"Measles ultimately leads to death"

[Flower of Bliss]

... according to the nurse practitioner we saw yesterday

Scared tactics make me so very angry. My sweet DD1 is sicker than she's ever been before. I highly doubt she has measles, but we're wrapping up day 4 of a 101-102 fever that comes back within about 5 hours of taking ibuprofen. She's not drinking enough fluids (I keep offering and encouraging, but I can't force her to drink). She's eating very little. She's napping lots. When the medicine is working, she's herself - playing, singing, getting into mischief, and then I'm sure she'll kick this bug soon, but when she's crashing with fever again I can't help but replay the awful word. I'm so very angry that it was put in my head.

Yesterday morning I called ped's office because DD1 (almost 4) was on day 3 of a fever without showing signs of improvement. She has a cough and sore throat. I figured we should do a strep culture. The ped was booked, so I ended up with an appointment with the NP.

The appointment went fine. Strep culture was negative. Physical exam looked good. I let them do a CBC and it was fine too - not anemic, white blood count fine, etc. I was told it was likely viral, and she'd likely be improved by Friday and if not to bring her in on Friday or Saturday. I was given the odd warning that DD1's immune system was low now, so I shouldn't bring her anywhere that she might pick something up. There was no warning of keeping her away so others don't get sick from her.

Then as we were leaving the NP caught us in the hall. "I just noticed your DD is unvaccinated." Yes. "There has been a case of measles, not at our office, but in the area, and measles ultimately leads to death." I gave a startled laugh. "Well, since she'd unvaccinated you'll have to watch her carefully and think outside the box."

She said it with DD1 right there. She didn't mention any symptoms of measles to watch for. She didn't mention other vaccine preventable illnesses and their symptoms to watch for. She just used a fear tactic. While my baby is sick.

[Quaniliaz]

Well, I guess that eventuality can be linked to pretty much everything.

Way to be unhelpful, NP.

Hope your dd is feeling better soon!

[peainthepod]

That was horribly out of line and I'd report her. Saying such a thing at all was just incredibly cruel, but to do it in front of your child was unconscionable.

I'm so sorry she did that, OP, and hope your little girl feels better soon.

[BellaClaudia]

Hugs hugs hugs..

about the fever.. we usually go without anything for it unless it is not lifethreathenning and it never was that high as little ones have
bit higher border line.

http://www.unhinderedliving.com/fever.html

otherwise fever is your first line of defense... best thing there is for
fighting a desease..

as with drinking.. we nurse nurse nurse as crazy but if we are just extended nursers

as to drinking .. somehow our little onse preffers water when she is sick..
but also we do things like magic juice : boil one package of organic rapsberries in 5 cups of water, cool it down and add bit sugar.. delicioius
and fab.

the same can be done with strawberries or blueberries

those are powerfully delicious drinks for little ones that are amazing
providing yammy vitamins and nutrients while sick.

clear broth from organic chicken breast boiled with half onion, piece of
carrot and celery stick with bit of salt provides for nutritional drink
in lieu of food and it contains plenty of minerals, calcium etc..

european cures for little ones.

if she has more apetite after fever is down we throw some pasta
into a clean broth as above.. and or.. hand pull small pieces of chicken (as little as not hazardous of chocking) and throw in with pasta into a consomme of broth and pasta bowl..

Be careful with cows milk.. it tends to raise the fever.


p.s... did you check the ibuprofen against recall:
http://pediatrics.about.com/b/2010/0...l-recall-2.htm

ps .. per the article in the link below... if your child is dehydrated beware of ibuprofen use in such a case..
there is a chance that it might be risky for the kidneys..
see more:

http://www.ivillage.com/expert-advic...afe/6-n-146418

[Flower of Bliss]

Originally Posted by BellaClaudia

Hugs hugs hugs..

about the fever.. we usually go without anything for it unless it is not lifethreathenning and it never was that high as little ones have
bit higher border line.

Thank you for all of the advice BellaClaudia. I tend to not treat fevers as well, or just treat at night so we can all get rest. Monday I worked on that general theory. I did much of Tuesday as well. DD was absolutely miserable. At one point she told me "I'm sick. I think I'm going to cry." I usually think "treat the child, not the fever." I was treating the child. Her fever was 102ish and I went ahead and gave her a dose. I usually wait at least 8-10 hours between doses as well. I don't want the medicine to mask the symptoms. Wednesday morning she was begging me to give her medicine The fever was returning to 101-102 before the 6 hour window recommended for dosing anyway. I did every 6 hours Wednesday. Today it was more like every 8. I hate to be giving her the meds.

I have been really really wishing she was still nursing. I even told her I wished I could nurse her. She weaned at 28 months, and is now days away from turning 4. She's forgotten how to latch.

Oh, and yes, it's checked against the recall I replaced (and got the refunds for) all of our meds from the recall.

[Angela512]

^ It's so hard when they're asking for relief!! When my son was battling a major *something* (who knows??) he was spiking fevers of 104.5. This was the only time I gave him anything for his fevers. I even got into a lukewarm shower with him and just let the water cool him off (now, in his case, his fever was spiking within a couple hours of getting the acetominophen/ibuprofen doses). But, it did help a lot. He woke up several times a night being too hot and I would just whisk him into the shower, pull down his temperature and then snuggle him back into bed.

If you don't want to be giving her the meds...just give her lots of baths. It sure helped us!!

Hope she's feeling better soon!

[xmasbaby7]

I am sorry this happened to you.

I don't know what part of the country you are in, but hand, foot, and mouth, a summer peaking virus is all over New England. My child and I both got it.

It came with really, really high fevers for both of us, but I chose not to treat the fevers.

[laohaire]

As a child I had some fairly serious bouts of illness (quite a few) and I would refuse to drink during those times. Actually, it still happens, even with a minor cold my thirst disappears.

Now, maybe there's a good reason for that but I'm still of the belief that hydration is a critical factor in healing. So here are my suggestions as someone who stops drinking:

- Straws help, because I can control exactly how much liquid gets in my mouth. I am more able to sit there and take 100 microscopic sips of water than fill my mouth with a big sip and swallow. As a child I would literally just sit with the straw in my mouth and sip as often as I could stand, but tiny amounts.

- I can eat crushed ice just fine even when my thirst is gone. My parents bought me the Snoopy Snow Cone Maker (http://www.amazon.com/Sababa-Snoopy-.../dp/B000R4GO3G) when I was a kid, and it would come out every time I was sick. All we'd do is grind down the ice, I didn't flavor it or anything. Lacking that, you can put ice in a bag on the floor or other durable surface, and take a hammer to it. Ice chips didn't trigger my "no liquid" alarm, so I could get a lot of that down.

- Carbonation works for a lot of people, especially when nausea is involved. I would be reluctant to hook my kid on carbonated drinks of any kind, but if it was that or severe hydration I would get carbonated water and give it a try. With a straw of course. And make that a drink for only when she's sick.

Please, watch her for dehydration - I *HATE* hospitals but I'd rather see her on an IV if she's not taking any liquids.

I hope she feels better ASAP. And that comment was just dumb. They are going to have to figure out how to be smarter about their fear mongering because all they are really doing is convincing us they don't know what they are talking about. Funny story, my DH wanted to vax our DD and nothing I said convinced him - except him reading pro-vax sources (intending to give to me to convince me to vax). He said they were so obviously full of lies he was convinced.

[Marnica]

Originally Posted by Flower of Bliss

Thank you for all of the advice BellaClaudia. I tend to not treat fevers as well, or just treat at night so we can all get rest. Monday I worked on that general theory. I did much of Tuesday as well. DD was absolutely miserable. At one point she told me "I'm sick. I think I'm going to cry." I usually think "treat the child, not the fever." I was treating the child. Her fever was 102ish and I went ahead and gave her a dose. I usually wait at least 8-10 hours between doses as well. I don't want the medicine to mask the symptoms. Wednesday morning she was begging me to give her medicine The fever was returning to 101-102 before the 6 hour window recommended for dosing anyway. I did every 6 hours Wednesday. Today it was more like every 8. I hate to be giving her the meds.

I have been really really wishing she was still nursing. I even told her I wished I could nurse her. She weaned at 28 months, and is now days away from turning 4. She's forgotten how to latch.

Oh, and yes, it's checked against the recall I replaced (and got the refunds for) all of our meds from the recall.

Naughty NP.....I'd ditch her in a hurry!

Have you ever used homeopathics?? Ferrum Phos is incredibly effective for lowering fevers. That's all we use in our house. DS had had some high fevers. I usually don't give anything unless he's really uncomfortable. When I do, the ferrum phos 30c works like a charm. Hope your LO is back to her old self soon.

[newmum35]

Might want to research raw egg whites (used externally on feet) to bring down fever. No personal experience with it yet but others on MDC have, see:

Natural remedy for fevers in toddlers

... and do report the NP comment to the appropriate authority! Its simply untrue as the vast majority of children with measles (pre vaccine) resulted in lifelong immunity. Think about it. None of us would be here today if measles results in death. Our parents, grandparents etc have all had it and most have been just fine

[mamakay]

Originally Posted by newmum35

None of us would be here today if measles results in death. Our parents, grandparents etc have all had it and most have been just fine

Not that I think measles quite often results in death in developed countries, but your logic is off here. Even if measles had a one in 5 case fatality rate, our grandparents would have simply been one of the lucky 4. (but yes, if measles had a 100% fatality rate, we wouldn't be here. If that's what you meant, my apologies. )

[Flower of Bliss]

Thank you for all of the advise, support, and commisseration. DD1 is much much better. I even took her to a birthday party today! She woke up Friday morning fever free and stayed that way all day. She did have an awful runny nose that day, and still has a cough - a post nasal drip. She's a bit run down still - she took a nap both Friday and today. Her appetite isn't exactly at 100% yet, but she's eating and drinking. I think she lost a little bit of weight over the week, maybe 1-2 pounds.

I'm so glad to be past the worst of it. Last week, in addition to DD1 being so sick, DD2 cut 2 teeth, and my DH and I concluded that all 4 of us are going to Hong Kong for 2.5 weeks for his business trip (which starts in under 4 weeks). Buying plane tickets was crazy difficult - one issue after another. We have lots to work out for the trip still. It was so hard to keep up with it all. I hope next week is much much better.

[MountainMamaGC]

Thats when you say "Lets pull out the Merck manual and read the statistics and treatment for measles at home, Shall we?"

Because I guarantee the Merck manual does not describe measles as a deadly disease.

[newmum35]

Originally Posted by mamakay

Not that I think measles quite often results in death in developed countries, but your logic is off here. Even if measles had a one in 5 case fatality rate, our grandparents would have simply been one of the lucky 4. (but yes, if measles had a 100% fatality rate, we wouldn't be here. If that's what you meant, my apologies. )

I suppose in a way you could be right. But I was referring to the actual statistic of 1 in 3000 to 1 in 10,000 that is often quoted for the fatality rate for measles (in developed countries). This was back at the time before measles vaccine was introduced. True, those who died never made it to grandparent stage.. Thanks for correcting my logic, I can see what you mean but not real sure how I could have worded that better right now But perhaps we would have all heard stories of "grandmas little brother or sister" or "neighbor" or "best friend" etc if it was all that common. Every family would have been affected in some way, even those lucky ones. But true, in the end we are all descendents of the survivors.

[Honey693]

The first thing I thought of when I read the title was "Life ultimately leads to death". I'm glad your DD is feeling better.