Daughter is sick..

How high of a temp is too high? My 16yr old daughter has been running a temp since yesterday and I have been giving her Motrin to bring the fever down. I called the ER nurse last night and told her what her temp had been running (the highest it got was 103.9) the nurse didn't seem the least bit concerned. She said that if she were me, that she would stick it out for a couple more hours to see if her temp went down. Well it did, this morning it was normal, but tonight I just took it about 40 min ago and it was at 103.3 so I have her some Motrin, made her take a tepid bath and I have to check it again in a few minutes. I was concerned last night but the nurse made it sound like I was worried over nothing. Does anyone know at what temp it is dangerous? My kids have had fevers off and on but never as high as this so I don't quite know.

Anything over 104.0, is too high, you can alternate tylenol and motrin for high fevers, and cold liquids help too.

(if you have a weak stomach do not read) I just went to check it and it's down some, it went to 102.4. I just worry because I think she caught a really bad case of the flu. She just got over months of being extremely sick. We found out she had c difficile which after a couple months went away with meds, but found out that she had ulcerative colitis as well. She was admitted to the hospital because she was so severely dehydrated even though she was drinking plenty of fluids the excessive bloody diarrhea caused her to become dehydrated and anemic. She's just started to recover from that flare up and now this. Her immune system has always been weak but because of the last few months has gotten worse. So I worry a lot.

Oh no kelly, so sorry.

Like Erin said, alternate tylonal and motrin every 4 hours.
a cool bath, wipe down with alcholol (rubbin, not drinkin, save that for you)
put a thin nighty on her, or shorts and a t shirt, no covers. a cool cloth on her forhead.
and like erin said 104. thats my breaking point. and it has to stay there for a little while to do damage.

BUT if she has a history of dehydration, you need to keep an eye on that. The water will help. she needs to get as many fluids as possible down. and chicken soup. it really does have healing properties. jello, thats a great one.

Jello, gatorade, water, popsicles, whatever liquid you can get into her is good, even sprite or ginger ale, which has stomach settling properties too.

I agree with everyone else. Hope she's feeling better soon!

She's been munching on ice, drinking plenty of water (and strangely enough, milk) some people say not to give them milk, that it will curdle in their stomachs. This has never been the case with my kids or I, when our stomachs are upset milk helps settle them. She ate maybe half a cup of white rice earlier and had some scrambled eggs yesterday, but other than that a lot of water and about 3/4 gallon of milk since yesterday morning.

I dont think it will curdle. I think thats just what momma's tell kids when they want milk and have a fever or ar epukin. cause NOONE wants to clean up milk.. LOL

if she will eat broth or chicken soup it would be the bestest. But I am glad she is staying hydrated.

I think if it's been that high for more than a day, it's time for the doctor.

I hope she gets to feeling better. Keep an eye on her, and watch so that she doesn't go into a seizure. Some kids (knowing yours is a teen) have a tendancy to have a seizure if they have a high fever for a long time.

I hope she feels better soon! Fevers are good, means your body is doing what it's suppose to. Personally I would give it another day and then call the doc if it's still high tomorrow. That's just me though, I don't let them get too high (my kids are still very young)but I try to let nature take it's course up to a point. It depends on how she feels, at 16 she should be able to tell you if she feels badly enough to need medical help. I swear by gatorade or powerade both will help ward off dehydration.

How is she feeling today? High fevers aren't as much of a concern with teens and adults as they are with babies as long as they are staying hydrated and the fever comes down with treatment.

I hope she is doing better now! It's always scary when it's your baby no matter how old they are.

Just checked it again it was 101.8, the Motrin is working now. The Motrin seems to help bring it down but I think if she still has an ongoing fever tomorrow I will see if the DR can fit her in because tomorrow will be Day number 3 of the fever.

chelle wrote:I dont think it will curdle. I think thats just what momma's tell kids when they want milk and have a fever or ar epukin. cause NOONE wants to clean up milk.. LOL

if she will eat broth or chicken soup it would be the bestest. But I am glad she is staying hydrated.

I actually think it's a genetic thing. Cause it sure enough makes everyone in my family puke within a half hour if we drink milk while we have a fever. But some people aren't bothered at all.

As to the fever, take her to the doctor tomorrow, but she is not at risk of brain damage. 106 is where damage starts in earnest. But since she's at risk from dehydration she needs to be seen.

Like edson said try to get her to drink Gatorade, fevers cause dehydration.
C dif (like MRSA) can be another nosicomail infection and is highly contagious...make sure you wash your hands and everything your daughter comes in contact with.
Poor little thing I hope she feels better.


BeachyBum is a nurse she pobably has more good info for you.

How is she this morning? I hope she is doing better. If not, today would be the day to call her doctor. At least he/she can look her over and maybe prescribe something. I will keep her in my thoughts!

I just got back from bringing her in. They did a few blood tests (waiting for the results on those) and they called downstate and spoke with her gastroenterologist to see if he thought that it may be related to her colitis. He ordered a CT scan with dye contrast of her abdomen for tomorrow. Until then they told me to just push the fluids and if her fever persists to give her 1 1/2 times the Motrin recommended for her age, until we go in tomorrow. Both kids were supposed to start summer school for their math tomorrow, but if she is sick and misses more than 3 days they said that she might as well not bother attending. I highly doubt if she doesn't go that I will be able to get my son to go. Obviously the important thing is that it isn't anything serious and that she gets well, it just seems that nothing ever goes simply around here

Bless her little heart.
Since she's a teenager I guess she's not interested in laying on the couch and coloring, or eating soup off her "magic princess" tray.
Here's a hug for you (((Kelly)))

At least you know that they are taking it seriously. I hope she feels better soon. And that your life gets simpler. If it does, tell me how you managed.

Scar wrote:Bless her little heart.
Since she's a teenager I guess she's not interested in laying on the couch and coloring, or eating soup off her "magic princess" tray.
Here's a hug for you (((Kelly)))

That was too funny... the stuff we moms do for our kids when they're sick.

I find that an ice pack on the back of the neck and/or on the inside of each wrist will bring down a fever.

How is she doing today? I hope better!

Oh.. that sounds horrible.

I hope she gets better soon!

Update,

We went to the Drs on Monday and they scheduled Wynonna for a CT scan with contrast dye of her abdomen for Tues, stool samples, and blood tests. We did those and the CT scan showed inflammation and thickening of the walls of her large intestine, the stool samples came back positive for C difficile again. She has had C diff 4 times now and it keeps coming back! The nurse said that some kids are just susceptible to it. She just happens to be one of the ones that are. So they put her on a new med that she hasn't tried before. You are going to faint when you find out the cost of this stuff. (Thank God that she has state medical for her prescriptions due to her real fathers absence of child support) She had been taking Flagyl which apparently didn't work because the C diff kept coming back, now they have her on Vancocin which is (brace yourself) $944.99 for a 14 day supply! Because she has ulcerative colitis, the c diff makes it worse and puts her right into a flare up. Poor kiddo is in a bit of pain right now and they said she can't have anything but just wait out a couple days for the Vancocin to take effect and the pain and fever should go away. I just hate it when my kids are sick, it's a very helpless feeling when you can't do anything other than things to try to make them comfortable and it doesn't seem to help... Hopefully this Vancocin will work (it should for what it costs) We'll see....

Thank God she has insurance! I hope she is better soon. I will pray (more) for her.

HOLY COW!!!! I thought I was braced then I about fell out of my chair, I hope she feels better quickly. Is there anything she can do to help prevent it from coming back again?