[USAmma]

Here's the background. My dd Nitara gets sick a lot. SHe has reflux, a g-tube, recurrent ear infections (tubes are helping a lot though), and will catch just about everything out there. She's had stomach bugs more times than I can count since late fall. Her g-tube makes her more susceptible to them. She just recovered from croup a couple of weeks ago. Both girls got it.

Well the latest is that last week I allowed her to get dehydrated. She got her usual amount of fluids but our weather is hot and her urine was really dark and not much of it for one day. I immediately increased her water intake and her urine was okay again, except that she had two diapers a day or two later that had pink urine. I have had UTI's before and it's normally no big deal, right? I drink lots of water and they go away. Hers seemed to go away after those two diapers. She was fine through the weekend.

Tuesday night she started running a fever and by midnight hours she had a high fever and febrile seizures. I gave her Motrin and Tylenol and the fever went down but she was still warm and grumpy and clingy the next day. She also was vomiting a lot and having loose stools. On Thursday I took her in to the peds and her temp. upon arrival was 102.5. She was crying when she had to pee and would not pee for 3 hours when we tried to collect a sample at the office. Finally she went. The dip stick test was borderline UTI and the rest was sent to the lab to be cultured. I should get results tomorrow.

The ped said her ears were clear, she looked otherwise okay except for some lesions or ulcers on the back of her throat. That could have been viral or it could have been caused by vomiting since she has high acid production anyway (even on Prilosec). Assuming that she had a bad UTI, he played it safe and prescribed antibiotics for it. I was not really wanting to give them but at the time I thought the dx was correct. So I started the antibiotics.

Friday her fever was totally gone and she was a new kid. No vomiting, happy baby. Except she still cried when she peed and it smelled very strong like ammonia. My diapers don't have build up problems either. This was an immediate ammonia smell as soon as she peed.

Saturday afternoon Abi complained of a tummy ache and proceeded to vomit 3 times before bed. She also started running a high temperature and continued to run one all night so high that I gave her Tylenol and Motrin piggybacked. She started to have body twitches which is a warning sign to febrile seizures (both my kids get them when they have high fevers).

So now I'm wondering if Nitara has a mild UTI on top of a stomach bug, and these antibiotics are not really necessary?? If the doctor calls back on Monday with only a mild UTI or no UTI at all, should I go ahead and finish the antibiotics anyway, or is it okay to stop them? I know that you are not supposed to stop them but what if she didn't need them in the first place? They are giving her many loose stools and a rash. I'm also giving her live probiotics daily but it's not helping with the diarrhea.

Thanks for any thoughts you can give me. I'm going

 

[Ruthla]

I'd just be hesitant to stop antibiotics mid-rx because of the possibility of creating resistant bacteria. That's one of many reasons that I usually hold off on starting them in the first place.

With a child so chronically sick, it makes things harder. She's more likely to actually NEED the abx because her resistance is lower, plus sh'es more likely to not be able to handle the side effects of the meds.

How long has she been on the abx and how much longer do you have to finish the prescription?

 

[shelbean91]

I'd finish them- with the throat stuff, did they do a throat culture?

I was just at the doc on Friday for a throat culture and turns out I have strep throat. My kiddos were sick the week before (as you know) and I think it may have been a milder version of what I have, since they got over it w/o intervention. I'm taking abx to clear up the strep. No idea where I got it, but maybe it's going around.

Hope she feels better soon.

 

[moneca]

I'm not a fan of abx, but I'd finish them once they were started to avoid developing resistant strains. I know that Nitara has a g-tube and isn't taking anything orally. I know that you said that you've been giving her probiotics. I'm sure that you've cheked the probiotic thread before (not to mention all the other literature that you've probably read) and know that you get much more probiotics from home made yoghurt or kefir than from probiotic powder. I use to think that making yoghurt was such a PIA, but then I got a Yogourmet maker and it's so easy. It's just one big pot - not all the little jars. Anyway, I was just wondering if you could make some yoghurt and thin it out enough (mine thins to drinkable just by shaking it in a bottle) and put some in her g-tube to give her even more good beasties - although you probably want to wait until the diarrhea clears up. There is a great info page on making dairy and nutmilk yoghurt on
www.pecanbread.com

 

[USAmma]

Thanks for the input. It's what I was thinking too, but I wanted to hear it from others. Sigh. I hope in a way that the lab comes back indicating that she *needs* it so I feel better about it.

She's getting live probiotics that I buy in the fridge section, cultured in soy because she does better when she's off dairy.

I'll post the lab results. Thanks again . . .

 

[USAmma]

The nurse who is the only one authorized to share lab results was not in today.

Let's see her changing diarrhea diapers at 2:30 AM and then let's see who's not authorized to share lab results.