My son woke up with a snotty nose, and was bright happy today, ate his dinner. Then tonight got hit with a fever and wouldn't go to bed--he was delirious at 11pm and hubby is still trying to get him to sleep.
We gave him tylenol, and the fever seemed to break.
Has anyone battled through this dreaded flu and are doing ok? I'm freaking out and have no idea what to do. I want to avoid emergency rooms as this is an outbreak right now in our city. He hasn't started badly coughing, but i'm worried about how fast this came on.
I'm so frustrated as Canada decided to go with a form of the vaccine that took longer to get approved, and now my son has likely developed the flu virus. We were SUPER careful too--so not sure how he even picked it up.
thanks
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I think my son has H1N1
- By lilfiery
- Posted October 24, 2009 at 1:13 am · 16 replies
- In Growing up and education
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16 replies
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- By Hokari
- Posted October 24, 2009 at 7:29 am
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My son (28 weeker) had H1N1 when he was 1 months adjusted. But then he was still in the hospital. He received Tamiflu. He only had fever for one night and didn't cough a lot, but his lungs were badly affected by the flu. He went from the nasal cannula back to CPAP with high settings and did not recovere for 9 weeks. This flu must be very bad for the respitarory system - comparable with RSV.
GOOD LUCK for your son!
- By mygirlsmom
- Posted October 24, 2009 at 9:44 am
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How's he doing this morning? One thing that has always worked well for us to keep fevers down is cool washrags on the forehead, and tepid baths, do them every 2-3 hours or as needed. My daughters were having terrible 103.7 fevers this summer with a cold, and this was the only thing that kept them at 100-101 - tylenol only would help for an hour or so. Keep him hydrated, monitor his breathing and hopefully you'll be seeing him improve in a few days. Try a humidifier too if you have one, or a steamy bathroom.
- By MyMilo
- Posted October 24, 2009 at 9:51 am
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If taken quickly (within 48 hours) after the onset of symptoms, Tamiflu can do wonders to moderate the illness. You may want to call your pediatrician and ask for them to call in a script.
- By MyMilo
- Posted October 24, 2009 at 9:54 am
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If taken quickly (within 48 hours) after the onset of symptoms, Tamiflu can do wonders to moderate the illness. You may want to call your pediatrician and ask for them to call in a script.
I hope he is feeling better today. I tried mygirlsmom's bath suggestion when Milo had a fever of 103 a couple of weeks ago, and it worked very well. We still don't know why he had the fever, it lasted less than one day.
- By mygirlsmom
- Posted October 24, 2009 at 9:59 am
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Thanks for the Tamiflu suggestion - if (Heaven forbid) we get the flu, I'm going to see if we can get some of that!
- By BarbaraK2U
- Posted October 24, 2009 at 12:16 pm
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My 6 yr. old daughter with autism (former 26-weeker, BPD, CLD, ROP, and immuno-deficient) has swine flu right now. On Tuesday, she had a fever in the morning that caused me to keep her home from school. No other symptoms at all. That evening, she had a fever again. Both times I gave her Tylenol. The next morning she again had a fever and gave out a couple of minor cough-cough's. I immediately called the pediatrician's office and got her an appointment even though he was booked solid (he knows my girl goes from fine to hospitalized in a matter of minutes, so he always fits her in).
We went to see him in the afternoon, by which time I had concluded it was probably strep (she had indicated that she had a sore throat). They ran the strep and H1N1 swab tests. To my complete surprise, it was swine flu! (We've all had our regular flu shots, too). So now we're all taking Tamiflu, and so far so good. Her fevers are mild or non-existent. She had a cough yesterday that sounded somewhat rattly, but not today. She woke up very early (before 5 AM), so now she's taking a nap - yippee! She's far less energetic than usual, and yesterday she seemed to be limping so she may have had muscle aches/soreness.
None of the rest of us have shown any swine flu symptoms, which is great. I've heard that this illness can be very mild (which seems to be our experience) or extremely awful (grown police officer crying out for his mommy). Everyone's experience will no doubt be different. Definitely get Tamiflu if it's not too late. I think it has made a lot of difference for us.
Good luck!
- By Fozia
- Posted October 24, 2009 at 1:01 pm
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Is Tamiflu available for infants too? i have my 32 weeker who is now 7 months actual and a 4 yr old too. can i buy in advance?
- By BarbaraK2U
- Posted October 24, 2009 at 1:14 pm
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No, you can't buy in advance as it does not prevent the flu, it only helps to minimize the severity once you've caught it. There is an oral suspension (liquid) Tamiflu. Ours was compounded from a local pharmacy. I suspect that infants can use it, too. It would not be possible to store the medication, as it goes bad quickly.
- By Fozia
- Posted October 24, 2009 at 1:20 pm
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Thanks for the reply. Yeah i want to stock it up in advance i will take it if i got sick. Do we need prescription?
- By MyMilo
- Posted October 24, 2009 at 1:26 pm
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Tamiflu is a prescription medication, and a physician probably (hopefully, really) won't prescribe it unless you need it. If one member of a family had it, they may prescribe for other family members as a preventative (usually a 10 day course rather than a 5 day course). This may help, but many people taking it as a preventative measure likely contributes to resistant strains, and some H1N1 isolates are already showing up resistant. For more information, you can go to:
http://www.tamiflu.com/default.aspx
The drug website suggests that it be used for children over the age of 1.
- By BarbaraK2U
- Posted October 24, 2009 at 1:41 pm
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A prescription is required. No reputable doctor will write the prescription unless at least one family member has been diagnosed with H1N1.
- By Fozia
- Posted October 24, 2009 at 2:01 pm
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Ohh Thanks for the information.
I am scared to death cause my Husband is going for 10 days and i will be all alone to mange that too when we dont have any family here and i dont drive also:(
I have option to go with my husband but i am not going cause of RSV season and H1N1.
- By princessa083
- Posted October 24, 2009 at 5:51 pm
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hello my son is taking tamiflu because he had all the symptoms last week he started with fever 103 for 3 days and then we didi the express lab test and came out positive on influenza a.. so today i got the result for the swine test and came out negative.. im still on tamiflu to prevent good luck
- By lilfiery
- Posted October 24, 2009 at 6:38 pm
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hmm not sure what I should do? His fever this afternoon was 101.3 before I gave him tylenol again (second dose). He ate some breakfast and lunch though, and luckily he has a G tube, so its easy to keep up with his fluids
So should I get Tamiflu? Is this possible its just a cold? I'm trying to avoid doctors offices, emerg rooms (I don't think he needs it at this time) which would be the ones to test for it (and i don't think they are even testing anymore).
Aren't there some risks/side effects from Tamiflu? I heard the best response was in 48 hours, and don't want to miss the window (we are about 48 hours now). What if its just a cold? None of us are sick (yet).
Thanks again!
- By mygirlsmom
- Posted October 24, 2009 at 6:46 pm
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Does your ped's office have anyone on call you can leave a message for? I totally understand the desire to avoid the ER - how does he sound? If it were me, and my girls didn't sound very congested or coughing bad, I would probably wait until Monday to go to pediatricians. But if you can call the doc. and get a read from them, that would be helpful.
- By Heavensentbaby
- Posted October 24, 2009 at 11:18 pm
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Good advice on calling the on call Pediatrician. I would do that and take her in soon for testing and possible Tamiflu. In the meantime another option for fever that was not mentioned is rotating Ib profen and tylenol. That is what my girls dr has always recommended for her fevers. You will need to write down when you gave what though b/c it is very easy to get confused with this if you dont! (For Example: 9 am Tylenol, 11 AM IB profen, 1 PM Tylenol, 5 PM IB profen, 7 PM Tylenol, 11 PM IB Profen.... etc.) Basically you have to space the tylenol every 4 hours and the IB Profen every six hours and you dont' want to give the tylenol and the IB Profen right at the same time either. During the gaps the cold washclothes and tepid water baths are great as well.
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