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Posted By
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July 29, 2008, 8:10 am
Flag as Inappropriate SamIAm
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Subject
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Be careful of high fevers
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One of my son's friends had a scare over the weekend. He developed a fever, which first was low and then gradually crept higher and higher. Normal fever reducing measures were having no effect. His mom ended up taking him to the ER. The boy's appendix was terribly inflamed and was within "minutes" of rupturing. He had no stomach pain at all until the doctor pushed there! Be wary of high temps in children and teens and always go with your gut if you think something may be wrong!
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Comments
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July 29, 2008, 9:04 am
Flag as Inappropriate ken7700 says...
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Yes, I agree you must watch these high fevers, as many bad things can happen because of a result of these.
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July 29, 2008, 9:49 am
Flag as Inappropriate Sierra says...
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How high did the temperature get? I am awful when it comes to knowing how high a child's temp needs to be before seeing the doctor since their temps usually run higher than adult's, anyways.
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July 29, 2008, 2:35 pm
Flag as Inappropriate BabeRuth says...
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Sierra-it is often not how high the temperature is but how it is affecting the child that you need to consider. My daughter when she was smaller (18 months old) would run a 104 fever and still be running around, causing trouble, and still too fast for me to keep up with her! I didn't treat it, and she was over the illness faster than me (who didn't get a fever).
But two weeks ago she had a fever of just 101 and was lethargic, didn't want to do anything but cuddle and sleep. I came down with what she had a couple of days later and let me tell you it was way more rough than the earlier experiences.
Fever is the body's way of treating illness-especially in little people who are less able to mount a specific immune response, because they haven't encountered that type of virus before. Fever is used to 'burn out' the virus as it doesn't work so well outside of the normal running temperature of the body.
This is why little ones run fevers more routinely with illness than adults do, and taking away the fever can prolong the illness. In the case of the appendix, it was clear for other reasons that something more was amiss, and the boy was lucky that the mother listened to his body.
At the local ER, the paediatrician we met doesn't treat fevers below 105 unless the child is visibly unwell, and it's from him that I learned the function of fever.
I guess I'm just saying not all fever is bad and we really do need to listen to our instincts. A child who is still running around and impossible to contain in bed, with a fever of 104 is clearly handling the illness as his body needs to do!
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July 29, 2008, 2:36 pm
Flag as Inappropriate BabeRuth says...
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Just adding, that with really little ones, the behavioural stuff doesn't really apply. There are very set rules with little ones-such as under 2 months, 101 and you call the doctor.
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July 30, 2008, 2:27 pm
Flag as Inappropriate bubble says...
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If you have cause for concern at all over your childs temperature you should be calling the doctor. it is always better to be on the safe side when dealing with little ones.
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August 3, 2008, 10:35 am
Flag as Inappropriate flowerhorn says...
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I agree on you on the risks of high fever in children but I am really surprised to know that the gut caused it. All this while, I only think about brain damages that might be inflicted by high fever.
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August 10, 2008, 1:30 am
Flag as Inappropriate SpoiledAngel says...
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Well I have always been told, if you run a fever, there is an infection somewhere in your body. Scary thought is most people me included will just take a fever reducing medicine and think I will be ok.
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