My son came home Friday from school with a really high temperature 102.6, we gave him some Tylenol and water and put him to bed....Saturday and Sunday he still had the high temp, no appetite, sore throat, and upset stomach (threw-up about 6x) Monday I call his pediatrician and they saw us that morning, they said he had strep throat after swabbing his throat and seeing, what they call strawberry patch on his tongue and throat). They gave me a prescription for amoxicillin and told me he could return back to school today. Well today rolls around and son still has high temp 101.8 he still have no appetite, very lethargic, and has developed a cough. I hate being one of "those parents" but do you think I should make an appointment again with his pediatrician? Shouldn't he have signs of improvement by now?

He really has never been truly sick and this is his first time taking any kind of prescribed drug, so I have no idea if amoxicillin is a drug that works for him or not. I just feel that 6 days with a fever seems excessive.

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I would call the doctor. My daughter always came down with strep, and usually after a day on meds would show improvement. Good luck and hope your son feels better soon.

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I personally would wait until after today and see how things are. My ped always says 24-48 hours on the meds and they should be feeling better. Hope he feels better soon and please keep us updated.

Nicole

I would suggest calling the doctor's office and telling them that his fever hasn't broken yet and see what they say. They can decide if they need to see him again.
Sure hope your little guy starts feeling better soon.

I would stop the tylenol and start Motrin. Dose it based on his age and weight. (50 mg per kg is the dose)
And give it 24-48 hours after the start of Antibiotics for things to clear up. If not, then I would call your dr. The lethargy is the part that kind of scares me.

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GO TONY!!!!!!!!!!! # 20!!!

Well we are approaching 48 hours, he was seen at 8:45 at the DR. office on Monday and he had his first dose of amoxicillin at 9:30am and it is now 9:18 my time.

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I agree with Julie about trying Motrin......I have some kids who respond to Tylenol with fevers and others that only respond to Motrin. I also would put in a call to the Doctor. If he's still running a fever and he's been on the antibiotics for 24-48 hours then the Doc needs to know. And if you have Nasty School attendance officers like we do, you can always say it's because you need a Doctor's note to cover the days he still missing since he has a fever.......Hope the poor guy feels better soon!

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Nicole

Another vote for the Motrin instead of Tylenol. DS came home last Thursday complaining of sore throat and headache. Fever kicked in, too. We fought it all weekend and he slept quite a bit. Yesterday was the first day he actually got up to do some homework and read a bit. He was back in school this morning. Fever is gone and he's fine.

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Yep, Motrin for fever - remember it'll take the anitbiotics about 3 days to "kick" in - but I would not send him back to school till the fever has been gone for 24 hours.

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Mary

I vote Motrin/Advil also. Tylenol doesn't seem to help my DS as much as the other stuff. I had a doctor tell me to give Tylenol because you can give it more often but I think maybe some people react different to certain things?

Doctors will also tell you to alternate meds every so often too for extremely high fever that won't budge and that seems to work but don't do it unless you can talk to the doctor and get the right dosage from them.

Is it possible your son's immune system is low with all of this and maybe he could have some of the flu or something viral along with it and it is taking longer to kick. I have heard people say they were sick for 10 days with some of the crud that is going around.

I have a call into the doctors office, a nurse is suppose to return my call. DS cannot take Mortin due to the fact he is allergic to ibuprofen. I just figured I would call, better save then sorry.

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Blowin' your mind like we knew we would.
You know we're just struttin' for fun
Struttin' our stuff for everyone.
We're not here to start no trouble.
We're just here to do the Super Bowl Shuffle.

Bless his heart - I hope the Dr can find an alternative med to break that fever.

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Mary

by swabbing his throat I'm assuming they did a strep test--if they did the quick test only, and not the culture (that can take a day to complete), he may not have strep.

While every person reacts differently to medications, I disagree with those that say give the antibiotic more time to work. He's been on it for 48 hours and is not really showing signs of improvement. Which indicates to me that he may have something other than strep and made need a more potent antibiotic (Amoxil is on the low end of antibiotics as far as potency.) And if he has two or three things going on (assuming he does have strep, and maybe an ear infection and possibly a bronchial/upper respiratory infection) he made need a broad spectrum antibiotic. You did the right thing calling your doctor!
Regardless of what he's diagnosed with, the most important thing you can do at home is keep him hydrated. Don't worry about him not eating, but make sure he gets fluids--tea, pedialyte, watered down sports drink, jello water (no red though--cause if he throws up red it can freak you out!), sprite/7up/ginger ale, juice, popsicles, jello, broth, etc. Be careful if he has diarrhea as the sugar in some of the drinks can make the diarrhea worse.

Tepid baths can help the fever come down.

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I 2nd having him see the doctor again. My ds' friend came down with strep throat on Friday afternoon and was so much better, was able to go to church onSunday and back to school Monday. Better safe than sorry - but I do totally understand not being sure what to do (that's how I am always).

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Just got back from the Doctors office again, they did a swab test up the nose to check for flu, they felt that his symptoms should of been gone or at least less serve since being on amoxicillin for 48 hours. If they flu test comes back negative this afternoon they are sending us over to medical center for a chest xray.

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Shufflin' on down, doin' it for you.
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Blowin' your mind like we knew we would.
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Struttin' our stuff for everyone.
We're not here to start no trouble.
We're just here to do the Super Bowl Shuffle.

Try an alcohol bath. When I first became an RN a little old lady that I worked with SWORE by them... and you know what? To this day I still use them!!!

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GO TONY!!!!!!!!!!! # 20!!!

This afternoon?? Flu test results are immediate.
What's the reason for a chest x-ray?

EXCUSE ME? You're a nurse and you're recommending an alcohol bath? What are you thinking??MedlinePlus Medical Encyclopedia: Fever

Fever in Children

Controversies Surrounding Fever
from the article:
Fever Therapies to Avoid: Some parents give a child a water or alcohol bath to help lower temperature by allowing evaporation from the skin. Only lukewarm water should be used as a bath. Water that is too cold may cause the child to become chilled, which can be more dangerous than the fever. Alcohol is never to be used, since the child may absorb the alcohol and the chemical it contains, both of which can be deadly
Dr. Kevin Clerico, B.Sc.,D. C., Q.M.E.: Understanding your Child's Fever

Good God! Even my mother who was an "old school nurse" (When she went to school and graduated they still had to wear the little white hats!) knows better than to give alcohol baths.

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chest xray is probably to rule out pneumonia.

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Mental that one, I'm telling you. ---Ron Weasley, "Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets"

Um no I beg to differ with you, Yes I am a nurse and I am still recommending an alcohol bath. I will stand by that. They are still used here quite frequently.

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GO TONY!!!!!!!!!!! # 20!!!

Well the just called with the results were positive for influenza, they are still wanting me to take him for a chest exam to make sure the virus hasn't settled in the respiratory tract.....they said it could cause more problems such as bronchiolitis, ear infection, or pneumonia.

As for why it took three hours for the results I don't know....I'm not in the medical field so when the doctor tells me that they will call me in 2-3 hours with the results I don't question it.

I'm just heart broken my little guy is so sick with both influenza and strep

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You know we're just struttin' for fun
Struttin' our stuff for everyone.
We're not here to start no trouble.
We're just here to do the Super Bowl Shuffle.

Sweetie, you aren't differing with me--You're differing with doctors, National Institute of Health, AMA, American Pediatrics, etc. I think that the general consensus of the 15+ pages of Google hits were that alcohol baths were dangerous, and should not be used--EVER!

If you continue to use them, that just makes me wonder the level of care and quality of care that you provide your patients. READ THE ARTICLES! If you can still stand by alcohol baths aft reading all the articles that a search will show up, then you are dumber than dirt, and should probably be investigated by your state board of nursing.

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Mental that one, I'm telling you. ---Ron Weasley, "Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets"

Dumber then dirt... Thats nice Marilyn... Your need for name calling and insulting people just amazes me.
There are plenty of practicing nurses that use alcohol baths still. I no longer work the floors or do direct patient care, (Im sure you are going to have a smart comment about that) however I work in research and I know one thing... What is ok today is not ok tomorrow. And what we will do tomorrow will be wrong the next day. It is the nature of medicine. I bet you I can find articles supporting alcohol baths. See the neat thing about the internet is you can find articles to say anything you want.

I work in an office with 6 other nurses all with a combined 150 years experience (Many who still do alcohol baths on their own kids and recommend them to their family and friends) and they have all agreed on one thing.. the people that sit there and write the articles are NOT the people out there who are doing the patient care or have done patient care. They are the ones who SPECULATE on things. 99% of the drs that write this stuff have not laid a HAND on a patient in direct patient care in YEARS... They need to ask the people who actually care for the patients.
Where by the way marilyn, did you get your medical degree?

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GO TONY!!!!!!!!!!! # 20!!!

so, you are saying you no longer do direct patient care? That you do research--which one can assume papers are written based on the research YOU do. So, basically, what you have said is that you faciliate those who speculate. You aren't helping your argument! In fact you are contradicting yourself...
So, assuming that there are 7 nurses in your office, that equates to roughly 20 years experience a piece, thus, you probably graduated nursing school in 1987? 1988? Estimating here. I'm sure it's not that evenly dispersed. You do have to take continuing education to maintain your licensure, correct? When was the last CE that you took on Pediatrics and Fever?

Seriously? You're a researcher, so you read the research done on the ill effects of alcohol baths--they are DANGEROUS! If you think that I'm going to take the opinion of 7 nurses over the AMA, NIH, American Society of Pediatrics, JAMA, etc. then you are out of your mind!

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Mental that one, I'm telling you. ---Ron Weasley, "Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets"

We just need to take this all down a notch. Take a deep breath and chill. This thread is about a poor mom who has a sick son and we all wish them well.

My thoughts and prayers go out to the Op and her son for a speedy recovery. Every mom feels awful when her kid is sick. I'm glad we have this board to seek advice, find friends, get support, and sometimes to vent. lol

__________________

When someone who states they are a nurse, gives medical advice on this board and that advice could HARM another person, I will not take it down a notch!

I feel for the OP. My oldest son had strep, the flu and double ear infections about 4 years ago. He was miserable. And as a mother, I hurt everytime my children are sick and I can't "fix" them. But, I refuse to let someone, who states she is a nurse, prescribe a treatment that is outdated and has proven to be harmful, and sometimes deadly!

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Mental that one, I'm telling you. ---Ron Weasley, "Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets"

Well, I just got home from work and read this.

Polve, I hope DS is doing better by now. I know how upseting is to have a sick child. Be sure to update us.

POLVE~
I do hope you son is feeling better...
And to clarify I was not prescribing anything to you.... I was merely stating an opinion on what has worked in the psat in my experience and with my children...

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GO TONY!!!!!!!!!!! # 20!!!

Here's the thing: I don't claim to be a nurse or a medical professional when dispensing advice. Nor have I EVER recommended a treatment that could prove fatal to a person (especially a young child).

I don't have a medical degree. But, I do have lots of hands on experience in raising not only my children, but the children of parents who worked (when I worked in Daycare) and children who's parents' couldn't handle them (when I worked in Juvenile psych facility). I know how to use GOOGLE as well. If I don't know something, or I'm unsure about something, I will research it. You don't have to have a medical degree to read and comprehend countless articles explaining that alcohol baths are potentially harmful to children. And all the articles I found on how dangerous alcohol baths were, and how they were not recommended EVER! I couldn't find one article/opinion written within the last 10 years that recommended alcohol baths. If you can, please provide that link. I would like to read it and see the research and opinion indicating the use of alcohol baths. And hey, if I'm wrong, I will be the first to apologize to you. But, you're going to have to give me some hard evidence that alcohol baths are still practiced, still recommended and are potentially harmful.

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Mental that one, I'm telling you. ---Ron Weasley, "Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets"

I have never heard of an alchohol bath to bring down fever, and there's lots of medical professionals in my family. Can someone explain what exactly it is??? I tried to google it, and I don't quite think that is what is being talked about here. LOL.

thanks.

__________________
Doing the right thing isn't always the same as doing the easy thing.

Polve, I hope your son feels better soon! Poor guy got hit hard with flu and strep.

hope your son is feeling better my 10 yr old had the flu
and was getting worse day 3 they did a chest x ray
and he had pneumonia he was on a z-pak and cough syrup
it took 5 days for his fever to break i had to do the tylenol motrin
thing it was scary but he is better now still has a cough 3 weeks later

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I saw in a later post that the child was allergic to Ibuprofen, so they could not take the Motrin. I was glad to see that, because the correct dose of Motrin is 5mg/kg of body wt for pain, and 10mg/kg of body wt for fever. If this advice was followed, it would have been an overdose.

I think everyone on this board needs to remember that this is MERELY ADVICE being given!!! By no means should anyone use anything as medical advice. I would also advise those giving the advice to do so cautiously. Someone very well could take your advice to heart and it could cause dire consequences. ANYONE with a medical license of any type should know this and if you don't have a license you should KNOW BETTER. I am an ultrasound sonographer and have to watch everything I say to patients. The same goes for friends and family too!

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I hope your little boy gets to feeling better real soon. I'm glad you mentioned about him being allergic to Advil/Motrin. My son is allergic to Advil and we didn't know it (he'd taken it before), and once he took it when he had a fever with a cold and he ended up with a horrible case of Stevens Johnson Syndrome and we almost lost him. Just make sure you keep that Advil away from him!!

As for the alcohol bath dispute, if those of you who want to argue about it, open another thread and continue your argument.

I have no idea how much my son weighs in kilograms... I usually follow the dosage on the container for his age and weight in pounds.

I hope that you son feels better soon! Hang in there Mom. I know it's hard.

1 kilogram = 2.205 lbs

__________________
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PLOVE,
I do hope your son is feeling better today. There are nasty flu's and viruses going around. We see it here all the time. Good luck to you.

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GO TONY!!!!!!!!!!! # 20!!!

I guess that was my point: When someone states they are a medical professionally (in this case a nurse) and they "recommend" a certain treatment, that can be and often is construed as a professional opinion. Some people (not necessarily the OP in this case) will assume "if a nurse suggests it, then it must be ok...", when in fact it is not OK!

Most of us made general recommendations: give Motrin, call the doctor, give fluids, etc. Which the majority of moms know, but sometimes need reassurance.

In this case the medical professional recommended two things that could have been potentially fatal to the child!

__________________
Mental that one, I'm telling you. ---Ron Weasley, "Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets"

Marilyn,
Your point has been taken. Drop it already. You made a point and there is no need to hammer this point home like you have. Take the advice of Mom2Twins2 and move your argument to another thread if you want to continue it.

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GO TONY!!!!!!!!!!! # 20!!!

No, because obviously YOU have not understood the point and continue to either ignore the fact that you gave potentially fatal advice to a person, or you refuse to admit that you could be wrong.

Tell you what, I'll be more than happy to drop this matter, when you show me information that proves what you recommended, as a nurse, is the proper course of care! You gave a an inaccurate dosing for ibuprofen (a dosage that could have caused a freaking overdose!), you recommended alcohol baths which can be lethal--all with the caveat that you are a nurse. What you did is, in some states, criminal!

Yes, I realize this is a message board, and people should take advice that is given here with a grain of salt--but some don't!

And this is not personal--If truble was given out legal advice that was patently false and could lead to a potentially fatality, I'd be all over her as well! (no offense truble--I'm just using you as an example! You always preface your advice with the statement of "this is how it is in my state, but I would recommend you contact a local attorney to find out your laws")

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Mental that one, I'm telling you. ---Ron Weasley, "Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets"

I am considering this the end of this converstaion. I will not let you continue this argument on a thread about a mother with a sick child. I do not have to admit or prove anything to you. This is an internet board... People should take the advice with a grain of salt no matter who it came from because how do you know that person is really a laywer, dr or nurse or whatever??
IF you wish to continue your tirade take it to another thread. You are getting way off base here and as usual taking over someone elses thread to attack others.

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GO TONY!!!!!!!!!!! # 20!!!

Thank you, you just proved my point! You have a nice day

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Mental that one, I'm telling you. ---Ron Weasley, "Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets"

I think somebody has a twist in their undies.

LOL....must not be a commando day then!

cj/

__________________
I was walking home one night and a guy hammering on a roof called me a paranoid little weirdo. In morse code. -Emo Phillips

Do we have any updates today? Hope he is doing better!

__________________
saraedawson@yahoo.com

Mommy to Jake, Alexis, Abigail and Joshua, Wife to Matt

I hope he is feeling better too. I know sickness this year is just awful. I'm still coughing/hacking from having bronchitis in February. Finally feeling better but man it just takes a while to get over stuff this year.

He still pretty miserable His fever is hanging in there, but was told yesterday by his pediatrician that when dealing with influenza virus, fevers could persist for up to 10 days. Plus since he also has strep we couldn't be 100% sure when the flu started compared to the strep and since they have overlapping symptoms the flu could possible be only a few days old. We did take him for chest x-rays but I am assuming they were fine since we haven't received a call about them.

He is resting...I bought pediasure freezer pops yesterday, which he is taking well. So I am a little relieved, because prior he wasn't drinking or eating much.

The thing I am total amazed about is neither DH or I are NOT showing any symptoms....knock on wood.

__________________
Chicago Bears!!!!
We are the Bears Shufflin' Crew
Shufflin' on down, doin' it for you.
We're so bad we know we're good.
Blowin' your mind like we knew we would.
You know we're just struttin' for fun
Struttin' our stuff for everyone.
We're not here to start no trouble.
We're just here to do the Super Bowl Shuffle.

Hope your boy gets better real soon I'm going through it too my 5 year old had a fever last night and in the middle of the night got sick but didnt want to bother us <sigh> so i had a mess in the recliner this morning. and now my 2 year old is getting sick this afternoon. Makes it worse when I cant handle seeing or hearing people getting sick without my stomach turning too and i dont know what happens to their reactions to move 1 foot to the garbage can that's in the middle of the living room <theyd never make the bathroom> but they keep missing it. Poor guys their fast asleep right now and they never take naps. hope it doesnt make it to my other two boys this time too.

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I was diagnosed with the flu about 3 weeks ago (also Dx by a nasal swab) - and I had a flu shot in December! I'm told the variety I had was not in the flu shot...It took me a good week before I felt any better. Watch the rest of your family carefully - By the time I was feeling better my DD & DS had also gotten the flu. DH...nothing, he's like an old mountain man, never gets sick.

Keep those Popsicles going!

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Mary

ugh...and usually w/ the flu you can't really do anything but treat the symptoms. Even w/ drugs like Tamiflu (after you've already got the flu) it just sometimes shortens the duration.

Of course, if you or your DH starts showing any symptoms you should call your MD. The last time the flu ran through our house, the Dr. gave me an Rx for Tamiflu as a prophylactic. She knew that the Mommy couldn't get sick! (and I didn't--thank goodness). I forget the incubation period for the flu, but if you're little one picked it up at school, you could have just been exposed! So, you try to rest as much as you can. Take a nap with him--you'll both feel better!

__________________
Mental that one, I'm telling you. ---Ron Weasley, "Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets"