My 21 month old dd has mumps...anyone have experience with this?

[DaytonsMom]

She got the bump 5 days ago. Fever off and on. Fevers going down, not as high as it was in the beginning. She was sick 3-4 days before the bump on her neck showed up. I just feel like she's been sick forever!! The bump has gotten much bigger on her neck but I read that's normal. I read around day six starts to get better, which would be tomorrow, so I'm hoping. She has gotten some of her appetite back. And has been drinking rice milk with water. She's almost stopped nursing. I'm guessing cause it hurts so much. Sometimes in the middle of the night she will. But she hasn't been sleeping real well at all. She won't take baby Advil I think because the taste hurts her swollen glands. I only tried to give it to her because she's so miserable. Some homeopathic colic medicine is working pretty good, just a fight to get it in her. She has the thick mucus, that she sometimes almost chokes On sometimes. I can hear it. We took her to the doctor the day after the lump appeared, because we thought it was a swollen lymph node but was hard and I could tell it was affecting her swallowing. Dr didn't know what it was ( urgent care) gave me antibiotics to treat it like strep even though she tested neg for it. I gave her the first does that night before I found a pic of toddler with mumps on the net and realized what it was. Haven't given her more since mumps is a virus. She's never had antibiotics or been to the dr before this, and I don't want to give them just to give them. I guess I'm just concerned because she's been so miserable that there might be more going on...most mumps thread on MDC said their dc cases were mild. Her body was having a reaction to dairy before she got sick which makes me think that's why she got so bad. So sorry so much info but it's been a long 10 days! any thoughts...experience? Thanks ladies!


Also wanted to add dh has gotten same symptoms 1 day after dds bump appeared. But no bump yet. She does have good periods of time but more bad times. And she wants no one else to hold her talk to her or even look at her! Lol she's not exactly an easy child when she's not sick but mamas a little exhausted being 9 wks preggo!

[Taximom5]

My first thought is, you should take her to a pediatrician or family doctor WHOM YOU TRUST, preferably someone who has seen a case or 2 of mumps before. You should also let them know in advance that you think it may be mumps. They may have children or mothers in their office with medical issues who should not be exposed to mumps.

Mumps is usually a mild illness, but if your daughter was having some kind of reaction to dairy, perhaps autoimmune, right before she came down with this, that might put her at risk for having a more severe case, perhaps even complications.

And in my experience, most doctors don't have any understanding or experience with this at all.

But there is also the possibility that this isn't mumps at all, but a swollen or infected gland caused by something else--?? Just curious--how would they rule out strep as cause of the swollen gland without doing a needle biopsy? A culture of the throat shows what bacteria is infecting the throat, not which bacteria is infecting the swollen gland, right?

Either way, I hope day 6 is better....

[DaytonsMom]

Thanks. Day 6 was better and day seven was much better! She's back to her normal self and the bump is going away quickly. From what I've read a swollen gland takes a long time to go away. That's what we thought it was at first. But a mumps bump when she gets better only takes a week. So I'm still pretty sure that's what it was. Just so glad she's doing better!
She has a wheat and dairy allergy. I was seeing if she could handle yogurt and string cheese when she reacted to it. So that was the problem. Ds grew out of his allergy by 4, and hers doesn't seem as bad so I was just testing the waters...which was unfortunate timing! But glad were just about better. Except for dh who still has it. But at least his neck didn't swell up like hers!

[BeckyBird]

That's wonderful news!

[stik]

Mumps can cause infertility in adult males. Your dh might want to get checked out. I don't know if treatment at this point can preserve fertility or how much risk he is at, but especially if you are planning more kids, traditional allopathic medicine might be a good option here.

[nia82]

I'm glad it went smoothly! To be sure, you can have titers checked. My mumps was similar, but I never had a fever or loss of appetite, just the painful swelling, first left side for one week, then right side. It required a little Ibuprofen here and there but otherwise it was awesome to be allowed to watch a lot of TV (I was in 4th grade, my entire school had it, that was in 1992). 

As for your DH, medical literature states the risk of testical infection is low but real, and if it happens, it usually affects only one testicle. To my knowledge, there is no immunoglobin nor is post exposure vaccination effective. 

[alegna]

Originally Posted by stik 

Mumps can cause infertility in adult males. Your dh might want to get checked out. I don't know if treatment at this point can preserve fertility or how much risk he is at, but especially if you are planning more kids, traditional allopathic medicine might be a good option here.

It can infect the testicles.  IF it impacted BOTH testicles it could cause infertility.  This is so rare that there are no stats on it.  It is a theoretical risk.

To the OP- glad she's feeling better!

[Mirzam]

Originally Posted by stik 

Mumps can cause infertility in adult males. Your dh might want to get checked out. I don't know if treatment at this point can preserve fertility or how much risk he is at, but especially if you are planning more kids, traditional allopathic medicine might be a good option here.

You do realize that infertility is a very rare complication? Those few that are affected most often experience asthenospermia, (decreased sperm motility). What kind of allopathic treatment do you think would help with mumps?  From medical texts there is no allopathic treatment for mumps that can prevent complications. When I had mumps (very mild case) all I did was rest. My cousin had a bad case -- he looked like the Man in the Moon with a toothache from the Enid Blyton story (my aunt tied a piece of cloth around his head), there was still nothing to be done but keep him comfortable and ride it out. 

[stik]

As I have been told many times on this forum, it really sucks to be the person who has to cope with the rare complication. I have no idea what the usual treatment for mumps is, or if there's anything that can be done to provide further protection against this rare complication. But if I was an adult male with mumps, or if my dh had mumps, I would want to look into it.

[stik]

Looking around the web, I see that mumps can also cause miscarriage in the first trimester. I don't want to be Debbie Downer here, and I'm so glad the op's dd is feeling better. Looks like the family might not be out of the woods yet, though. Hand washing, seperate bedrooms for sick and well people, and possibly calling in non-pregnant support to help take care of the mumps sufferers might be prudent.

[Mirzam]

Originally Posted by stik 

Looking around the web, I see that mumps can also cause miscarriage in the first trimester. I don't want to be Debbie Downer here, and I'm so glad the op's dd is feeling better. Looks like the family might not be out of the woods yet, though. Hand washing, seperate bedrooms for sick and well people, and possibly calling in non-pregnant support to help take care of the mumps sufferers might be prudent.

Well I guess that is another reason why the mumps vaccine is a very bad idea. Mumps in childhood is a very mild, self-limiting, benign illness and will result in lifelong immunity. 

[stik]

Usually. Except when it leads to encephalitis, meningitis, orchitis, or infertility. Which are rare.

To focus on the case at hand, I'm wondering how this diagnosis came about? I see that the doc didn't diagnose it as mumps, which is not a huge surprise given a young doc and what is now an uncommon illness. But the only symptom I'm seeing is fever with swollen lymph node. If its mumps, there are risks to be concerned about. But a lot of things cause fevers and swollen lymph nodes. The op hasn't described a mumps outbreak in the community or contacts with people who had mumps. Maybe try the dad on a dill pickle? If he can eat a pickle, it's probably not mumps.

[Taximom5]

Originally Posted by stik 

. Maybe try the dad on a dill pickle? If he can eat a pickle, it's probably not mumps.

Stik, that last comment seems unnecessarily nasty, and not helpful at all. Perhaps you'd like to edit?

I would suggest that the op request bloodwork to test her child for mumps antibodies in the near future, and if the husband is worried, he can have a buccal/urine test to see if what has is the mumps.
Edited by Taximom5 - 5/19/12 at 6:42pm

[Mirzam]

Originally Posted by stik 

Usually. Except when it leads to encephalitis, meningitis, orchitis, or infertility. Which are rare.
 

Yes they those adverse outcomes are very, very rare. Mumps is considered one of the mildest of the childhood diseases. Stik, just a reminder, this is the I'm Not Vaccinating forum.

[stik]

I am not about to forget. That is why I have not mentioned vaccination in any of my posts on this thread, and have restricted my remarks to the possible risks of mumps for this particular family.

Pregnant women can't receive the mumps vaccine anyway, so even if this was a "I can't wait to collect the whole set of vaccines" forum, vaccination would not help this particular situation.

But I think there may be a good chance of a misdiagnosis here. Given that the baby is already recovered, it may well be a different virus, which seems to pass within ten days and might well pose less risk to the OP's pregnancy.

ETA: I'd love to see your source stating that mumps is one of the mildest childhood diseases, if you have it handy. Mainly out of curiosity about how childhood illnesses have been described in advice literature over time. It's a history geek thing.

[boomer78]

Originally Posted by stik 

Pregnant women can't receive the mumps vaccine anyway, so even if this was a "I can't wait to collect the whole set of vaccines" forum, vaccination would not help this particular situation.
 

 

Perhaps the poster meant that if you have had (usually a very mild case of) mumps as a child and most likely gained a life long immunity that way, you wouldn't have to worry about it as an adult, let alone when pregnant.

[stik]

The op asked for advice on dealing with her family's suspected mumps. I think it might be prudent to consult a physician to confirm diagnosis and get support in managing risks. I think we can all agree that even very small risks can be significant if they affect you personally.

At this point, she can neither get vaccinated for mumps nor go back in time and arrange to contract mumps in childhood.

Taximom, I'm not trying to be nasty. The dill pickle test was the gold standard for home diagnosis of mumps back in the day. It's how my great-grandmother diagnosed my mom's mumps.

Seriously, people. I posted here because mumps has risks that concern me. I did not say ONE WORD about vaccines, except that it's pointless to consider vaccinating in this situation anyway. Now the op has disappeared and will probably never come back. I'm trying to offer support here. Maybe you could consider being a smidge less combative.

[Taximom5]

Originally Posted by stik 


Taximom, I'm not trying to be nasty. The dill pickle test was the gold standard for home diagnosis of mumps back in the day. It's how my great-grandmother diagnosed my mom's mumps.
 

Why would you suggest the dill pickle test over buccal/urine test?

[stik]

Because the op described her doc as being committed to the strep diagnosis despite a negative strep culture, and I think it might be helpful to approach him with additional evidence. I would prefer the culture and a doc committed to fInding a diagnosis with evidence to support it, but one has to work with the available resources.

Also, I think the "picture on the Internet" diagnostic procedure is inconclusive in a patient with no stated history of contact with mumps. I anticipate that the pickle test will be negative and will provide reassurance at greater speed and less expense than the culture. If the op had mentioned a local mumps outbreak or recent cases in her dd's community contacts, I might be more inclined to hold off on the pickle - when it's positive, it hurts.

[Taximom5]

If the OP's husband has contact with children who are recently vaccinated with MMR, then that would be enough contact to trigger mumps in someone with no immunity to mumps. He may have picked up their child from a pay date, or from daycare, or pushed a shopping cart sat in and sneezed on by a mumps-shedding child.