Do your kids get weird, when they've got a fever?

[Magpie]

I can always tell when my 13yo son has a fever, because he starts talking funny.

Last night he said to me, "Everything looks fat..."

"Why did you say that?" I asked him.

He looked confused. "I didn't. I didn't say anything." Then he paused and said, "Water's too hard."

So I felt his forehead and realized he was burning up. Got him some Tylenol and he fell asleep. Poor kid! He's been sick off and on for the last three weeks. He'll seem to get better, he'll go back to school, and then three days later he'll spike another fever and start coughing again.

Last week he told me the walls were bending!

Do any of you have kids who do this when they're sick?

 

[happygirl]

No, my kids just usually lay around or sleep

 

[JaneBanks]

I don't have children yet but my brother was famous for doing things like this when he had a fever. He would get lost in our house and he would go outside thinking it was the bathroom!

 

[marmalade]

That happened to me once when my DD was 3. I was working then and I came home at 9pm and my DD came out of her room when I walked in the door and was talking jibberish. I felt her head and she was on fire, took her temp and it was 103.2 ! Scared the you know what out of me. Within 30 minutes it was under control, but still one of the scariest moments of my life.

 

[indimom]

My sister would have nightmares and would sleepwalk when she had a fever.

My kids rarely have high fevers. I can usually tell when DS is coming down with something by the look of his eyes a day or so prior to symptoms though. He gets very pale, glassy eyed, and the hollows under his eyes darken. He just looks exhausted and sick.

 

[muppetmom]

My daughter did all kinds of weird stuff when she was running a fever. She would wake up screaming. Or, start sleep walking and talking gibberish..."the violins are building a wall and the conductor is going to be really mad at me!". We would just give her motrin and cool her down and she would go right back to sleep. She never remembered any of it.

My son, on the other hand, would be an absolute angel just before he came down with strep. Not that he was a bad kid in any way. But, he was a handful. Just before he ran a fever he would be so helpful and cuddly, it was great. Then, boom...he was sick.

 

[bellebud]

My dd11 used to routinely run 106 fevers... then go into seizures. VERY scary, to say the least! A few times she was delusional w/ the fevers... once she was sitting on the couch w/ dh, and I was standing right there, and she asked dh where mommy was. That scared me (as if I wasn't already scared enough w/ a 106 fever). We did A LOT of hospital runs in those days.

 

[krcit]

My ds gets teary when he has a fever. He is normally not a crier so when he gets all whiney, I know something is up,


OP, have you taken him to the Dr? My ds had pneumonia over Christmas...fevers for a few days, then it broke but he was coughing so I took him in and they sent us for an xray.

 

[marcemc]

They get "night terrors" if they break a fever during their sleep, otherwise, they only get super "mommy needy"

 

[topolino]

The walls are bending huh. You sure Tylenol is the only thing he's taking?

 

[Magpie]

My ds gets teary when he has a fever. He is normally not a crier so when he gets all whiney, I know something is up,


OP, have you taken him to the Dr? My ds had pneumonia over Christmas...fevers for a few days, then it broke but he was coughing so I took him in and they sent us for an xray.

Not yet! He's got a cough, but it's productive and I'm not seeing that he's having any trouble breathing.

The walls are bending huh. You sure Tylenol is the only thing he's taking?

You'd think, eh?

 

[krcit]

Not yet! He's got a cough, but it's productive and I'm not seeing that he's having any trouble breathing.



You'd think, eh?

My son had no trouble breathing and his cough wasn't bad at all. I only took him because we were suppossed to go away the next day and I wanted to have him checked. Not trying to be a worrywart, just the fever thing bothers me. Something must be brewing for it to keep coming back. Hope he feels better soon!

 

[JessicaR]

My son is the same way. He used to tell me, "I feel fast" when he ran a fever. I get that way too so I knew what he meant! I don't normally run fevers at all when I get sick but when I do I get a bit delirious.

Hope your son starts feeling better once and for all.

 

[bellebud]

fyi for everyone too... Motrin is what you want w/ a high fever (ibuprofen). Our ped once told us Tylenol won't really touch a very high fever (again, my dd was the one with 106 fevers though).

When the motrin/tylenol recalls came out, we started buying Advil (Ibuprofen).

A personal friend who is a chemist who 'makes' these drugs told me that Tylenol (acetaminophen) is actually SO bad for us. He will never allow it in his house. It was actually grandfathered in to be allowed to still be on the shelves... if it were made today, it wouldn't get through the testing. We do still use it occasionally (if the kids are throwing up w/ the fever, because Ibuprofen is so hard on the stomach), but we really try not to now. And it's funny that it's what all the hospitals around here use, not motrin.

 

[stepmommyof1]

I used to do this when I was a child and a teenager but I guess I've grown out of it, but now I know how weird it must have sounded to my parents, because my stepson does the same thing if he gets a high fever. Its a bit unnerving when kids do that; that they don't know what they're saying and what they say doesn't make sense.

 

[Magpie]

fyi for everyone too... Motrin is what you want w/ a high fever (ibuprofen). Our ped once told us Tylenol won't really touch a very high fever (again, my dd was the one with 106 fevers though).

When the motrin/tylenol recalls came out, we started buying Advil (Ibuprofen).

A personal friend who is a chemist who 'makes' these drugs told me that Tylenol (acetaminophen) is actually SO bad for us. He will never allow it in his house. It was actually grandfathered in to be allowed to still be on the shelves... if it were made today, it wouldn't get through the testing. We do still use it occasionally (if the kids are throwing up w/ the fever, because Ibuprofen is so hard on the stomach), but we really try not to now. And it's funny that it's what all the hospitals around here use, not motrin.

Thanks! We've got Ibu - I'll use that, next time.

 

[Magpie]

I used to do this when I was a child and a teenager but I guess I've grown out of it, but now I know how weird it must have sounded to my parents, because my stepson does the same thing if he gets a high fever. Its a bit unnerving when kids do that; that they don't know what they're saying and what they say doesn't make sense.

He's so tall now, I'm wondering if he'd ever outgrow it!

A houseguest just told me that the boy was up at 1:30 this morning. (She's a night owl.) Apparently he wandered up to her, told her that he couldn't get something folded right, it was too hard to fold and he was never going to get it done. He looked really upset, so she told him, "Honey, you know this is just a dream, right?"

He looks at her and says pathetically, "I just really need a hug."

So she hugged him (he had another fever), and then he staggered off back to bed.

My friend says we'll need to warn anyone he lives with, when he's grown up and off on his own! Or else he'll scare his poor girlfriend.

He's doing somewhat better right now, BTW. He even managed to make it to his Saxophone lesson, where they did some music theory. His teacher told him to drink orange juice and get some echinacea.

 

[HeatherH]

fyi for everyone too... Motrin is what you want w/ a high fever (ibuprofen). Our ped once told us Tylenol won't really touch a very high fever (again, my dd was the one with 106 fevers though).

When the motrin/tylenol recalls came out, we started buying Advil (Ibuprofen).

A personal friend who is a chemist who 'makes' these drugs told me that Tylenol (acetaminophen) is actually SO bad for us. He will never allow it in his house. It was actually grandfathered in to be allowed to still be on the shelves... if it were made today, it wouldn't get through the testing. We do still use it occasionally (if the kids are throwing up w/ the fever, because Ibuprofen is so hard on the stomach), but we really try not to now. And it's funny that it's what all the hospitals around here use, not motrin.

Motrin IS ibuprofen, not acetaminophen. It's just another brand name for ibuprofen, like Advil. I do agree with you on the acetaminophen, it's very difficult on the liver, and we don't use it either.

The the OP, I really do think it is time to take him to the doctor, I'm not one to rush in, but a recurrent fever like that along with a cough is a sign of a bacterial infection. I would get him checked out. So the walls will stop moving for him, at least.

 

[Luv Bunnies]

A few weeks ago, my DS15 had a 102 degree fever. He kept pulling up his blanket and then throwing it off. Then he said, "I'm so hot, I feel like the human version of Los Angeles during a heat wave!"

 

[mrodgers]

Not my kids, but my brother when we were younger....

My brother was sleeping. I was downstairs with my parents. He comes down crying and mom asks what is wrong? "I can't put out the fire..." he says. Dad goes flying up the steps to the bedrooms, looking around, nothing.

There is no fire and my parents wonder what he meant. Little green men were lighting the baseboards in his room on fire. For the next half hour, my dad had to walk around the room stomping on the imaginary green men as my brother pointed them out.

Another time my brother came from his room complaining he couldn't sleep. Mom asks why and he says it's because of the 100 cannonballs in his bed. How did he know there were 100? "Because that's what the sign says!" he yelled aggravated that they wouldn't listen to him.