Jump to content

Menu

Paging Dr. Hive


Recommended Posts

My 9yo dd has a fever. A very high fever. It started Saturday night, but went down with a luke warm bath. She slept well and woke up feeling better. The fever returned Sunday night and hasn't left.

 

At it's high, it's been up to 104. (!) It responds to Tylenol, but only goes down to 102 or so.

 

She has no other symptoms but a cough that seems deep, but is hard to get a read on since she's only coughing once or twice every couple hours.

 

Her color is good, she's not eating much but is drinking water and orange juice and eating popsicles, her breathing is easy, she's not delirious or vomiting and says she feels ok. She has been sleeping a lot.

 

She has an appointment to see the dr. tomorrow morning at 9.

 

Google tells me that fever on it's own isn't dangerous. WebMD says to go to the ER for any fever over 103. I'm a little skeptical about nurse lines since they have to cover themselves against lawsuits and tell me to take the kids in no matter what I tell them.

 

So.. do I wait for the morning (being watchful, of course) or do I head to the ER?

 

Oh, and I know this sounds awful, but our health insurance doesn't kick in until tomorrow.. if it was a $50 copay I'd probably take her but I hate to run up a few thousand on an unnecessary ER visit.

 

What says the hive?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Jean - Thank you for helping me feel like I'm not a bad mom for not running to the doc anytime there's an issue. :)

 

Another question - my 2 year old woke up a bit ago from a nap and is also running a fever. I'm kind of ok letting the 9yo sweat it out.. the 2 yo makes me a little nervous.

 

Any more good advice?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Is your child's doctor on call? Oops, I see you are in NV, I assume the office isn't closed yet since it is still early afternoon there. I would call the office and talk to the nurse or maybe even see if the doctor would call you back. Our doctor is usually pretty good to fit us in if it is something like this. Don't feel like a bad mom, you know your kids better than anyone else.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

In the absence of a history of febrile seizures, it's absolutely fine to just leave the fever alone. Actually, if she's not feeling miserable, I wouldn't even medicate for the fever. Sometimes that helps it run its course faster.

 

However, if it got over 104, I would want to give it tylenol. But I don't see that as an emergency in any way, and actually less urgent in your 2 year old. Toddlers run and tolerate higher fevers.

 

But - not feeling awful? Drinking and holding down liquids? Goes down with tylenol? Coherent and not lethargic? I wouldn't even take her to the doctor for a few days. If she isn't "acting right" then I would. But just fever? Not a big deal. That's the body's way of dealing with things. Definitely not ER worthy, in my book.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

 Share

×
×
  • Create New...