LisaKinVA Posted September 28, 2012 Share Posted September 28, 2012 You know...there is no fever. Child has a little cough. Nothing to worry about. WHY would ANYONE bring their child to the doctor's or consider going to the ER for THAT? ? Sometimes a severe illness in a child doesn't look severe....until it is so bad that anyone can tell. Know how YOUR kids act and behave...know that for one of them it is safer to feel stupid for bringing them in with a little cough and wheezing, knowing it's how she develops pneumonia than brush it off. Just glad there was a cancellation, and we could get in I was not relishing the thought of going to the ER,... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spryte Posted September 28, 2012 Share Posted September 28, 2012 :grouphug: I have one who presents like this, too. So glad you got an appt. Hope she feels better soon! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
frugalmama Posted September 28, 2012 Share Posted September 28, 2012 :grouphug: My dd is like this too. Her typical presentation of an ear infection is to start projectile vomiting. NO fever, no complaints of hurting. Until I learned this she had several severe ear infections :001_huh: And it's hard to get an ER to listen when the symptoms don't match the cause. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jen in PA Posted September 28, 2012 Share Posted September 28, 2012 :grouphug: I have nephews who have this sort of thing happen. What looks like a cold is pneumonia and what looks like brushburn is recurrent MRSA. My sister has had to deal with some snarky intake people. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sunnylady303 Posted September 28, 2012 Share Posted September 28, 2012 My DD6 has severe atypical asthma and lung inflammation. She's fine until she's not. And then she's in the hospital on oxygen, IV magnesium & steroids, continuous albuterol.... She presents with behavior changes and a little cough. That's where we are today. I'm on red alert. Anyone else who saw her would think I was crazy. You have my sympathy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pdalley Posted September 28, 2012 Share Posted September 28, 2012 That's our story with strep. Oldest had no other symptoms - no redness in throat - nothing. No fever. But he had a huge meltdown, threw his phone - cracking his worker's car windshield and hitting him. Strep test -positive. Middle will start pulling out his hair and other lovely tics. Youngest son quits sleeping and bounces off the walls. No typical strep symptoms at all and the rapid strep test doesn't always catch it either. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Clear Creek Posted September 28, 2012 Share Posted September 28, 2012 Every single ear infection my son has had has only had one symptom...almost total loss of hearing. That's it. No fever, no pain, nothing else. I am questioned every single time I bring him in about *why* I would think he has an ear infection when his temp is normal and he has no pain. I absolutely despise the eye-rolls and condescending smiles I get when I say that he has an ear infection, yet they don't see the typical symptoms so they think I am imagining things or overreacting. Then they take a peek in his ear to humor me and their jaw drops. Yes, his ear drum is so swollen from the infection that it can't work, leaving him temporarily deaf in that ear. Duh. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alte Veste Academy Posted September 28, 2012 Share Posted September 28, 2012 (edited) That's our story with strep. Oldest had no other symptoms - no redness in throat - nothing. No fever. But he had a huge meltdown, threw his phone - cracking his worker's car windshield and hitting him. Strep test -positive. Middle will start pulling out his hair and other lovely tics. Youngest son quits sleeping and bounces off the walls. No typical strep symptoms at all and the rapid strep test doesn't always catch it either. Yep. DS6 had mock anaphylaxis with strep. :001_huh: :blink: Not to mention a rash all over his body that our peds couldn't figure out for months. It is a really long story, but he honestly would not have been properly diagnosed except that DD DID have typical strep symptoms. When she tested positive, they tested DS6 too and yep, once he started antibiotics, the rash went away and--surprise, surprise--he was not the least bit allergic to anything. Glad you cracked the code, OP, and that you don't have to go to the ER. I despise the ER. Edited September 28, 2012 by Alte Veste Academy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
J-rap Posted September 28, 2012 Share Posted September 28, 2012 Glad you were able to get her in. That used to happen to one of my daughters. The first time, her older brother was sick, coughing, feverish, and I brought him in for an appt. HE was fine, just a low-grade fever with a cold. But his little sister happened to tag along, who I thought was fine, and the doctor picked up on a few things. He turned his attention to HER during my son's appt., and we discovered that SHE was the one with pneumonia! Boy did I feel dumb! But she had no symptoms that seemed like a red light to me, at all. Another time, she was raking leaves but complaining that she felt so tired. I thought it was just an excuse to get out of raking! Later that night as she was falling asleep, her breathing seemed strange and I noticed that her lips were blue! She wasn't complaining about anything, but I got really scared and brought her to the ER. She was in the midst of a full-fledged asthma attack and didn't know it. (It was her first one, and I knew nothing about asthma.) Part of the problem is that she is not a complainer, and she has a high pain tolerance. She is now 22 years old but has gotten to know her body better, finally. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pdalley Posted September 28, 2012 Share Posted September 28, 2012 Every single ear infection my son has had has only had one symptom...almost total loss of hearing. That's it. No fever, no pain, nothing else. I am questioned every single time I bring him in about *why* I would think he has an ear infection when his temp is normal and he has no pain. I absolutely despise the eye-rolls and condescending smiles I get when I say that he has an ear infection, yet they don't see the typical symptoms so they think I am imagining things or overreacting. Then they take a peek in his ear to humor me and their jaw drops. Yes, his ear drum is so swollen from the infection that it can't work, leaving him temporarily deaf in that ear. Duh. I am oh so sick of that eye rolling and the condescending smiles. I get that too and from the Doctors that have been treating them for ages and should no better. I honestly have gotten better response from the ER doctors - they seem more open to atypical symptoms. I absolutely refuse to see one of the Dr's in the practice who got mad because I wouldn't trust the rapid strep test and told my kids I wanted to medicate them for my convenience when I was concerned about exposing my hospice bound grandmother! Worse he started in on me in front of the kids. Not acceptable. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ottakee Posted September 28, 2012 Share Posted September 28, 2012 Yep. I have 2 of those kids. Once dd had a bladder infection so severe that they almost hospitalized her.......yet, NO symptoms. Other dd has asthma and I could tell we were in trouble when her cheeks turned red when she was a baby. Just a little cough could be pneumonia, etc. Thankfully we had a great primary that got to the point where I could call in and say what was going on and I could get the meds we needed on weekends/holidays without ER often. Now the doctors will give me a script for the asthma meds, steroids, and sometimes an antibiotic if we are going to be traveling and just might need it. 95% of the time we never need the meds and don't fill the scripts but if we do, it sure is nice to be able to treat ASAP when out of town. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TranquilMind Posted September 28, 2012 Share Posted September 28, 2012 You know...there is no fever. Child has a little cough. Nothing to worry about. WHY would ANYONE bring their child to the doctor's or consider going to the ER for THAT?? Sometimes a severe illness in a child doesn't look severe....until it is so bad that anyone can tell. Know how YOUR kids act and behave...know that for one of them it is safer to feel stupid for bringing them in with a little cough and wheezing, knowing it's how she develops pneumonia than brush it off. Just glad there was a cancellation, and we could get in I was not relishing the thought of going to the ER,... Well, maybe it isn't bad? My oldest throws everything off. My instinct made me take her in once though and she had cellulitis. The doctor actually called me at home later, and when I told him she was playing with her brother, he said, "WHY? How is this kid fine? ALL the kids I see with this go in the hospital??" Well, praise God, she didn't. But if it gets worse...go in. Then there's me. I have never been in the ER/hospital at all, except for tonsils. So when I began vomiting for no reason and felt kind of bad, I thought I had the flu. Three days later, realizing I was no better and also stopped going to the bathroom, I went to the hospital and was "near death" with a blown appendix and a raging infection. Everyone else said they had been screaming in pain with damaged organs...but not me and one other guy - a hospital doc - who was on my floor. We thought we had the flu! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mchel210 Posted September 28, 2012 Share Posted September 28, 2012 I took my DD to the dr. when she started throwing up one day and she had pneumonia. I had no clue...thought she had a stomach virus. These kids...you never know. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LisaKinVA Posted October 1, 2012 Author Share Posted October 1, 2012 DD had pneumonia, and was not moving air well. We were given a prescription for a nebulizer...she's getting 3 treatments a day, plus an oral steroid and ABX. She has finally started coughing like a normal kid with pneumonia, and the gunk is finally being expelled. The doctor also suggested we have her allergist do a pulmonary function test at her next appointment, just to make sure asthma is off the table (she has a couple of mild environmental allergies, and the only time she has had wheezing, she's had pneumonia). My younger DS had breathing issues when sick, but he grew out of them...but he had croup-like symptoms due to a smaller-than-normal trachea, which became inflamed when sick and made him sound like a barking seal, with really bad stridor. As far as it "not being that bad," we take breathing issues seriously. While there was no fever, no "big" signs of illness, dd was up coughing all night, and was "squeaking" when she breathed, her breaths were shallow, she was showing signs of fatigue, and she was having pain in her chest when she breathed. The use of inhaler perked her up a little while, but wore off quickly. Plus, we have history on our side. She had even fewer symptoms in July, and her left lung was so filled with fluid, there was zero air movement in the bottom half of her lung. We have an awesome pediatrician (the whole practice is really great). No one questioned my mommy gut. No one said to wait and see...if they hadn't been able to get her in, they would have referred us to the ER. Experience, in this case, tells us that waiting until she "looks" serious based upon typical presentation of the illness, would have had her in critical condition. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gardenmom5 Posted October 1, 2012 Share Posted October 1, 2012 My friend's ped told her to take her dd to the ER for a MRI (the ped *thought* it would be faster). they sat around the ER for five hours because she 'looked' fine, and they had so many higher priority-triaged patients (who all went home). she had a brain bleed and was promptly admitted to ICU after they *finally* did the MRI. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Catwoman Posted October 1, 2012 Share Posted October 1, 2012 :grouphug::grouphug::grouphug: I hope she gets medication in time to ward off the illness -- I remember with my ds, there seemed to be a certain window of time where I could help prevent him from getting really sick if I got him to the doctor on time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LisaKinVA Posted October 1, 2012 Author Share Posted October 1, 2012 My friend's ped told her to take her dd to the ER for a MRI (the ped *thought* it would be faster). they sat around the ER for five hours because she 'looked' fine, and they had so many higher priority-triaged patients (who all went home). she had a brain bleed and was promptly admitted to ICU after they *finally* did the MRI. I've never had to wait at the ER, when the Pediatrician calls it in, which is what they would have done... this is different than telling me to just go to the ER, though. When the Pediatrician calls, she tells them that, "This is Dr. so-and-so, I am sending Child's Name to the ER to be seen immediately. I am sending you a copy of their chart." We get there, sign in, and are called back to triage within 10 minutes of arrival (we've only had to do this 3x, in 13 years, for 2 different children). Now, if we just "show up" -- yeah, we'll be sitting for awhile. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
In the Rain Posted October 1, 2012 Share Posted October 1, 2012 I'm glad you have a good pediatrician, who trusts your mommy instinct. :001_smile: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lisamarie Posted October 1, 2012 Share Posted October 1, 2012 Now you all have me worried that my DD has pneumonia because she has a cough. Good thing Dr. Grandpa is back from his vacation to Hawaii so I can have him look at her tonight. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mommyof4ks Posted October 1, 2012 Share Posted October 1, 2012 I only like to see our pedi when that happens, because every other doc will say it is a virus. Ds vomits nonstop until he gets meds for strep, but only his pedi gets, and he does not put him through the nasty swab test either. Two shots and we are on our way home with a happy boy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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