Health anxiety for my son

Hi HW friends,

It's been a long time. Thankfully I've been doing pretty well. Keeping up with exercise, therapy, trying to get outside as much as I can, reading, and of course spending time with my family and friends. Things have been pretty good.

Until this week. My son apparently has a virus. He's little...7 years old. He woke up sunday feełing warm and saying he didn't feel well, that his tummy hurt and he did throw up twice. His temp was in the 102 area so I have him ibuprofen and it went down of course and he ate and was pretty much on the mend. But then he woke feverish again during the night. I ended up taking him to the doctor and he said stomach virus since everything else checked out fine and said he should be fine to go to school the next day. But he hasn't gotten better. His doctor said I didn't need to medicate his fever because it was doing its job to rid the infection, even if it was 103-104. Well that night it went up to 105. My heart stopped and I gave him ibuprofen. It went down. But since it just lingers around 102-104 so I've been medicating him. He has hardly eaten and he's such a small guy. I thought he was feeling better today. He had pretzels and was playing and joking and almost like normal, just not quite as active because of so little food. He eventually ate toast...including some of the crust! I was so happy. Then he got worse again. His eyes glazed over and he was miserable. His temp had gone up to 103.5. More meds. Also my good friend is a nurse and because he's been having a cough, she stopped by to listen to his lungs. She said they sounded good and she didn't suspect anything more than a lingering virus. But he just looks so sad! He's never been sick for this long! It's 4 days! I'm scared its that enterovirus I think it's called and that its severe. I'm scared it's something bad! I don't know what to do. I made another appointment tomorrow afternoon for the earliest time I could get him in. I just want his fever to break. I want him to sass me. I want him to refuse vegetables but want to devour cookies, I want him to give me a hard time getting ready for school in the morning. I am beside myself and my anxiety is back in full force. I don't even care though. Last night I was laying in bed and my heart rate was totally all over the place. Faster than usual with tons of PVCs and I didn't even care. I just kept thinking that I don't care if I die because if something is wrong with him I can't handle it. He's my world. I feel like I yell too much and I'm hard on him to be nice and respectful and maybe I'm too hard. Maybe I'm a bad mom and this is my punishment.

If you pray, please pray for him. If you are a good though sender, please do that for him. I need him to be well more than I've ever needed anything. If give anything to go back a year where it was my own health anxiety that was causing my greatest problems. I need my baby well.

Thank you, Larry. Something about your posts always make me feel a little more sure of things. I appreciate the prayers very much :)

Hi ME,

I am so sorry that your little guy is sick.:(

Home care is what is ususally recommeded for a stomach virus, and that is just what you are doing...and from the sounds of it, doing a GREAT job!

Some viruses like this last for only a day or so, and others can go on for for a week or so. As long as you can get his fever down with Tylenol, and he is staying hydrated, then he is going to be fine to recover at home.

If he can't hold anything down, or the fever is staying up, even with meds, then call your doctor again for advice.  Hopefully he is feeling better even before you go in tomorrow...

It is so scary when our kiddos aren't well. I know this feeling, and am sending sympathy and encouragement. This will pass...and he will be back to running around and refusing his veggies again soon!

Take care of both of you! (remember to use your coping skills to keep your anxiety managed)

Hugs, thoughts and prayers!

S.C.

So sorry your little one is feeling so sick! All my children are grown now, but I remember the sleepless nights when they were sick. I agree with your doctor about letting the temperature do the work. It really is there for a reason - to burn away that illness. Of course, if he is complaining of pain, I would give it to him to make him feel better, but otherwise, I always tried to let it do its job.

I'm praying tonight for your son and for you! Hopefully the virus will pass quickly. There have been a lot of them this year that seem to linger for a long time! I pray this will not be one of those. Hang in there! and I think your feelings are quite normal for a mom. We tend to worry regardless of what people say when it comes to the little ones we love so dearly!