Sickly Daughter? Internet Freaking Me Out!

Step away from the keyboard and stop googling symptoms. People who google symptoms end up thinking they have the plague when they have a hangnail. . She probably just has the flu.

Sounds like a cold, strep, or the flu. She is only 5 so they don't always know exactly what causes things. I would take her to the doctor but I really doubt its meningitis.

Headache is a symptom of Meningitus.

And about TWO HUNDRED other things.

The comparable in parent land is:

My newborn is crying. Is it because someone broke into our house, pinched her, and left?

Theoretically possible? Sure.
Likely? No way!!!
Probably : hungry, wet, or tired.

Is it THEORETICALLY possible your daughter has Meningitus?
Sure.
Likely? Nope!
Probably : cold, flu, strep throat

Stop with Google.
Have her drink plenty of water and fluids (chicken broth, ginger ale, etc).
Often headaches are due to dehydration.
When my son feels ill, a warm bath helps him feel better.
It seems to help him over the fever, then he's cooler afterward.
Be careful with the Tylenol, rotate it with ibuprofen.
It's great your seeing the doctor tomorrow.
The flu has been awful so far this season and it's spreading rapidly.
Or it could be just a plain cold.
Relax, monitor symptoms and jot them down along with questions for the doctor appointment tomorrow.

Dr. Google is not your friend. Seriously. It sounds to me like either the flu or strep, or a plain old virus. If it were meningitis, she would have a higher fever that did not respond well to meds, and she would be much much sicker.

This past fall, my 7-year-old had a couple of days of fever, achiness and general misery, and then told me that his neck was hurting - the words were barely out of his mouth before we were in the car headed to the pedi. She had him look up and down, left and right, and ruled out meningitis right then and there. Most kids who have it either won't or can't bend their necks at all because of the severe pain.

In his case, it turned out to be both strep and flu at the same time, poor guy. His doctor explained that sometimes kids feel like their neck hurts when what really hurts is their throat. At this young age, they are so bad at describing their symptoms, and they tend to overdramatize and stress you out.

Try not to worry. I know it's hard. But meningitis sounds HIGHLY unlikely.

For goodness sakes, don't Google symptoms! You're never going to find anything helpful, just worse case scenario stuff. Ask a real doctor and stay away from the computer.
To keep your sanity, have your daughter touch her chin to her chest. Meningitis affects the spinal fluid and causes stiff necks.

with all the news of the flu going on and around i would think of the flu first!! i was told by a doctor never go on the internet to look of stuff like that.....makes ones mind go into a tail spin!!!

Stay off the medical websites. She does not have meningitis! Just wait to see the doctor. It doesn't sound like she's that sick. Calm down

this sounds like one of the many viruses that are currently going around. Stop googling and just accept that she may have a simple cold or other virus. Rest and fluids and tylenol and she will be up in no time.

They thought my sister had meningitis when she was young. She was very sick and constantly throwing up. She ended up not having it. Sounds like you daughter is just sick with a virus or has an infection somewhere. I would not worry.

You have control over your reactions to Internet info. You know it's highly unlikely that your daughter has meningitis. So stop letting yourself freak out. If you can't talk yourself out of this reaction call the advice nurse and ask her.

All I know without looking it up is that meningitis causes a child to be very very sick; so sick that they're hospitalized. She's not very sick and so stop worrying.

Later: BTW I've never taken a child to the doctor with these symptoms. She has a virus and there is nothing that you can do for a virus except wait it out and treat the symptoms but only if the child is too uncomfortable. OTC pain relievers will lower the temperature temporarily but will not treat the infection. It would be best to let her have a low grade fever because the fever is the body's way of killing the virus.

I've had a 100 degree temp and was not very sick with symptoms similar to what your daughter describes. This is nothing to worry about.

I had menagitis when I was 12. I had the worst headache of my life and it never went away even with meds my parents gave me. I also couldn't stop throwing up for hours before they finally took me in. It sounds like the flu. I wouldn't worry yet.

I'm bad with the internet also.

My son had a fever nothing but a low grade to maybe 100. We waited a few days because their doctor said to wait to see what the fever does first and if it doesn't approved bring them in. Anyway it lasted a day or two and it broke. A week later it came back.The fever and then it started with green nasal discharged. The whole time i kept saying to my husband i bet its a sinus infection(b/c he missed two days of his allergy medicine) and all his symptoms seem to match up. Did he have a sinus infection? No. He had a ear infection. A ear infection? He never pulled with his ear. What i'm saying all the symptoms can match one thing but it can totally be something else. I had a lymph node under my armpit and i look up google online. First thing i saw was cancer. I remember sitting and crying and called my mom saying i have cancer. Of course she probably laugh. I had a ultra sound done and it was gone. All the tissue and around that area was good so all they could think was it was infected at the time. So your not alone. Maybe hearing my story will calm you down a little. :) Don't look nothing up. Go to the doctor and see what they say first. Cheer Up!! :)

I'd be amazed if she has meningitis. Stop googling. Instead, keep up with checking her temp. As long as it's not high, you can wait until taking her in to be seen tomorrow. Make sure she stays hydrated. She needs a good night's sleep. The doctor will check her out.

Everybody and their brother is getting sick right now. Hang in there.

Dawn

yeah, google can be very counter-productive.
your daughter is only 5 so i doubt she can accurately gauge whether her headache is fever-induced or otherwise. she just knows her head hurts.
meningitis is one of many, many illnesses that have high fevers as a symptom. it sounds as if your daughter has some flavor of the flu that's running rampant throughout the country right now. keep her quiet and hydrated and stay off teh intrawebz. she'll be fine.
khairete
S.

Not sure about your neck of the country, but here in WI, MN, IA, and IL , there is a very nasty influenza/cold going around. It's so bad, it's actually sending some people to the hospital.

My husband brought it home the weekend before New Year's. He started with a low fever (101.2) on Sat, with aches and pains and a slight sore throat. By Monday his fever was 103.4, he'd been rocked with severe chills/shakes and had then processed to get so hot that he would sweat through all his clothes (he did that about 6-7 times). By the time he finally went to Urgent Care that Monday, he broke his fever for the last time; it never came back. The doctor was the one who told him that he'd had an influenza attack.

I didn't get sick until the Weds after New Year's. I don't believe I caught the influenza; I think I got the cold that comes with it. Anyway, I ended up with a sore throat and a cough (and being very tired), but I did not get the shakes/chills or fever or sweats. Still dealing with the cough, though, as is my husband.

Until a child has a temp that is 103 or above, doctors don't get too excited or concerned. Make sure she is drinking lots and lots of water (10 8-oz glasses of water a day). Chicken broth is also good. When the influenza/cold started at our house, we all started drinking EmergenC with tinctures of Enchinea and Elderberry for immune support. My daughter has not come down with either the influenza or the cold. Crossing fingers she'll get away without getting either of them.

It sounds like your daughter is sick with either a bug/cold or the flu. It will need to go away on its own.

How would your daughter know WHY her head hurt? Just curious. She's only five. When a child is sick, they only know that they're sick. If her head hurts that's all she knows unless she can connect that she bumped her head and therefore her head hurts.

There's a nasty bug going around that's like a cold, but not, and it's causing fevers. My middle daughter and eldest daughter had it the week before Christmas. Then this week, we're home on day four for her because she's had a fever of 102*. With Advil, it's been 100*. When she fevers it tends to run high, so I've learned to let it run its course if the meds don't work, and let her sleep it off as much as possible. She did develop a cough that got worse rather than better, so yesterday I took her to the dr and since because of her Autism she couldn't quite follow the directions the dr gave her very well, the dr narrowed it down to either bronchial pneumonia or acute bronchitis (like me right now). So she's on an antibiotic and just in case, since her immune system sucks right now, Tami-flu. I'm on Prednisone and Cipro. Yay. My house is so fun right now.

Anyway. Don't worry about worst case scenario. What I'd do is watch for worsening symptoms and just keep her comfortable and hydrated. Let her sleep as much as possible. If she's not hungry don't worry about that since it's really fluids that she needs.