My daughter started vomiting 8 days ago. It went away but came back 2 days later, and now she is throwing up every night in the middle of the night. In addition to that, she is now having diarrheah, 1-3 times per day.
I took her to the ped, he said to give her as many popsicles as she wants (to keep her hydrated) and follow the BRAT diet. He didn't do any testing and prescribed phenergan.
I haven't given her anything and am just letting this virus "take it's course", but I'm wondering if any of you mom's have had this experience? Please offer any advice as to what your child was diagnosed with and how it was treated.
Thank you so much.
Thank you moms for your advice, experiences and suggestions. I appreciate all of what you all had to say.
I didn't take my daughter to the ER. Last night was the first night she didn't wake up throwing up and no diarrheah all day today, so hopefully the bug is gone, whatever it was. She also seemed to have her appetite back, since she was asking for a cheeseburger and pizza. I let her have a cheese less slice of pizza and a plain cheeseburger. So far so good.
Thanks again. I can always count on my fellow mamas to offer up better advice than what I get from my own pediatrician! And it's free!
I think phenergan is the miracle drug, of course I've only used it as an adult. If she continues to not drink, the anti-nausea medication will help her keep fluids down. I completely understand not wanting to medicate, but you don't want to get to the point where she needs an IV either. Hopefully it will just run its course, but if not use the medication.
There is no guarantee this is a virus. There are plenty of other things that cause illness like this....
pnuemonia
bowel obstruction (greenish vomit)
ear infections
giardia
septicemia
thyrotoxicosis
meningitis
urinary tract infection
Kidney infection
mass bacterial infection (shigella, campylobacter, strep, etc)
pancrease deficiency
severe loss of electrolytes or body water (Shock)
11 years ago I took my 2 yr old into the doctor because she wouldnt eat, and had a high fever of 103. I was sent home on four different occasions with tylenol and told it was a virus. She was getting more sleepy as the days went on,barely staying awake (only after tylenol could she stay awake for about 1-2 hours) then vomiting on her pillow at night. At about day 8, my daughter was starting to go into shock. Her eyes were sunken in, dark circles under them, her lips were turning pale and blue, she could not stay awake, and she started to halucinate- she told me she was seeing monsters in her room.They finally did a urinalysis and found the infection, a massive amount of bacteria in her urine from her kidneys. It took 2 more days for the antibiotic to start working. That 10 days of infection changed my daughter's life forever.
The high level of multiplying bacteria in her body and kidneys caused bleeding into her tissues around the infection site -( the adrenal glands) which sit on top the kidney. The adrenal glands put out hormones and control every aspect of your body functions from the way your heart pumps to your kidney function and blood sugar regulation. That infection damaged them, and now she doesnt put out enuogh hormones to keep her body going. She has been sick with arthritis since 3 yrs old. now at 13 she gets dizzy, faints, blacks out, gets chiils, and goes into blood sugar shock, and I fear one day she could even die, she gets SO Sick on a daily basis. She just got diagnosed and her condition is called Addisons if you want to look it up- and it is DIRECTLY caused by failure to promptly treat a bacterial infection. (TB, meningitis, kidney infection or shock)
Everyday I cry, and WISH that i had gone with my gut and taken her to the hospital during one of those evenings while i sat worrying about her and wondering what was wrong. I implore you, do not wait anymore. Get her to the hospital -NOT a flunky pediatrician. 8 days- he has got to be kidding. where did he get his degree from, a cracker jack box? Go to the hosplital in the evening if you have to, when the doc office is closed. The emergency department WILL do the blood tests that the doctor will not do.
The human body was NOT designed to go 8 days with throwing up. I have never gone that long with any virus- and i am 46 years old so i have contracted a lot of viruses in my time. Really,only a 24 hour flu kicks my rear. 8 days is drastic- I think her condition is much more serious than your pedi is considering. And even in the chance it is a virus, your daughter is in grave danger from being severly dehydrated and going into shock. The biggest thing you should look for is listlessness- a real danger sign.
Google metabolic shock and hypovolemic shock. Both of these situations can lead to permanent health damage. Get her in now. Don't walk out the door without testing done. The first thing they should do is get her on an IV to get her body fluids back up. No matter what.
the second thing they should do is run a complete blood count and probably stool tests.
Her electrolytes should be tested, probably via saliva. Vomiting will upset the body's delicate electrolyte balance (potassium and sodium levels) leading to high sodium and low potassium. low potassium affects the heart beat, causes high blood pressure, a decrease in urine/weak stream, general weakness, and paralysis.
I want to say something about medicines. The tylenol the sent me home with to give my DD every 4 hours- it covered up how sick she really was. She would get better for a few hours after, almost back to normal.Subconsciously i think it made me feel like she was not as sick as she was. That is what any anti nausea drug they give you is doing. it's covering up her bodys only way to show you how sick it is. To this day, i do not ever give tylenol to reduce a fever.
I am praying for her health,
Good luck mama and God bless, Gail
That is a really long time for diareah and throwing up for her age. The popsicles may irritate her tummy and make the diarreah happen. My daughter was a little over 2 years old and after 8 days, they wanted to hospitalize her. I would have your child checked again and see if they can give you anti nausea and anti diarreal medication. It's really sad to see her suffer like that.
my daughter is having the exact same symptoms right now. I am letting it run it's course. she seems fine, more tired, no fever, no appetite.
Interesting that you and the other mom who have kids with the same symptoms all live not far from us. I think it might be a really bad virus that my 17 month old has been dealing with for 3 weeks, no joke, 3 weeks!
She started with really bad mucousy diarrhea, so we thought it was a reaction to corn products. It would kind of get better, than the stools would get loose again (but not as bad as the full on mucous diarrhea), and she vomited on day 5, then has spit up a bit even as recently as two nights ago.
So obviously, her stomach still is not back to normal. She isn't eating well, but she is eating, just not like she normally does, and she still takes formula, so dehydration hasn't been a concern.
My husband and I also got this virus we think. I got it way worse. 2 days of severe diarrhea followed by 4 days of bad nausea. My stomach is still not back to normal either. But it took me two weeks of the baby being sick before I got sick.
At any rate, if the baby is still having loose bowels over the weekend, I'm taking her to the pediatrician on Monday and asking for a stool culture to be done to rule out campylobacter, salmonella, e.coli, etc.
By any chance, has your daughter eaten any Gerber graduates corn based snacks? Mine had a bunch of those puffy "lil crunchies" veggie dip flavor for the first time the day before she started with the diarrhea. Originally, I thought that might have started all of it. It's long shot, but paranoid mom that I am, I am holding those in case there is a food poisoning outbreak from those. I am on this email list for S.T.O.P., an nonprofit that sends out emails every time there is a contaminated food recall, so of course, the first thing that comes to my mind is, "did she eat something that was contaminated?", LOL.
As far as helping my daughter's stools get less runny, I've been letting her eat a lot of cheerios, that will stop you up for sure.
My daughter was 2 when she came down with the same thing. Took her to the ped but got no meds. Virus..nothing they can do but let it work out by itself. Needless to say, she got lethargic and I had trouble getting her to eat or drink anything. Her diapers were practically dry too! I am so worried about my kids not drinking/eating that when they are like this, I will give try anything even kool-aid, sodas (7up only), juice..you name it! So off to the emergency room...after 4 hours of sitting there with a lethargic baby and my 2 other kids. I was finally able to get her drink a half a bottle of water. I walked out of the emergency room (it was a sunday) and called to make an appt with her regular doc the next day. Within 24 hours, she was back to her normal self.
Sometimes with these kinds of viruses, there really isn't anything else the doc can do. The phenergan will ease the vomiting so I would give that to her...keep a close eye on her like how often she potties..and if you notice dark spots under her eyes (signs of dehydration).
Take care...it's tough when they are so young and get so sick.
