Hand, Foot and Mouth ideas needed!

[Pattyla]

My 5 y-o dd has this. The mouth ulcers are horrible. She can barely talk and hasn't been eating or drinking much. Now she has spots on one elbow and on her bottom. (None on her hands or feet).

What can I do for her? Homeopathically? Herbally?

She'll eat frozen blueberries. Popsicles I made with grapejuice and slippery elm tea. Yesterday she ate yogurt smoothies but not today. Kefir is going down when forced. Ditto ice water.

That's about it.

We're doing elderberry. She just started diflucan for thrush. I made theives oil today and told dh to put it on her feet. (Hope he did).

I've got ambesol type products but the releif they give is far overshadowed by the bad taste.

I hate seeing her so miserable and I'm wondering if her sister will get it next.

Thanks for any ideas.

[Dabble]

Is she under a doctor's care? I don't mean that to sound snarky at all, but HFM isn't really something to mess around with. As you've probably noticed, it can be accompanied by a considerable amount of pain.

At the minimum, I would be giving her children's ibuprofen to make her more comfortable while she endures this. Are you willing to do that?

[Pattyla]

I forgot to mention that I have been giving her ibuprophen. It doesn't seem to help much.

She saw the dr on tues and was dxed w/ yeast overgrowth and put on diflucan. We assumed that the slight mouth discomfort she had was from oral thrush. (Dr looked in her mouth and saw white but no sores). When it got worse I assumed it was a die off type reaction. Her bottom was terribly inflamed when she first started the diflucan. Then last night she complained of chills and assumed she was getting the flu, esp after her school called to inform me that a boy in her class was at school on wed and got sick that night and was confirmed to have swine flu.
Tonight I saw the spots on her elbow and checked her bottom and found more there and finally figured it out.
I looked online for conventional treatments and wasn't finding much of anything. I didn't call her Dr tonight because I don't know that there is much he can do. I may call tomorrow though. He is a homeopath but rarely treats over the phone.

[infraread]

My cousin's babe just got over this, a couple weeks ago. What helped him most was milk, does she do all right with dairy? C. loved yogurt & cold milk. I think it's because it coated the sores in his mouth.

They also did a ton of vitamin C, and they used ibuprofen as needed. Stay away from acidic foods or drinks, especially some juices, because they can aggravate the sores.

Poor boo, I hope she feels better soon. FWIW, C.'s doctor told my cousin that the virus pretty much had to just run it's course, and to do the best they could to make him comfortable.

[jenP]

Oh, those sores can really hurt! I had HFMD over five years ago and I still remember how bad those hurt. And they seemed to last forever, too. I remember at Thanksgiving, after having the sores for about four weeks, I was eating tapioca pudding and pureed squash soup for Thanksgiving dinner and I was crying into my pudding because my mouth hurt so bad and I was so sick and tired of being sick and tired and not able to eat! So I feel for your daughter.

As for any advice, I used some moistening spray called "Herbal Sore Throat and Mouth Spray" from "The Natural Dentist" brand (I got it at Whole Foods.) It helped a little, and could be used very frequently. Also, I would spread Anbesol all through my mouth to get it numbed up before eating. The stuff does taste nasty, and the pain relief wears off fairly quickly, but it was useful for getting a short pain-free time to eat. And I used Ibuprofen. It sort of only took the edge off the pain really but at least it was something.
Sorry that's all the advice I have. I wish there was something that really really got rid of those sores, but the only thing is time. Let your body fight off the virus and heal. All you can really do is support your immunity (elderberry syrup, maybe olive leaf extract, echinacea, that sort of thing - I would say oregano oil because it is good for viruses, but it burns the mouth so probably not a good idea!) and take comfort measures and wait it out. Unfortunately it is hard to keep up your immunity when you can't eat! I found custard was the easiest to eat, so I made homemade with extra eggs and way less sugar than the recipe called for, so it seemed like decent nutrition. Also pureed vegetable soups, and good nutritious stock, smoothies with banana and coconut milk.
We didn't go to the doctor at all, what are they going to do? It's just a virus, like a cold or influenza, it's up to your immune system to kick it out. It sucks, but you fight it off and it goes away, you know? Our whole family had it and I had it the worst, probably because I was pregnant. In fact, the first four days the only symptom I had was nausea and I thought it was just morning sickness. Then came the diarrhea, then the fever, THEN the awful mouth sores which lasted weeks and weeks. My husband had only sores on his hands and feet, which were painful but only lasted a week, and no other symptoms. DD had only the mouth sores.
Anyway, best to you and I hope your DD is feeling better soon! I will be interested to hear if there are any good homeopathic remedies for it.

Jen

[pianojazzgirl]

Oh your poor dd. I can't offer any suggestions other than what has already been mentioned by pps but I can offer my empathy. I had it 2 summers ago and those mouth sores were so so difficult to live with.

Sending quick healing vibes her way....