My sweet 5 year old boy is running a high fever 102-103 and has foul smelling gas! Does anybody know of these two could be related or symptoms of some strange illness I'm not aware of?? He's had this since yesterday. Please help!!
Unless he really takes a turn for the worse, just let the fever run its course...fevers are the body's way of fighting off an infection by making it too hot for the bacteria/virus.
He may have a GI upset/bug hence the gas, but unless he has other symptoms, they usually won't do anything for him.
L.,
I would hate to offer any suggestion other than 'see a medical provider'. Bad gas could be coincidental, because of something he ate (did he eat a lot of garlic? Did you go out to a restaurant and could this be food poisoning?) or there could be some serious gastric distress. With the high fever, you may want to call your doctor's emergency number and leave a message for the on-call pediatrician or take him in to urgent care.
Sorry, that's my best suggestion.
Does he have Diarrhea?
Does your doctor's office provide an on-call nurse service or one through your insurance company? If you don't, you could even check with your local hospital. Sometimes they provide an ask-a-nurse line too. At the very least I would call and ask them for the best course of action. 103 temp is pretty high. You could give him a cool bath or wipe him down with cool washcloths to help bring the temperature down. I try to wait on giving Tylenol or ibuprofen because a temp is how the body fights infection, but if he is feeling just awful then that is when I break down and give my kids some meds to give them some relief if for nothing else to help them sleep off the sickness. With the foul smelling gas, it could be a stomach bug, but I would call a professional to be sure.
Good luck and I hope he feels better soon!
A.
