There is no person who does not experience vomiting. This is poisoning: chemical, food, alcohol. Few people begin to take their temperature and panic. The exception is mothers experiencing symptoms for the first time.
Vomiting is the complete release of stomach contents. This is a symptom of illness or a single urge.
Symptoms:
- copious amounts of saliva;
- cardiopalmus;
- nausea.
The highest temperature for a baby under one year is 37.3 degrees. For children under 2 years old – 37 degrees.
When a child has a fever, there is only one vomiting attack. The opposite case - several urges to vomit, a rise in temperature - poisoning, gastrointestinal infections.
Parents need to take a closer look at the contents of the masses. In addition to undigested food, greenish-yellow bile may appear. With frequent vomiting, the child develops dehydration.
If you feel sick and have a low temperature (35 - 36 degrees) - evidence of low blood pressure, weakening of the body.
Causes of the painful condition
When a child is vomiting and has a high fever, the question “what to do” is the first question every parent asks. These symptoms are protective mechanisms: the first prevents the further movement of harmful substances through the body, the second means the fight against pathogens.
In children 1-3 years old, vomiting and fever are interdependent; one can cause the other. Fever appears during colds, inflammation of internal organs, acute surgical conditions; vomiting often accompanies intestinal infections. The combination of these symptoms may indicate the following:
- Flu, sore throat, bronchitis, ARVI, pneumonia.
- Intoxication with food, chemicals, drugs.
- Inflammation of the appendix, exacerbation of gastroenteritis, gastritis, viral hepatitis, colitis.
- Hernias.
- Intestinal infections (salmonellosis, dysentery, cholera, E. coli, rotavirus, enterovirus).
- Neurological and psychogenic disorders.
Causes
The child’s body reacts to many things: intestinal, viral infections (ARVI, influenza), poisoning, whooping cough, bronchitis, tonsillitis, pneumonia, meningitis, surgical diseases (appendicitis, hernia), heat stroke.
There are characteristic symptoms and help for diseases. The life of the child depends on the correct reaction of the parents.
Intestinal infection
Gastrointestinal infections lead to repeated bouts of vomiting, stomach pain, weakness, diarrhea, and loss of appetite. You should call a pediatrician or an ambulance and start fighting dehydration.
Viral and infectious diseases
Flu and similar diseases. Vomiting is often one-time, headache with fever (38 – 39 – 40 degrees), aches in the bones and body. You need to call a doctor at home.
Poisoning of any kind
Accompanied by symptoms: weakness, malaise, lack of appetite, abdominal pain, diarrhea, repeated vomiting. Call a doctor and prevent dehydration from developing.
Diseases with cough
Whooping cough, pneumonia, sore throat, bronchitis, pneumonia. Against the background of coughing attacks, attacks of vomiting are provoked. Sore throat, weakness. You should call a doctor.
Meningitis
A disease accompanied by inflammation of the membranes of the spinal cord or brain. The disease cannot be missed or left unnoticed. The consequences reach the point of failure of parts of the brain.
Symptoms: weakness, photophobia, fever (temperature above 39 degrees), restlessness, refusal to drink and eat, rash, convulsions. Urgently call an ambulance for further medical assistance.
Diseases requiring surgery
Inflammation of the abdominal cavity requiring surgical solution: inflammation of the appendix, hernia. You can recognize it by acute abdominal pain and weakness. It is necessary to call an ambulance - delays are dangerous.
Heatstroke (sunstroke)
“Diseases” of this kind occur with general lethargy, redness, dry skin, severe dizziness, pulse and breathing speed up. Call a doctor, put the patient in a cool place, turn his head to the side.
Vomiting and diarrhea (diarrhea)
The cause of these symptoms is often an intestinal infection, the causative agents of which are salmonella, Escherichia, enteroviruses, cholera and dysentery bacilli, and rotaviruses. The temperature rises to 39-40°C, the child vomits repeatedly, and has greenish diarrhea with mucus. This condition lasts several days if left untreated.
Rotavirus under a microscope
Rotavirus infection is most common among children, especially under 2 years of age. Infection occurs through unwashed hands, unboiled water, and through household contact. The disease begins with weakness, sore throat, runny nose, headache, and a gradual increase in temperature; later nausea, vomiting, stomach pain and loose stools appear.
Intoxication of the body with stale foods, poisons, chemicals, and medications is also manifested by fever, diarrhea, vomiting, chills, pallor, and abdominal cramps. Vomiting and diarrhea bring relief because it helps remove toxins from the body, so you should not try to stop them yourself until a doctor arrives.
Diarrhea
A special symptom is the presence or absence of diarrhea with vomiting.
Loose stool in a child is a sure sign of poisoning or intestinal infection. The body tries to remove dangerous substances and toxins in order to function without harm, in a normal state.
Adults immediately call a doctor for immediate assistance to the child. Intoxication leads to sad consequences. Recovery of the body is long and painful.
If there is vomiting without diarrhea, examine the child’s condition. It will help you provide proper medical care at home without causing harm. If there is no diarrhea, the intestines are fine.
In case of headache
These symptoms accompany intoxication and food poisoning, and nausea and vomiting usually precede fever and headache.
The same problems arise with thermoneurosis - spasmodic narrowing of blood vessels. Thermoregulation is impaired, which leads to an increase in temperature of a non-infectious nature; headache and vomiting are often accompanied. Gastroenteritis (or stomach flu) also manifests itself as a combination of these 3 symptoms.
More dangerous causes of fever, vomiting and headache include:
- Meningitis is an inflammation of the brain and spinal cord, other characteristic symptoms of which are seizures, photophobia, numbness of the neck muscles and prolonged chills.
- Encephalitis is a disease of the central nervous system, transmitted through a tick bite or the products of infected animals.
- Poliomyelitis is a lesion of the nervous system, leading to paralysis and, in severe cases, death.
Runny nose (snot)
The complex of these symptoms is characteristic of nasopharyngitis - inflammation of the lining of the larynx and nose. Patients suffer from a dry cough, high fever, nasal congestion and discharge, and the flow of mucus into the throat provokes a gag reflex. Young children often feel sick and vomit from a sharp rise in temperature to 39°C.
Treatment is carried out with antiviral drugs (Anaferon, Amiksin, Interferon).
These symptoms are distinguished by rotavirus infection, which begins with signs of a cold (runny nose, sore throat), followed by an intestinal stage (vomiting, diarrhea).
Vomiting bile (yellow vomit)
Symptoms accompany diseases of the gallbladder and its ducts, acute gastritis, pancreatitis, intestinal obstruction, and viral hepatitis. Acute cholecystitis and cholelithiasis cause fever of 39-40°C and vomiting of bile.
These same symptoms, combined with diarrhea, indicate an intestinal infection: first, the child vomits undigested food, then only bile. Intestinal obstruction and inflammation of the appendix often cause bile in the vomit.
Fever, vomiting and skin rash
This combination of symptoms occurs in the following cases:
- Viral infections (measles, chickenpox, rubella, enteroviral disease).
- Bacterial infections (scarlet fever, chicken pox, measles).
- Meningococcal infection (causing meningitis and blood poisoning).
- Allergic reactions.
A child may develop a rash from a high fever due to a cold or flu.
In any case, rash, fever and vomiting are dangerous symptoms, and it is important to know what to do so as not to miss a serious illness. If, in addition to the above, the baby has convulsions, photophobia, headache and muscle stiffness, there is a possibility of inflammation of the brain and you should call a doctor without delay.
If vomiting at sea
If a child develops vomiting and fever at sea, the first thing to do is consult a doctor. At sea, children have a chance of getting food poisoning, as food quickly spoils in the heat.
There will be a slight increase in temperature, nausea, stomach pain, diarrhea and vomiting. Intestinal infection at the resort is also not uncommon, the symptoms are similar, the disease begins abruptly. Gastric lavage and drinking plenty of fluids will help alleviate the condition.
Heat and sunstroke cause hyperthermia up to 38°C, loss of strength, rapid breathing, nausea and vomiting, but there should be no diarrhea. Rubbing with cold water, drinking frequently and staying in a cool room will help here.
When to see a doctor?
Ordinary food poisoning does not require contacting a specialist, but if vomiting does not go away within 1-2 days and is accompanied by other negative manifestations, you should immediately call an ambulance. So, the following symptoms should cause alarm:
- Cramps.
- Fainting.
- Severe abdominal pain.
- Dyspnea.
- Vomiting with blood.
- Speech impairment and visual impairment.
- Heart rhythm disturbances.
- Diarrhea with blood.
Another reason for hospitalization is a high temperature in a child under 3 years of age, which cannot be brought down within 24 hours with any antipyretic drugs.
How to treat a child depending on age
Infants (4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11 months)
First of all, you should ensure that the baby is in an upright position to prevent vomit from entering the respiratory tract. You need to make sure that the baby's head does not fall back; it is better to turn it to one side if the baby is lying down. It is not recommended to cancel breastfeeding, but be sure to give water in small portions, but often (1-2 tsp every 5 minutes).
Before the doctor arrives, it is forbidden to prevent vomiting, reduce the temperature (unless it rises to 38.5°C) and give medications . Medicines are prescribed only by a doctor after determining the cause of the ailment. If necessary, reduce the temperature, it is preferable to use rectal antipyretics.
Child 1,2,3 years old
When vomiting and fever occurs in a child at this age, immediate action must be taken.
Here's what to do before the doctor comes:
- Prepare a saline solution or buy a pharmacy solution.
- Replenish fluid loss. You should drink 3-4 tsp. every 5 minutes, without trying to immediately pour a large volume of water into the stomach.
- Feed viscous porridge or crackers when the child asks, and not through force.
- Monitor the baby's condition so as not to miss signals that are dangerous to health.
- Do not give antiemetics, painkillers, antibacterial and antiviral drugs without determining the cause of the disease. Antipyretics are permissible only at temperatures above 38.5°C.
Preschooler 4,5,6 years old
If a child is vomiting and has a high temperature, the first thing to do is call an ambulance.
Recommendations for caring for a sick child aged 4-6 years are the same as for those aged 1-3 years: call a doctor at home and alleviate the condition using the methods outlined above.
You can reduce hyperthermia without medications by rubbing with alcohol, and drinking 1-2 tbsp. once every 5 minutes.
Calling an ambulance is mandatory in the following cases:
- If poisoning by a poison or chemical is suspected.
- The vomiting does not stop and there is blood in it.
- The child vomits due to injury.
- Inability to give the baby something to drink or regurgitation of drunk water.
- Convulsions, severe pain, loss of consciousness.
Schoolboy 7,8,9,10,11,12,13,14 years old
If possible, you need to establish the cause of the malaise: ask the child about the foods eaten, assess the frequency and nature of vomiting, general well-being and localization of pain. The presence of sharp pain, prolonged absence of urine and stool requires calling an ambulance.
If the child’s general condition is not critical, it is enough to ensure that he drinks water-salt solutions (Regidron, Gidrovit), takes enterosorbents (activated carbon, smecta, enterosgel), and probiotics (Linex, Bifiform).
Antispasmodics should be given only in extreme cases, as they make diagnosis difficult. What else is not recommended is to lower the temperature to 39°C, so as not to interfere with the body’s fight against infection.
In case of serious pathology, the child also develops vomiting and fever, and the pediatrician decides what to do in this situation.
First aid for a baby
If a child under 3 years of age has profuse and continuous vomiting with a high fever, you must immediately call an ambulance, and before doctors arrive, take the following actions:
- Place the baby on the bed and give him plenty of boiled or filtered water (as much as he can drink).
- Give enterosorbent (Smecta or activated carbon).
- To reduce heat, apply a cold compress to your forehead (for example, moisten a towel with cool water and squeeze out the moisture).
But these recommendations only apply to children over 3 years old. The most you can do to help a one-year-old child is to give him clean water and make sure that the vomit does not block the access of air to the respiratory tract (until the ambulance arrives).
What to feed your baby
Eating until vomiting completely disappears is not advisable, with the exception of infants, whom it is recommended to continue feeding. When the child develops an appetite, you need to start with rice or oatmeal porridge with water, crackers, and hard-boiled eggs.
Food and drink should be taken little by little, but often, so as not to overload the stomach . After the symptoms disappear, low-fat cottage cheese and dietary meat can be added to the diet; the transition to the usual menu should be carried out gradually. For the first time after illness, you will have to limit sweets, fatty foods, and carbonated water.
Symptoms such as vomiting and fever in a child are not always safe. Every parent should know what to do when they occur. With timely treatment of some diseases, complications can be avoided.
Vomiting and fever in a school-age child: causes and first aid
Vomiting is the involuntary eruption of stomach contents under high pressure. This symptom is always alarming, since its causes can be a wide variety of pathological conditions. In a situation where vomiting is combined with a high temperature, parents have more reasons to worry.
Causes of vomiting in schoolchildren
The occurrence of vomiting is always unpleasant for either the child or the parents. The reasons why vomiting and fever appeared in a child 7, 8, 10 years old and older may be as follows:
- Intestinal infections (rotavirus, enterovirus, dysentery, escherichiosis, salmonellosis, etc.);
- Poisoning from poor quality food;
- Acute appendicitis;
- Acute cholecystitis and/or pancreatitis;
- Renal colic;
- Encephalitis (inflammation of brain tissue);
- Meningitis (inflammation of the membranes of the brain).
To clarify the probable cause, it is important to know the accompanying symptoms of the disease. Because both vomiting and increased body temperature are components of a certain syndrome complex that characterizes a particular pathology.
With rotavirus infection, in addition to these two symptoms, diarrhea syndrome comes to the fore. The stool is watery, foamy, and yellow in color. At the beginning of the disease, catarrhal phenomena (runny nose, sore and red throat, cough) are a concern.
Enterovirus infection is characterized by multiple syndromes, including damage to the gastrointestinal tract. At the same time, abdominal pain and loose stools appear. Herpetic tonsillitis specific to this pathology is characteristic. A rash may appear on the hands and feet.
For dysentery, intestinal damage is specific; vomiting can occur at the beginning of the disease. Intoxication syndrome with increased body temperature is also noted. Pain in the right iliac region, rumbling intestines, and false urge to defecate also occur. There is a characteristic type of stool - mucous, scanty, streaked with blood (“rectal spit”).
Salmonellosis is characterized by the development of diarrhea after eating meat and dairy products, or eggs from infected animals. In this case, pain occurs in the left iliac region. The stool is cloudy, green, with mucus (“swamp mud”).
In case of poisoning, a sharp deterioration in health usually occurs after eating poor-quality food. In this case, relief is noted after vomiting. As a rule, all symptoms disappear quickly after the gastrointestinal tract is cleared of toxins.
In acute appendicitis, the child experiences pain first in the epigastric region, then it descends to the right iliac region. In this place, there is tension in the abdominal muscles and severe pain. Vomiting may occur once.
The body temperature remains at low-grade levels.
Biliary colic with cholecystitis is characterized by repeated vomiting mixed with bile, combined with fever and cramping pain in the right hypochondrium, which can radiate to the right shoulder.
With inflammation of the pancreas, vomiting is indomitable and does not bring relief. Abdominal pain is localized in the left hypochondrium and is girdling in nature. With renal colic, intense pain in the lower back is noted. Reflex vomiting. Along with this, painful and frequent urination may occur.
Inflammation of the brain and its membranes is characterized by fever, vomiting that does not bring relief, weakness, drowsiness, sensitivity to light and sound, and the appearance of meningeal and focal signs. Loss of consciousness or seizures may occur.
How to help a child if vomiting occurs?
Every parent should know how to help their child if he is vomiting. The attack is usually preceded by nausea.
You can relieve this feeling by sucking on a mint or sour candy, a slice of lemon or a piece of ice. If you are vomiting or have a fever, do the following:
- Record the probable cause of vomiting (food intake, infection, etc.);
- Assess the nature of the vomit and ask the child about his feelings;
- Lay the child down or give him a semi-sitting position;
- Provide access to fresh air into the room;
- Do not feed the child; if there is a desire to eat, offer pureed, easily digestible food. Portions should be small, the frequency of meals should be up to 6 times;
- Provide plenty of fluids (water, fruit drinks, compotes, decoctions of dried fruits, sweet tea, still mineral water), in small sips, often (every 5-10 minutes);
- Offer a solution for oral rehydration (Glucosolan, Regidron), which should be alternated with the rest of the liquid;
- In case of poisoning and intestinal infections, it is recommended to take enterosorbents (Smecta, Filtrum, Enterosgel);
- In case of severe pain, antispasmodics (No-shpa, Papaverine, Platiphylline) are indicated and used with caution, as they complicate diagnosis;
- For any increase in body temperature - antipyretics based on Ibuprofen and/or Paracetamol;
- For frequent vomiting, prokinetics are prescribed (Motilak, Motilium, Cerucal).
The use of any medicine must be agreed with the pediatrician. Consultation with a doctor is mandatory if vomiting occurs in a child at any age. Because this symptom may be one of the manifestations of a serious illness.
Vomiting combined with fever can be caused by many factors. In addition to the most common causes, in school-age children it is necessary to exclude poisoning by alcohol and toxins of various substances, including drugs. Therefore, vomiting at this age should not be ignored by parents.
Valentina Ignasheva, pediatrician, especially for Mirmam.pro
Source: https://mirmam.pro/rvota-i-temperatura
