Hot Potato, Sweet Tomato
Our boy is sick. The sickest I've seen him yet and it's been taking over our lives, so I apologize for being a bit lazy about blogging.
We have our very first ear infection.
Finn has been running a temp since Sunday. It sucks because our little sweet tomato has become a little hot potato. We've been sleeping with him stripped down to dipe and cover because he's just so hot. I've been calling Seattle Children's consult RN line to find out exactly when we need to become concerned. Sick baby = NO FUN!
The conversation last night with the consult RN went a little like this.
Me: We've been alternating Motrin and Tylenol and his fever isn't coming that far down.
Consult RN: Did your pediatrician tell you to do that?
Me: No.
Consult RN: Well, we don't recommend doing that.
Me: I feel comfortable with what I'm doing with his medications.
Consult RN: You should call your pediatrician in the morning, especially since you've been alternating Motrin and Tylenol.
Me: Thank you but I know my son and I'm doing what is best for his pain control.
Okay Nurse Nasty. Seems that not all of us really Dare to Care.
And that, peeps, is why I'm not a peds nurse. #1 because truthfully, I don't want to deal with myself - a bitchy, stressed out, parent and #2 because I hate some of the sanctimonious attitudes I run into at Seattle Children's. I didn't ask Nurse Nasty to judge how I'm treating my child, I just needed to know whether or not to bring him into the emergency room.
He screamed from 7 pm to 10 pm last night and he and I ended up sitting in the living room watching Frasier because it was the only thing that distracted him. Then he fell asleep on my shoulder. My poor sweet lovey boy.
A 104.6 temp, one sick call to work and a visit to Dr. G. later, Finn is on antibiotics and maybe only 50% miserable. I want my boy back.
posted by Sacha @ 10:16 PM
9 comments
9 Comments:
Sorry he's sick. I hate this time of year--seems like they all get sick. Our doctor recommended alternating between the two meds so I don't see the harm. When you have a really high temperature, what else can you do?
better that than febrile convulsions!!..
drug em up is what i say..
(im a paeds nurse..)
awww. so sorry the boy is sick. I am amazed you didn't throttle that nurse!
Poor little guy! I hope he gets to feel better soon.
Poor guy. I hope he's feeling better soon. That is a really high temp he had. We've alternated between Motrin and Tylenol too and found it worked great. And we told the doctor we were doing that and it didn't seem to bother him, and I know Stacey and Angele's doctor recommended alternating. I agree with what Louise said above.
Aw... poor little guy - I hope he gets to feeling better soon.
Hope Finn feels better soon. Our ped recommends alternating between the two meds, too, to control a fever. That stinks that the nurse was rude. Good luck and give him lots of love and snuggling.
I think the reason the nurse gave you come crap (and I ran into this too lately) is that there has been some newer research out showing that the alternating motrin/tylenol thing doesn't provide better pain relief, and besides that there has been a bigger issue with tired, sleep deprived parents messing up and forgetting which one they've given, and overdosing on the Motrin (giving it twice in 6 hours instead of once). We still alternate when it's really bad, but I can see from a public health standpoint why it's better to encourage parents to do just one. Though that still doesn't excuse Nurse Bitchy.
We don't alternate to improve pain control - mainly because when Finn's really, really bad the Motrin often wears off early and we use Tylenol because we can't dose the motrin yet.
The overdosing concern is actually around Tylenol, not ibuprofen (Motrin). You can give pretty big doses of ibuprofen. Our doc said that kids who have rheumatoid athritis (sp?) tolerate large amounts. I still wouldn't recommend AT ALL dosing more often than every 6 hours unless a physician has given a prescription.
Tylenol is actually dangerous pretty quickly. With all the combo drugs out there (theraflu, nyquil, etc...) people who are cloudy headed because they're sick lose track of how much tylenol they've taken. You know, Theraflu but they don't feel better so they pop a couple Tylenol, then Theraflu again...you can overdose easily and it's hell on the liver. When I was dealing with strep I was popping Tylenol about every four and there were times when I seriously couldn't remember the last time I took a dose.
We see quite a few accidental tylenol overdoses in the hospital.
I know why Nurse Nasty was nasty, and she didn't know that I'm a nurse too. The problem was when I didn't heed her advice she stopped being therapeutic and started being borderline punative. She could have simply told me to be very careful with that medication regimine (which I am) and educated me about the risk of overdose. That probably would have been enough information to make a layperson think twice if their doc hadn't recommended it.
I'm not a layperson, my son was sick, and I didn't need a lecture about alternating Tylenol and Motrin at that moment.
/rantishy public safety message
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