Urgent care or no?

[mrseum]

My boys started with coughs & now have fevers. The oldest had 101.9 under arm. He's complaining of a sore throat. He doesn't have any white spots- but it is inflamed. I'm not sure if I should take them in or wait it out... I was under the impression with strep there would be white spots which I don't see. Just a virus to wait out? Or maybe try to get antibiotics? I actually had a difficult time getting their temps down last night...
Eta: ds1 is starting to sound hoarse. :/

[Melinda29]

No. Fever is usually a good thing. It means the body is doing its job to fight the infection. And it is typically higher at night.

Treat the child, not the symptoms. Meaning, if my child is just acting way off, in a really concerning way, only then would I try to bring down the fever or consider going to doc. Otherwise, lots of fluid, lots of rest, let his immune system do its job (I am assuming your boys are otherwise healthy and not immunocompromised). You know your kids better than anyone. Step back and look just at them, not at their symptoms.

IMO, the actual temperature, or the presence or absence of white spots, is irrelevent. Some people's bodies show symptoms while others do not. Some kids spike fevers very easily. I have a daughter who will frequently develop a 105 fever and be acting just fine--that is just her.

A high fever will not cause brain damage or seizures--it is a fever that develops extremely quickly that does that, so fast that by the time the parent realizes it, it is too late. So if her temp goes from 98 to 102 in less than 5 minutes, she could seize. But if it climbs to 105 over several hours, that actually is less concerning. Knowing this really takes a lot of pressure off us parents--we don't need to be hovering over our kids with a thermometer. If something is going to happen, it will happen so fast that we never could have seen it coming, or if we had, we couldn't have done anything fast enough to prevent it.

Antibiotics are sometimes necessary if a child is so sick that they are going to have to be admitted to the hospital without them (and if the infection is definitively known to be bacterial). Otherwise, they can ride it out naturally.

I hope your bots feel better soon!

[Melinda29]

Oh, I thought of something my family doc told me a few years ago: A well-treated infection with fever management and antibiotics will usually subside in 7-10 days. Letting the body ride it out naturally with only rest and fluid as "treatment" will mean it will take a week to a week-and-a-half for the body to heal.

In other words, the outcome is usually the same.

[Amanda+2]

My doctor friend says that you only need to be concerned if there is a fever of over 104 that cannot be brought down with meds over a period of a day or so.

[abunchoflemons]

acting like self or no? Just see if u can bring temp down. mine had fever like that & doc said no bring in. Sounds like any other cold....

[HeatherlovesCDs]

I wouldn't go to the urgent care. We have a history of recurrent strep throat in our house. With strep throat, there will be NO cold symptoms other than the throat hurting and it's a very different hurt. So, if anyone has a runny nose, cough, or the like, it's very unlikely to be strep unless they have both a cold and strep which isn't all that likely either.

To me, it sounds like a virus or possibly the flu. Because of the cough, I'll say it's not strep throat. We all just got over the flu. It started with a cough then the fever. Our high fevers lasted 3 days. None of the 8 of us went to the dr.

Hope they feel better soon.

[mrseum]

That's kind of what I thought mamas! They are a bit crabbier but otherwise the same. Still climbing the couch like monkeys! I'll keep my eye on the temps... If they spike & don't go down it usually means fever.