I will spare you the backstory but a recent visit to our family doctor resulted in a fantastic education.
Here is what we learnt:
- Paracetamol and Ibuprofen reduce internal body temperature through different mechanisms
- Giving them at the same time is okay and a more effective way to reduce internal temperature than giving them separately
- Current recommendation is to avoid trying to reduce internal temperature, aim for comfort
- High core temperature does not cause seizures or brain damage
- Ibuprofen should be fine with a Factor VIII level around 40, but not 14
- It’s common for kids to get secondary bacterial infections after a viral infection but hard to diagnose
- Scarlet Fever is caused by an infection of group A Streptoccoccus and can kill a child in a few days if not treated, it was the leading cause of death in the early 20th Century
- An effective treatment for a strep infection is the antibiotic Phenoxymethylpenicillin, first used in 1948
- Phenoxymethylpenicillin is a narrow-spectrum antibiotic and therefore does not disrupt gut-flora as much (less active on gram negative bacteria)
- Kids with unexplained knee pain should be taken seriously, it may be the only symptom of Meningitis
Want to know what is terrifying? A 5 year old with a temperature approaching 40 degrees for a week.
I’m grateful we have a good family doctor.
Update: She is feeling much better on day 3 of antibiotics