Hand Foot and Mouth Disease
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Hand Foot and Mouth Disease
Nov 2007
My nearly 3 year old was diagnosed yesterday with Hand Foot and
Mouth Disease. It has truly been two of the worst days of my
life! His mouth hurts so bad that he won't drink or eat
anything. I have had to resort to squirting water down his
throat with a syringe so we don't have to make a trip to the ER
for dehydration. Getting him to take his Tylenol and Motrin is
also aweful. Does anyone know how long it will take before I
see some improvement? I am of course hoping that he will be
feeling much better by Thanksgiving (3 days away).
sc
I know what you mean! It was so painful, my son weaned when he
got coxackie (HFM). Your child may have recovered by now, but I
wanted to let you know you can get Tylenol suppositories for
kids, that avoid the swallowing issue. My child preferred them
to swallowing meds when she had coxackie. I also liked that
there is not color or sweeteners in them.
One other idea- popsicles are sometimes easier to eat for fluids
because the cold numbs the pain somewhat. You can freeze your
own juice. Avoid citrus, though.
R.K.
Nov 2005
I was wondering if anyone has any experience with cold sores in
their children's mouth. My daughter who is almost three years
old has two cold sores on her tongue, one of which is very
large. She is really in a lot of pain and won't eat due to the
cold sores. I've been able to get her to eat some oatmeal and
yogurt, which was a challenge unto itself, but that is about
it. She says drinking from a sippy cup hurts as does drinking
from a straw (which blew my plan to give her a protein drink).
I bought some over the counter medicine from the drug store
that can be used on children 2 years old and up although she
hates the taste and therefore won't open her mouth to let me
put it on. Basically she cries and whines for a good portion
of the day telling me her tongue hurts.
Any suggestions or advice would be welcome. My heart breaks for
my little girl and I feel as if there is nothing I can do to
make her feel better. Thanks.
LT
Your daughter might have hand foot and mouth disease. My boss' two kids ( 2
and infant age) just recently had this ailment and she told me that it
was running rampant through the girl's daycare...I'm not completely
familiar with all of the symptoms but I do believe that blisters in the
mouth is one...
anon
You should consult with your pediatrician - I think there are a couple
of things it could be - herpes virus, which causes cold sores, or
Coxsackie virus which causes foot and mouth disease.
Our son had herpes virus sores in his mouth when he was 2. He would not
eat or drink, he cried and cried, and he screamed when we tried to look in
his mouth. I actually didn't see the sores - I thought he must have an
impacted tooth and that's why we took him to the doctor. She showed us
that there were
a bunch of little red sores all over his tongue and on the inside of
his mouth. The pediatrician prescribed an oral pain killer and this
helped enormously, and the sores eventually went away after 4 or 5 days.
During that time, though, I basically held him in my lap 24/7 and we
watched movies to keep his mind off the pain.
I think this is
common in young children - most of us adults had it when we were
young - and it is very contagious.
Ginger
My daughter is now 17, but when she was little she often would get
multiple, painful sores in her mouth, especially on her tongue. When she
was eight and began to see an orthodontist, the suggestion was made that
we try Crest Toothpaste instead of the Colgate we had been using
forever. Guess what? No more cold sores. Go figure. So, I would suggest
looking at your toothpaste. More important, ask your dentist or doctor
for advice.
anon
My daughter had as many as 3 cold sores in her mouth and we saw her
pediatrician about it. There was a huge cold sore on her tongue and she
wouldn't eat much either and it looked like it hurt so bad.
Unfortunately, there's nothing much I was told that you can do to get
the cold sores to go away. They take about a week's time. But the
pediatrician did recommend an over the counter product called, ''Gly
Oxide'' which you can use as many times a day to help keep the sores and
the mouth area clean. I think it helped ease the pain a bit and my
daughter loved it so much that she would ask for it. It would break my
heart too to see my daughter not eat for so long and one thing that she
did take was soup that was taken with a straw. Hope this helps a bit.
anon
There is a chance that your daughter may have hand, foot and mouth
disease, which starts off with sores in the mouth and then eventually
the hands and feet. In any case, you should take her to a doctor for
diagnosis instead of second guessing what could be wrong. If she
develops a high fever, then it is definitely hand foot mouth disease.
There was an outbreak of this recently at my son's daycare, and
according to the literature they gave us, it's very contagious.
anon
At 18 months my son had his entire mouth covered in horrible cold sores
(herpes infection I believe). He would try to eat and fall to the floor
in pain, roll around on the floor with his eyes rolled back in his head
screaming. He was losing weight and becoming dehydrated. He had a fever
and everything and the doctor perscribed some medication (which I ended
up never using). I went straight to the pharmacy and while standing in
line (for 1/2 an hour) with my son screaming and crying I happened to
bend down to pick him up right in front of the children's chloroseptic
(throat spray). He was only 18 months old, but at that point I was
desperate and the front of the line was still very far away. I grabbed
the bottle off the shelf and sprayed his mouth (which was wide open). It
gave him immediate relief. I mean immediate. He sighed with relief,
drank from his bottle and fell asleep. I took that bottle home with me
and used it liberally. He was able to eat, drink and sleep OK after that
and though it was still rough we got through it. I had no problem
getting him to open his mouth, usually I knew he needed it because he'd
come running to me with his mout wide open already. I've used that for
cold sores ever since because for years after he got them very often.
feeling their pain
How coincidental to read your msg-- we just went thru the same thing
with my 5yo daughter-- a canker sore on the tip of her tongue which hurt
her so much it woke her up at night. She too complained that it hurt to
eat. I tried an oral topical treatment that was supposed to numb the
pain and she screamed and said it was worse. So we just endured it.
She did suck on a few ice cubes/popsicles which were temporarily
helpful, but overall we just had to wait until the pain subsided (about
2 days). I plan on talking to our pediatrician about it to get better
ideas the next time we're there. Good luck.
anon
Nov 2004
Does anyone have information/experience with Hand, Foot, Mouth
Disease? I'm told its been passing through some local parks and
my child's friend has it.
Thank you.
My 2-year old just suffered through this - he caught it at his
daycare (contagious via saliva, poop, blister-on-blister). The
first symptom was discomfort in his mouth and a lot of drooling;
at first, we though his molars were coming in. Then he said it
was his tongue, and after looking in his mouth, I saw he had one
little sore on one side, We thought he'd bitten his tongue. He
got increasingly cranky and fussy about eating. The next day I
picked him up early from school and had him lean back to look in
his mouth. He now had a 2nd sore on his tongue and tiny red
bumps along the back roof of his mouth. I bullied my way into
the doctor's office where they confirmed it was a virus
(although the Dr. didn't call it H/F/M). Since it's a virus, you
can't get an anti-biotic, but he did prescribe a Benadryl-based
medicine that you use to ''coat'' the mouth (tricky with a 2-year
old - but we established a ritual whereby he leaned back and I
used one of those 'hypodermic needle'-style medicine dispensers
to get it all over the nooks & crannies in his mouth.) NOTE: I
had to go to 3 pharmacies to get this presription filled - it is
a compound mix (?) and apparently most neighborhood pharmacies
don't have the capability on-site to mix.
Anyways, long story long, the next 3 days were painful indeed,
as our son did not want to put anything in his mouth. However,
he quickly became a fan of popsicles, and we were able to get
him to eat smoothies, yogurt, ice cream and even a little
babyfood. It's really important to make sure they stay hydrated,
and we successfully positioned water with ice cubes as a way of
releiving the pain in his mouth. Sleeping was very difficult as
he'd wake himself up constantly when swallowing (I guess) so I
camped out next to his bed for two nights to offer comfort.
The mouth healed within 3 days; he only got a few little bumps
on fingers/toes/butt.
Coincidentally, I have had this same virus twice within the last
year, without him catching it (our nanny had it once too).
Having suffered through it, I can really appreciate how painful
it is for our babies. One of my symptoms - fingernails peeling
off - luckily didn't materialize for my son, but is another
thing to keep an eye out for.
anon
My son had hand, foot, and mouth disease when he was 2. It's a nasty
viral illness, but not particularly dangerous -- it results in painful blisters
in the mouth and/or rash on the hands and feet, also possibly in the
diaper area. Basically, my son didn't eat for three or four days because
his mouth was so sore, and he cried a lot. Then he got better, and I
believe once children have it, they develop immunity.
I'm not sure what you mean by ''passing through local parks;'' certainly it
is contagious, and when kids have it and come in contact with other
kids, they pass it on. I believe for some reason it tends to be most
prevalent in the fall.
Karen
hand foot and mouth disease is a very contagious virus that is
pretty minor and self-limiting (it goes away on its own). red
itchy bumps appear on hands, feet and inside the mouth. my
nieces had it recently and they said the bumps felt tingly and a
little numb though I think this is not a common reaction.
Pediatricians don't generally keep kids home from school or
other activities and only treat it symptomatically - benadryl
for the itching if it becomes too annoying.
anon
Google ''coxsackie virus'' and you'll find loads of information.
It is quite common around here in the fall, ranges from quite
mild to very painful (it led my two-year-old to wean when his
mouth was too sore to suck). It is viral, but there are several
strains, so having it once doesn't guarantee your child won't get
another strain some other time. Other than possible dehydration
(from reluctance to drink), I don't think there are any major
risks associated with it - it can lead to a very cranky child,
though!
RK
here's a link to the CDC website on hand, foot and mouth
disease.
http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/dvrd/hfmd.htm
anon
My oldest son had hand, foot and mouth disease when he was 5
months old. From what I understand, this is a fairly common
viral illness - especially for children in childcare. He ran a
fever for a few days and then had a blistery rash on the palms
of his hands, soles of his feet and in his mouth. It passed
within a week or so. In the meantime, he was fussy while eating
(the sores in his mouth hurt and caused him to drool quite a
bit). I gave him tylenol to deal with the fever and pain.
When my son caught it, it was the first time he had been sick,
so I was pretty shaken up (and the name sounds menacing). From
what I understand, though, once a child has caught it, they
build an immunity and won't catch it again.
Jennifer
My 11-month-old son got hand, foot and mouth disease this fall--
a common time to contract it. He was fussy, a little feverish,
and he didn't want to eat. Our pediatrician diagnosed him
immediately (spots at the back of his mouth, nothing on his
hands or feet) and recommended children's Tylenol or ibuprofen
to relieve his mouth pain and make it more comfortable to
eat/drink. The whole thing cleared up in less than a week.
Anon
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