Fever & hallucinations in 4 yr. old. Help!

[redebeth]

Hi everyone - Well it's 2 am and our 4yr old daughter has a fever of 102.5 (underarm, so 103 ish) and has started talking about the colors she is seeing in an almost pitch black room. I can find very little info on how serious this is. I have never dealt with this before. Just gave her some ibuprofen and will recheck her temp in 20 min. or so.
Is this ER worthy? What do I do?

[Shellie]

That is alarming...in absence of the hallucinations, I'd say try to get the fever down and go from there but in this case, I'd be doing the ER....I hope everything is OK!

[redebeth]

thanks shellie - I can't seem to get her fever down. Dammit. She is still hallucinating. She keeps saying 'look up mom!' Look red, blue green, right blue etc...She's not scared or anything. I am afraid of taking her to the ER because I don't want to scare her, if that makes sense. I just think maybe I'm not reading her fever right. I don't know.

[Marylizah]

If her fever isn't coming down with ibuprofen, I would take her to the ER. You can also try a tepid bath, and of course strip her down.

[beckyand3littlemonsters]

If the fever and the hallucinations aren't getting any better then it may be an idea to go to ER but bear in mind (if hospitals there are anything like here) it may entail a lengthy wait which will not help matters, my ds cameron had fever induced hallucinations he would see things that weren't there and would scream, i mean proper scream really loud and shout for me even though i was sat right next to him.
your dd. seems to be capable of actually talking to you and telling you about the colours, so i'm assuming that she is still aware of her surroundings and is awake , i put my ds's down to fever induced night terrors but as your dd seems to be awake.
if it's still happening i'd phone the hospital just to ask what they think.
sorry i'm not really much help, hope your little girl is ok.

[redebeth]

Thanks, I agree that the fever should be going down. Honestly she feels somewhat cooler to the touch, still very warm but not burning like before. She is liking the cool compresses, so I have those going. She's in a cotton tee and a pull up, do you think I should take her tee off? I really don't want to go to the ER, just because she seems, well, okay with everything. We talked about it and she doesn't want to go. She says her neck doesn't hurt, so that's a relief. I always worry about meningitis. she does keep saying that her tummy hurts, but no real outward signs of that. I just think maybe her fever was higher and I read it wrong earlier tonight. I hate this damn mercury thermometer, but I can't find my digital.

[redebeth]

and yes Becky, that is what I'm trying to say. I feel that she is much more comfy here than waiting for hours in a fluorescent lit waiting room. Thank you for your well wishes.
I'm just going to keep an eye on her till morning. If anything changes for the worse I will take her in.

[Shellie]

How is she? I'm assuming she's fne now but thought I'd ask.

[infraread]

Is she staying well hydrated?

Last year, my oldest had a fever and was talking out of his head, and I had my husband take him to the ER while I stayed home with the little one. Turned out he was dehydrated from the fever (which was viral, if that matters.)

Hope she's doing better