Solitary chicken - need advice

[Margalot]

I took my daughter to the doctors yesterday as she has been run down latley, last week she was as pale as a ghost and her eyes were unusually puffy underneath, she was well apart from that and I put it down to her time of the month and age. however this last weekend she seemed to be coughing and a bit bunged up and was complaining that her throat hurt, no temperature though. she went to school on Mon and Tues, (she loves school and hates to miss) but because she still has a sore throat really red and inflammed I booked her an appointment for yesterday pm at the doctors.

 

When I picked her up from school and took a look at her throat it was like classic tonsillitis all red but now with white spots on and she was feeling really rough and looked ill. (by the way she asked to come home and the teacher wouldnt let her - buts thats another story) Her glands in her neck are VERY prominent. The doctor has given her amoxicillin and told me that if it doesnt get better by Friday he will suggest a blood test for Glandular Fever and that the antibiotics will give her a rash if its not tonsillitis.

 

so now here worrying that my poor little mite has Galndular Fever, I have looked at the symptoms and because of the puffy eyes last week am thinking that it probably is GF. The doctor really scared my daughter by telling me that if it is its really serious and can have complications and she will feel ill for a long time. really not what I wanted her or me to hear.

 

Has anyone had GF and can offer advice? It seems that its very common in adolescents she is 14 in 2 weeks time. I am dreading it, and praying that its is just tonsillitis

 

The trouble is my OH is a "pull yourself together and get on with it" type of person and if she does have GF I know she is going to feel lethargic etc for a long time and he may think she is just pulling the wool over our eyes! (she is a bit of a drama queen)

 

Sorry long rant just need reassurance x

[The Dogmother]

I have had both in the past Margalot; tonsillitis usually clears the system once the antibiotics have worked, but some more tenacious strains recently seem to have taken a lot of meds to get rid of.

 

GF will leave her feeling unwell for about a month afterwards, she will need to rest a lot in that time.

[chickencam]

I get tonsilitis from time to time and it really makes you feel awful. She will feel run down and tired and it is often brought on by being a bit run down. I had a bad bout when my YD was a baby.

 

I had my first bout just before I took my O levels and I had a hacking cough for weeks afterwards. Having said that the 2 week I had off school probably meant that I left with decent O levels because I had nothing better to do than revise

 

I hope she feels better soon and the antibiotics do the trick. My ED had all sorts at that age when her hormones were kicking in, it's a difficult stage of rapid growth and change that takes it's toll.

[Christian]

Hope she feels better soon. Lots of fluids, ice cream to soothe her throat. Merocaine sweets from Boots are good as they contain a local anaesthetic and do help numb the area. Gargling with soluble aspirin or salty water also helps.

[chickenanne]

I've had glandular fever. It does vary a lot in how it effects people, and a lot of the stories you hear are of people who really struggle with it, not necessarily the average person who gets it.

 

So, bear in mind that it does vary in how different people are affected when you hear reports of what happened.

 

Initially, I had no appetite for a few days, just didn't want to eat but didn't feel ill, more slightly off-colour than anything. Then I had a sore throat, enough that you'd think you were about to get a bad cold. But then I got a fair bit worse very quickly (extremely weak, lots of dramatic fainting, etc) - I wouldn't have been capable of walking downstairs without a rest, never mind go to work or whatever.

 

I was really poorly with it for about 4 weeks. Very sore throat (wierd puss-filled abseccesses behind tonsils), high temperature, and very weak (as in: couldn't walk from bedroom to bathroom without stopping for a rest) and slept constantly. Also, and this is a pretty rare complication which your daughter is very unlikely to suffer, I had partial liver failure with it. So I really was pretty badly affected. I ate nothing and drank only flat, half-frozen cola - was the only think I fancied, and the cold really helped my throat.

However, THE GOOD NEWS - once I started to get better, it was about a week later and I was pretty much fine. Not raring to go and full of bounce, but from being really poorly to being back to normal took a couple weeks at most - no prolongued phase of recovery. All in I was ill with it for no more than 6 weeks: from being unwell -but-coping at the beginning to being back to normal at the end. I managed to get malaria about 4 weeks after starting to recover from GF, which I recovered from really quickly (a matter of days), and I then didn't get a second bout of GF or anything like that.

 

So, whilst it was horrible it isn't true that EVERYONE who gets it will take months to recover.

 

The best thing to do is to keep drinking as much as possible: it really HURT to swallow but the more sips of liquid I had the less painful it got. Get as much liquid into her as possible, maybe try half-frozen or very cold juices. This will help tonsilitis as well.

 

Above all, don't panic. The chances are it is "just" tonsilitis, and even if it is GF there's a very good chance that it won't be as bad as you fear!

[Griffin]

I've had Glandular Fever, and like Chickenanne, couldn't walk from my bedroom to the bathroom without stopping for a rest. I actually crawled there on my hands and knees, stopped halfway to cry for a bit then went on my way before repeating the same on the way back. I didn't eat for days, slept an awful lot and had terrible pains in my groin where the glands were swollen. I remember well the sore throat and that's something I suffered a lot with after to the point where two years later I actually had my tonsils removed. I was 14 when I had GF.

 

I'm going through something similar at the moment, I think my 8 year old daughter has it. Lets hope both mine and your daughter don't.

[Lavenders_Blue]

I had both tonsillitis and GF (at the same time!) when I was about 18. The tonsillitis left me feeling rotten until the doctor finally gave me antibiotics strong enough to zap it (had to try about 3 different ones). Thankfully the GF didn't seem to affect me too badly, I felt a bit run down and pretty tired for a few weeks after but nothing worse than that.

I didn't know GF could make you feel as terrible as others have posted on here, so I must have been fortunate indeed.

[bellekatz]

My 16 year old daughter had Glandular fever a few weeks ago. At first they thought it was tonsillitis, and she had horrible pus filled tonsils that made her breath smell and you could smell her walkinto a room She slept for a week and also had really swollen glands in her neck. The antibitoics for her throat didnt do anything until she had nearly finished the course. She had a blood test for the GF as we knew that her boyfriend had had it a few months before. Once her throat did clear up she was ok though pretty tired for a week but by then it was half term. She has a bit of a sore throat again now as i think she is doing too much, but at nearly 17 won't be told!!! She is due back for repeat bloods tomorrow to make sure it has cleared up 6 weeks later. I did make her take it easy for a few weeks after she started to improve as it can sometimes lead to Chronic fatigue syndrome or ME but so far she seems to have got over it ok. ( touch wood!!)

 

Edited to add: If your daughter is uner 16 the drs won't recommend gargling with asprin though it helped my DD a lot as aspirin isn't presribed for under 16's.

[chelsea]

Just wishing her a speedy recovery - tonsillitis is horrible.

[Egluntyne]

tonsillitis is horrible.

It sure is. I've just had a bout myself and it wasn't funny.

 

Wishing your daughter a swift return to health.

[Woodcat]

hey

 

I just wanted to say that if it is glandular fever the chances are that the doc will say to reduce her activity for up to 6 months afterwards particually if she is either sport inclind or a late night little sleep sort of person. Don't go against the docs orders and don't over do it. I had glandular fever about 6 years ago. I for various reasons had to work through it and over did it majorly in the period afterwards and i've ended up with m.e.

 

I don't want to frighten or upset you and the chances are it will be fine but i was very silly and i'm still paying for that so i try and warn people not to be silly. i really hope she feels better soon

 

Beth

[Janepie33]

DD (17) had tests for glandular fever in the summer when she had terrible tonsillitis. Her tonsils were so swollen they were practically touching and they were completely white. 3 lots of antibiotics later, she started to recover, but she developed an allergy to the last lot of antibiotics and had to take 2 different antihistamines to counteract the effects of the antibiotics.

Very fortunately the GF test results were negative and she made a full recovery, but when she was ill, she was unable to eat or drink very much at all and all the over the counter pain relief tablets gave minimal respite from the pain.

She saw a total of 5 different doctors and the last one was on the verge of sending her to hospital thinking she had developed a quinsy.

She has made a full recovery, but it was a very painful couple of weeks for her.

 

Hope your daughter gets better soon.

[Guest]

The kissing illness(thats why its common in teenagers)

 

Some people usually present with sore throats etc but will have periods where they feel exhausted etc as well as being fine, this can go on for quite long periods.

A blood test will confirm.

 

 

Not sure re the comments of an amoxicillin rash if its not Tonsillitis? she may not get a rash etc

 

Hope she feels better soon lots of fluids and rest

 

indie

[Margalot]

Thank you for your replies!

 

she is a little better today, not doing much except curled up on the sofa, but she does have an appetite so is eating lots of melon, tinned pears and even managed a bit of tea last night.

 

Her throat looks awful though and I dont think I have ever seen lymph glands so big before in her neck!

 

She is managing to take the antibiotics and doesnt have a temperature, but I am giving her lemsips for her headache and to ease the throat pain ( she hates taking tablets) I am just waiting for tomorrow to see if there is an improvement

 

If she has to have a blood test, I dont know who will be the worst (my last 2 blood tests I have passed out) I dont know if I can be in the same room as her when she is having it done!, but she will obviously want me there, they can never find a vein in my arm, make numerous attempts to get it out of each arm tie the tournequet tight on both arms and by that time I am normally on the deck!

 

So I pity the poor person who has to deal with us!!

 

Glandular Fever sounds absolutely terrible I really feel sorry for those of you that have had it.

 

I also told my daughter about it being called the kissing disease and that if she did have it we would soon find out who she has been kissing!! You should have seen her face

[chelsea]

Glad to hear she has an appetite and snuggling up on the sofa is the best thing.

 

Make sure she is well hydrated and has eaten before the blood test, I have had loads of blood tests lately and they always seem to find the vein better if I have drunk & and eaten plenty beforehand.

[mostin]

Hi there, another sufferer here *waves hand*

 

I can give you hope in that, the doctors told me, the younger you are when you get it, the better it is for you, like a lot of other illnesses, the effects get worse with age.

 

I got GF a year ago when I was 31, my glands were like golf balls, I ended up in hospital as sometimes rarely it affects your liver too, and I got liver failure. I had months off work, and got tonsilitis at the same time, , you catch anything going as you are so tired.

 

Over a year on and I'm still only working 3 days a week as I get tired so quickly, Mon, Weds and Fri so I can rest in between.

 

I actually do the the blood tests that test for GF in hospital labs, which is where I may have caught it from , typical.

 

The general blood test they do for it is the glandular fever screen, a full blood count, and we look at the blood film under a microscope. Not everybody shows up positive even if they have GF with this test though, hence the name "screen" especially if they are young.

 

If someone has all the symptoms and their white blood cells look as if they have a virus, but the GF screen is negative, your doctor should also ask for an EBV "Epstein Barr Virus" definitive test to fully rule it out.

 

Not many GP's do this as the EBV test is loads more expensive than the screen so lots of people with GF go undiagnosed .

 

 

After all my waffle, I just want to say, that my fingers are crossed that your daughter has tonsilitis, and that all will be well soon. All the viruses and colds seem to have bred to super strength this season .

 

Hugs xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

[chickenanne]

Mostin, that makes sense: I too was older when I got GF. I know people who got it in their teens, and generally seemed to ahve suffered much less.

I guess it varies so much between people generalizing too much isn't great: but all the same, I hop you find your daughter either (a) has tonsilities, or (b) bounces back quickly!