To all medical people - advice please?

[kristymac1]

Hiya,

I know the forum has a number of medical professionals registered, I'd be really grateful for any advice on the following:

Is penicillin available in suppository form (for children? My daughter who is 3 was admitted to hospital this morning (since discharged thank goodness) with Quincy (sp?) and she has to be on antibiotics for 10 days. Like a lot of 3 yr-olds she will not take meds and even if we do manage to get some down her she vomits it back up. We give her paracetamol via suppository (even that is prescribed reluctantly) - in parts of Europe suppositories are very much the norm. If necessary I would be prepared to pay for it on a private prescription (although would obviously prefer not have to).

Any advice, gratefully recieved.....

x

[cate]

Why don't you call some chemists and ask the pharmacist?

[kristymac1]

The standard response I got today was 'its not the norm' and 'you dont want her getting used to taking medication via suppository' - that was just for the paracetamol. After we left the hospital (where the staff were lovely by the way) The chemist at Lloyds was particularly unhelpful, hence why I'm asking on here.

[buggie]

As far as I know it isn't available as suppository (otherwise we'd give it). Guessing it's a severe tonsillitis she has rather than a quincy (which requires admission and draining asap and typically affects adults rather than children).

It can be very difficult getting children to take medicine - guessing you were given a syringe to use (makes it far easier to control how much is given/minimising how much they can spit out in any one go!!

Would suggest attempting to give the antibiotic approx 1/2hr after the paracetamol as this would help stop her throat from hurt first.

The other option would be to get some Difflam spray (think you should be able to buy it over the counter) which can help relieve pain in the throat (and then give the medicine). Otherwise, try mixing it in with small amounts of yogurt/adding a bit of neat blackcurrant squash (has quite strong flavour that can cut through bitterness of medicine), or if worse came to worse bribery - ?choc button for each dose taken!

Even taking the antibiotic, it will take about 48hrs to really kick in and start improving how she feels, if she seems to worsen - especially if she takes less than half normal amount of fluid, then don't hesitate to seek further help from either GP or return to ED.

Hope this helps x

[kristymac1]

Thanks Buggie - that is really helpful. We have tried ALL ways to get medicine into her and none of it works, it is especially difficult at the moment because her throat is so sore (it was actually closed over this morning and the whole of the roof of her mouth was/is ulcerated to the extent that she can't swallow saliva. Her fluid intake is definitely down but we are trying to get as much into her (laced with antibiotics) about 30mins after the paracetamol which is the only time she seems willing to swallow anything. I will definitely take her back to ED if she is in the same distress as last night. They did prep her at the hospital for IV fluids and antibiotics but after some paracetamol she drank some juice and we were told we could take her home - I wasn't going to hang around, much prefering to have her at home than at hospital - in hindsight it may not have been the best idea.....

Thanks again

[SteveT]

Ice cream is very useful with sore throats too.

I seem to remember thats what the hospital fed us on having had our tonsils out and leaving us with raw throats.

Sucking an ice cube might be useful too.

[ryedalema]

Hi KM - you poor thing and poor M! I've found that roleplaying works - if you haven't tried this already try the Peppa Pig books with Doctor Brown Bear (or her favourite character). Big C now loves giving us medicine as she pretends to be Doctor BB. Also - peer pressure in the nicest possible way can help. If it's not contagious Big C could come and help persuade her that medicine isn't that bad.

Someone wisely advised me once - that if you really want your child to do something, get someone else to ask them to do it.

Just a thought and good luck xxx

[nicolemodesti]

I was offered suppository antibiotics, at Christmas, for my then 16 month old from my GP. She said that alot of her patients request them for children who refuse to take antibiotics. Not sure if it is an age thing for when they can be given!

Feel your pain with administering them as our son, 21 months, has just finished taking a course - tonsilitis and looking like 'elephant boy' due to swollen lymph nodes and he cheekily tried and was successful on a few occassions to spit it out. Maybe I should have checked this time on suppository!

Hope your daughter recovers soon.

[kristymac1]

Thanks Ryedalema, I may well take you up on that offer of employing nurse C if things don't go so well tonight... Fingers crossed though, our fridge is currently full of various types of liquid from chocolate milk to mango smoothie all laced with doses of antibiotic (to which M has literally turned her nose up to)

And SteveT - ice cream is a good idea and her favourite, but alas she turned that down flat too (could have been because that too was 'hiding' illicit substances..)

My next question, to myself probably as a research chemist (in a past life at least) is 'Why the hell can't they make antibiotics that taste nice?' - can't be that hard surely???

x

[buggie]

... forgot to add earlier - if putting it in fluids no more than about 5-15 mls otherwise you have the stress of having to try and get them to take the whole drink before knowing they've got the dose x

[curlykaren]

my mum is a pharmacy assisstant in work untill 11pm this eve, text me if you would like me to call her to ask pharmacist x

07963 984 957

[kristymac1]

curlykaren Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

> my mum is a pharmacy assisstant in work untill

> 11pm this eve, text me if you would like me to

> call her to ask pharmacist x

> 07963 984 957

That's really kind of you to offer - if its not too much trouble I'd be very interested to hear what the pharmasist says (sorry can't text, phone temporarily out of order - ie 'drying out'...)

Also, very interesting that nicolemodesti was prescribed them for her little one (my daughter is 3 so age shouldn't be a problem)

Isn't this Forum and all who sail in her just great?!

[curlykaren]

no worries...spoke to pharmasist myself, she seemed to think that anti-biotics are not available in this form, her suggestion was if its so bad you might want to consider going into hospital so they can be given by drip...sorry, know its not what you want to hear x

[Fuschia]

IV antibiotics are given via an injection via the thing in the hand, once or twice a day, IME. If you are still struggling today maybe call the GP, see if it's possible there for the nurse to do it. It's not a drip drip drip over 24h or anything like that. Though getting the line in is a bit of a task in itself!

[kristymac1]

She was prepped for IV antibiotics at the hospital yesterday. I'm going to call to see the GP again today so will ask her again - she's a new doctor down at DMC (or at least newish - I haven't seen/heard of her before) and she was lovely, excellent with my daughter and me and very thorough in her examination - hopefully she's on again today.

btw, we seem to be having some success with mango smoothie as a mask for the antibiotics - not sure how long that will last though....

[ryedalema]

Agree about making antibiotics taste nice. Big C is allergic to liquid penicillin (the suspension liquid, not the actual medicine) so it's that Clarithromicin (sorry, had a good stab at spelling that) stuff each time.

Tastes like ear wax - yucchh.

(Not that I know what ear wax tastes like..obv!)

[buggie]

....hopefully as long as needed!! Don't think the GP will have iv antibiotics to use so

doubt they'll be able to do that - if she was to need a drip would req hospital stay

as worry would be about how well she was drinking and whether she'd need extra fluids via drip, also

drip sites need to be watched carefully - can count on one hand number of children I've known go home with drips

and these were all after stays in hospital.

[kristymac1]

Hiya,

Thanks to everyone for all helpful comments/advice. We did go back to the gps today and were given a different antibiotic which tastes very milky so easier to hide in milk based drinks - saying that 3yr olds are smart and she is now very suspicious of any drink we give her, but is asking for water a lot - she NEVER asks for water, obviously she knows its the one drink we can't spike! Hey ho she's had some ab today, and I figure some is better than none and will hopefully be enough to keep her out of hospital - confirmed that if she doesn't take any abs, she will need a stint in hospital on IV.

Many thanks again xx

[buggie]

That's ok - sounds like things are on the up if she's asking for drinks (even if it is water!)

hopefully won't meet you in coming days! x

[Fuschia]

You can have IV antibiotics in casualty for sure, though, as I was given them when I had mastitis when the twins were small .. they could see how aghast I was when they wanted to admit me.

Being admitted with a child isn't that bad anyway, Kings kids wards are ok