on, I don't think there's anything wrong with taking your DD in today for the same. If she tests positive she can get Tamiflu and get better faster. And maybe they can also give you Tamiflu for the rest of the family so no one else gets sick.

BTW, my son tested negative, but there are a fair amount of false negatives with the test, and based on his symptoms, and his sister's, and mine (ugh!), compared to others I've talked to, it's highly likely we had H1N1. Their symptoms were worse than mine - high fever for 2-3 days, cough, sore throat, then the fever and cough starts to taper off, they start to feel better, then get hit with a nasty head cold - watery eyes, sneezing, congestion, etc. Assuming your DD has it, without Tamiflu you can probably count on her being down for at least 4-5 days.

Good luck, I hope she gets better soon.

Hey Bethany - how's your DD doing today? I wanted to reiterate the CDC's recommendations for Tamiflu... If a child is low-risk (no underlying chronic health problems, older than age 2), then seasonal flu or H1N1 doesn't really matter - they are not indicated for Tamiflu. I would encourage anyone with an otherwise normal, healthy child over the age of 2 to NOT take their child to the doctor for the flu. Symptoms that would worry me would include:

(1) Fever (>101, imo) lasting more than 4 days in a row.
(2) Discolored nasal discharge for more than 10 days in a row.
(3) Fever that resolves for more than 24 hours and then returns (>101).
(4) Cough that last longer than 3 weeks.
(5) Ear pain or ear discharge

Hope she's feeling better!

 

Hi Eve,

Don't know how I missed this.  Dd is finally better and going back to school today.  She had a fever around 103 Friday and Saturday, woke up Sunday morning with an almost normal temp but still felt cruddy.  Fever went back up to 101 later in day. 

Woke up Monday morning with normal temp but the incessant cough was exhausting and hurting her throat.  I made an appointment with the doctor for that day just to see if we could get something stronger than the OTC cough medicines that were doing nothing for her.  No such luck.  Her temp at the dr. appt. was about 100.  Doctor just confirmed what we already knew, ran a strep test which was negative, and recommended that she still get vaccinated for H1N1 just in case this was a different strain.

Woke up Tuesday with normal temp and could tell she was much better.  Spent the day relaxing (and coughing) and catching up on school work.

I don't know if I have a mild case because I never got the fever, but I have had a mild headache, mild aches and the incessant cough as well.  This morning my head is killing me.

Bethany

How's her cough today? Most of the OTC cough medicines didn't work for us either this time, so what I used instead is Chestal. It's a homeopathic syrup, many regular drugstores carry it now. For chronic conditions like this, it's given every two hours for the first day. It tastes like honey and is very soothing on a rough throat.

So did your DD's doctor actually test her for the flu and did he think it was likely H1N1, even though he still wants her to get vaccinated just in case? Her symptoms and the time frame sound just like my two, and your symptoms were like mine. I think our cases were milder because we're older and have more immunities. This is what makes me think it was probably H1N1, because so far it seems to be younger people that are getting hit the hardest.

Hope you're both feeling better today.