SHARES
“A minute before, she is running around happily. But, suddenly, she then seems to be very sick. Sometimes, it’s the other way around. There’s no telling what will come next. I am confused.” Jane finds herself worrying a lot about her kid’s health.
Sick children would have difficulty expressing their feelings and symptoms. In this sense, the parents, caregiver and healthcare workers rely a lot on observable signs and non-verbal behavior to understand what is going on health wise. More often than not, trust your “parental instinct”. If you sense that something is off but couldn’t explain why, get help from your doctor. Chances are your instincts are right! Let us look at some important signs that you should never ignore or overlook.
Photo by Olga Parker from Flickr
Signs You Should Never Ignore in Your Children
1. High Fever, Less Active, Not Feeding
Every single time your children fall sick, they build up their body defense and the immune system becomes stronger. It is normal to fall sick repeatedly, as we are exposed to viruses and bacteria all the time. This way, as children grow older, they can achieve healthy adult immunity level.
Your kids will develop fever due to common colds and various viral infections. Usually, you can treat with paracetamol at home and they will be fine in a week’s time. However, watch out for high fever (~38.5 degree Celsius and above). This may indicate a severe disease. More importantly, look for indicators of severe illness such as less activity, not in the mood to play, not eating or drinking well, irritable, crying non-stop, unusually sleepy, pale looking, and even losing weight! Get help from your doctor immediately.
Also, watch out for unusual second rise in body temperature or unexpected worsening of illness during recovery. This can be due to bacterial infection of the ear or throat that follows the viral infection. In this case, your doctor may give you an antibiotic.
2. Severe Tummy Pain that Doesn’t Get Better
Appendicitis is commonly seen in children. Although older children are more likely to have other symptoms like vomiting and diarrhea, younger children usually have only tummy pain. If your children have tummy pain that doesn’t go away, getting more severe, with sharp pain at right lower tummy region upon pressing and release, he/she may be having appendicitis. Seek help from doctor immediately. If not treated, one may go into shock with pale face, rapid breathing, and cold clammy hands. In this context, your doctor need to remove the appendix surgically as soon as possible.
3. Headache with Fever
If your child has fever, headache, and looks unusually unwell, that’s signs of bigger problem. Your doctor will help you examine your child for signs of meningitis (inflammation of brain coverings). Other signs that appear much later include skin rashes, stiff neck, and difficulty in keeping eyes open when the surrounding is bright (photophobia). Without prompt treatment, this disease can damage the brain tissue and lead to long-term disabilities.
4. Headache and Poor Response after Head Injury
On the other hand, a trauma to the head can lead to internal bleeding. The pool of blood can compress on surrounding brain tissue, damaging them. Pay attention to your child’s mental status – whether he/she passed out or not, becoming less responsive, or behaving differently. Also, your child may feel dizzy, abnormally sleepy, and vomit. Your pediatrician will help examine your child and may perform brain imaging when necessary.
5. Rapid breathing or Breathing Difficulty
Children tend to put foreign object into their mouth. This is a normal human instinct in exploring their surrounding with senses such as taste, smell, touch, etc. However, they can get choked easily. If your child suddenly becomes speechless, out of breath, and keeps coughing, immediately seek help and provide first aid. The face and lip can turn blue and breathing becomes noisy.
On the other hand, children are prone to airway infection. It is commonly due to virus. In children younger than two years old, this can produce a high pitched wheezing sound while breathing. This is due to small airways in young children and it is not dangerous. However, if your child’s breathing becomes heavy and rapid, with fever, and he/she looks very ill, this may be a sign of pneumonia (pus in lung). You will need help from your doctor.
In older children (>2 years old), wheezing can mean asthma. Your child may cough a lot with noisy breathing. Find out the trigger for your child’s asthma attack and avoid them. Usually, asthma worsen with exposure to dry and cold air, cold drinks, airway infection, dust, cigarette smokes, animal fur, pollen, etc. Also, your doctor will teach you and your child how to use an inhaler (rescue medicine) in case of asthma attack. If asthma attack is not relieved, seek help from your doctor immediately. When severe, one becomes out of breath to speak, irritable, with face turning blue and even pass out!
6. Losing weight
A healthy child grows and gain weight. If your child is always thirsty, drinks a lot, urinate a lot and is losing weight, he/she may have Type I diabetes mellitus. This is a condition when the body fail to produce an important hormone, called “insulin”. You will need help from your doctor to replace the hormone.
Also, your doctor will advice you on proper nutrition for your growing child. Your healthcare provider will help make sure there is no parasite stealing nutrition in your child’s body.
Photo by Health Claps from Flickr
Conclusion
Children get sick for various reasons, ranging from mild to life-threatening illnesses. The rule of thumb is to trust your instinct. If your child is behaving differently, and not playing nor eating/drinking well, get help from your pediatrician!
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References
- Lopez JI. Pediatric headache [Medscape]. WebMD LLC. 2019. (Available from: https://emedicine.medscape.com/article/2110861-overview; last updated on 2019 Jan 2; last accessed on 2020 Feb 5)
- Children’s health symptoms you shouldn’t ignore [Healthline]. Healthline Media. 2020. (Available from: https://www.healthline.com/health/childrens-health-symptoms#takeaway; last updated on 2019 June 27; last accessed on 2020 Feb 5)
by Chang Xian
View all articles by Chang Xian.
