My6 yo son has been vomiting since Sunday night. I had some leftover antinausea medication leftover from the last virus, and it just doesn't seem to work very well. I took him to the pediatrician yesterday, and she prescribed the same medication we have been giving him. If he sits up or walks, he vomits. He has been laying on the couch for the last four days, missing school. I tried to take him to school yesterday, and he didn't even make it to class.
The pediatrician diagnosed gastroenteritis from norovirus. The pediatrician said he was dehydrated, and we have been trying to hydrate him at home with water and Gatorade. So far so good today. However, I just made him sit up for about 15 minutes and just vomited everything up that I had been getting him to drink all afternoon.At this point, I am wondering if I should take him to urgent care for IV fluids. The pediatrician said that it might be the next course if the vomiting doesn't stop. I have never had to take one of my kids to urgent care, but I think if I were him, I would want to go. I fear further dehydration. He's so dizzy when sitting up and has only urinated once today.
Looking for moms who have been here before for some advice. What would you do?
While waiting for my husband to get home (because my daughter also has this bug- no way as bad though), I decided to take the advice I saw here of laying off sports drink and water. Instead, I gave him not-too-sweet decaf chilled tea which always makes me feel better-esp after a bug. He drank a whole cup down like it was going out of style. Within 30 minutes, he hopped off the couch where he has lived for 4 days, came alive, and wanted to eat some dinner. He ate some noodles held it all down! And drank some more tea without me fussing at him! He started feeling so much better so quickly that I wonder now if his blood sugar was too low due to the vomiting. He even started aggravating his poor sick sister, so I know he was feeling more like himself. lol We still have some recovery to do, but I do feel a little bit better at his turnaround. I'm keeping my eye on him tomorrow and plan on taking him in to the ER or urgent care if he regresses AT ALL. THANK YOU MOMS for your support and wonderful advice!
This happened a few yrs back:
I took my daughter to the ER ...The ER doctor diagnosed her. He started the IV fluids immediately.
Go to the ER. Dehydration is so dangerous.
Fyi...My daughter had a stomach virus in 4th grade that required 3 trips to the ER for dehydration. She developed the gag reflex and was unable to swallow even a sip of water.
go to the ER-this virus is substantial-my friend's adult daughter has been in the hospital for almost two weeks with this-it requires treatment
Not all urgent care clinics do IV infusions. Please contact them first.
Take him in ASAP.
Take him to the ER.
NOW.
It has been, too, long. Already.
He's already dehydrated. You need to get him help. I'd take him to the ER or Urgent Care if you think they can do an IV. Either way, it's past time to get him hydrated. (Vomiting since Saturday isn't good at all!)
Call first, or take him to the ER. Not all urgent cares will do IV's. This is serious. He is already dehydrated, so I think he needs fluids ASAP.
If your son is NOT urinating or whatever he is putting out is orange or dark in color - he needs to go in.
If he's dizzy when he sits up? He may have an ear infection or even an inner ear problem - OR it could be dehydration. This sounds bad but this is what you need to do...
pick up his hand. Pinch the skin (not to hurt him) if it stays up in the pinched position/form - he's dehydrated and needs to be seen....IF it falls back down - he is fine.
While he may want to lie down, have him sit up and "work" through the dizziness. It's hard and tough on mom's to see their baby sick.
Does he have a fever?
Have him suck on frozen Popsicles, Pedialyte and see if chicken broth or consumme will stay down.
Good luck!!
I agree w/ everyone else...dehydration is not to be messed w/. We went through something like this w/ my daughter...and the norovirus wasn't going around (was 5 yrs ago.) Anyway, after 3 visits to doc in 24 hours, I made the decision to take her to the hospital myself! Screw the damn docs who kept telling me "yup, she's dehydrated, try and get her to drink"...ummmm...not working there doc, that's why we keep coming back!" After 10 hours in the ER, and a run of IV fluids, she was back to normal, no more puking, and ready to eat and be herself!
Get your son in...before it gets worse.
This is urgent..
Vomiting since Sunday night..that is waaaaay to long.
Take him to Urgent Care...NOW! You have tried to help him. Doctor has tried. Go to Urgent Care and get fluids in him. Children die from the flu due to dehydration....but I don't think your doctor would let it get to that point without first suggesting it to YOU instead of you suggesting it to her.
I have not been in your situation...I am just telling you what I would do for my little boy. I have a 6 year old son...I would get in the car now and go.
Also, side note. Sometimes a break from water and gatorade is good...try ice chips and popsicles. I remember hearing about gatorade type popsicles that help get the electrolytes in.
Good luck and best wishes. Now get in the car!
I haven't read too many responses, and I too hope you have already left to the ER.
Prayers going out to you!
Hopefully, by the time you see this, you'll have already taken him to the ER.
I would wonder why my pediatrician didn't give my kid iv fluids if he was dehydrated. What pediatrician says your "next step" is urgent care??!!
This happened to a friend of mine last month. Her daughter was diagnosed with the flu. When she called the pedi to let him know that her daughter only peed once all day and she was going to urgent care (it was too close to closing time for the pediatrician office), she was instructed to take her daughter to the ER. He told her dehydration could be serious and she needed to take her kiddo to a place equipped for bigger emergencies. Besides, I don't think all urgent care places will give IV fluids. I hope he feels better soon.
When in doubt, you should have been in the car on the way to ER before writing to us.
It's time to take him to the urgent care.
I'd call the urgent care to make sure they do IV hydration. If so I'd take him - if not I'd go to the ER (ugh). I would just worry about him being exposed to something else when he's already been knocked down by this nasty bug.
I don't run to the Dr. easily . . . it just seems like a long time for him to be going through this.
I'm so sorry - hope he feels better soon!
oh absolutely. norovirus can get dangerous if he can't hold anything down. time for IV fluids
id take him to the er right away
My vote is for yes to the urgent care (call ahead to see if they do IV fluids). Also... Noro... Yuk! Please sanitize as much of your house/surfaces as you can! Noro is notorious for being a very hearty virus and it can last on surfaces for a long time (weeks)! Wash anything that he may have vomited on in a hot cycle and wipe down surfaces with clorox wipes! Especially be careful if he has handed anything in the kitchen! Noro is what goes around on cruise ships and nursing homes... can be very bad (especially in young children and the elderly). Good luck mama!
If this was me (an adult), I would be at the urgent care or the ER. For my child I would not even question going. I would already be packing the bags and going. It is time for better answers and more help. Good luck and many well wishes for a speedy recovery for your son.
I would take him to the ER. The dizziness is what concerns me.
Is he getting any vision impairments at all? I'm wondering if he's getting migraines. When mine are really bad, I get the occular migraines, but sometimes I'll get very bad dizziness that makes me vomit. If it's an uncontrolled migraine I have to just sleep it off in a dark room and take my migraine medication and water with snacks for three days straight. They started when I was a child and my mother took me to a pediatric neurologist.
If you have a local Children's Hospital then take him to their ER and be sure to ask them to bring down their neurologist to run some tests.
So sorry this is ongoing, Mama. Yes, I'd take him to urgent care. He probably needs IV fluids. That happened with my 5th grader one time. I couldn't get his fever down either, even with a suppository. He ended up with keytones in his urine from dehydration from all the throwing up. Thing is, if you can't hydrate enough, dehydration can hurt the heart (I didn't know that until the ER doc told me that I had gotten enough in him, thankfully, that his heart wasn't damaged. That was a shock!) There is also the issue of the kidneys, which can form crystals that "cut" the kidney tissues and cause there to be blood in the urine. (You can't necessarily see the blood - this happened to my other son because he was dehydrated from being so sick.)
I think you also want them to rule out meningitis. That's a remote possibility, but one you don't want to just discount out of hand.
Hang in there!
Dawn
Yes, take him. Dehydration gets dangerous fast.
Did you take him to the ER? I hope so. I know dizziness will keep the vomiting going but you need to find out for sure what is causing the dizziness and get him checked. Let us know if you took him and how he is.
I'm so glad someone already mentioned this - I would take him to the ER as well. Our UTC Dr's are not as great as those in the ER (they kinda suck. alot.) and it may be food poisoning or other than said diagnosis, though I've heard the norovirus is going around and is as nasty as you describe. Get him fluids! :D Good luck Mama!
We had the same thing here. I managed to keep the kids hydrated, but just barely. My son started looking on the edge of dehydration and I had to really work to get him to drink..and try to retain enough. In your case, yes, I would go in. The severe dizziness would be a red flag to me. You are doing the right thing.
I took my 18 month old to the ER for rehydration. It is a long slow process. they have to give the IVs so slowly that we were there for 20 hours. it was horrible.
My pediatrician gave me a stern talking to.. said I can rehydrate him at home.. told me to give 5 ml (1 teaspoon ) of pedialyte every 5 minutes. Even if he throws it up.. some of the fluids and electrolytes get absorbed.
I would try to rehydrate him at home. the ER is horrible.
most freestanding urgent care clinics will not rehydrate him as it takes too long.
