FMI - For mama's Information

Roseola: How to soothe a whining beast and how homeopathy works

After three days of off-and-on fever that never really got that high (Natasha would not let me take her temperature, so I can't specify how high), some trouble sleeping and some crankiness, a rash appeared on Natasha's neck. I noticed it that morning in the bath and within an hour it had spread down to her back and chest. In another hour there were spots on her face and forehead. The fever did not return, but the rash was something we had not seen before. I decided to call our friend, who is a doctor, and ask if he would see her.
 
I started to describe the last three days, and found out that I was giving the textbook description of roseola, which is caused by two viruses that are in the family of herpes viruses. There was nothing for us to do but wait it out and give Natasha Tylenol if the fever returned.
 
The third part of roseola that they forgot to mention in the BC Health Guide website is crankiness and whining. This was Natasha's biggest and unending symptom. She was having trouble sleeping, and after three nights of being up three times each night and starting the day at 4:15 or 4:30, Papa and I were in no shape to grant sympathy or understanding to our little unhappy, sick girl. Unfortunately, tempers were short when we should have been trying to soothe our little spotted girl.
 
The Tylenol did not seem to be working, or worked only sporadically. We are only supposed to give it to her every 6 hours, and she was having cranky attacks every half hour or so. I started giving her Calms Forte and Teething Tablets from Hylands, the two homeopathic remedies that we had in the house and that had worked for us before. I had also found another homeopathic brand called Schuessler Tissue Salts and their Kidz Minerals line. They have a Pain and Fever Ease tablet that is a homeopathic version of Tylenol. I tried that with mixed results, as with the acetaminophen.
 
On the 5th day of sleeplessness for us and increased crankiness from Natasha (or was it the same level of crankiness, just my tolerance dropping down another notch?), I called Julia Stolk, a Victoria midwife, in desperation asking for advice. She had nothing further to suggest but calling a naturopath office to ask for suggestions.
 
I was out of Calms, so we headed to The Vitamin Shop downtown. The clerk there was very helpful. She did not know much about roseola, but suggested Calms again and another Kidz Minerals tablet called Be Calm. I bought them both and an immune boosting tincture for kids that she recommended to give Natasha's whole system a boost. As soon as we were on the bus, I was tearing into the Be Calm and Calms. I gave them both to her and the Pain and Fever Ease that I had brought with us. And it worked.
 
I had asked at the Vitamin Shop about the dosage on the homeopathic bottle. It says to give her one table 4 times a day or one tablet every half hour when symptoms appear until they subside. I asked how both could be true of the same medicine. She explained how homeopathic remedies work: increasing dosage does not increase potency but increasing frequency of small doses does (N could take the whole bottle at once and it would be no more potent than one tablet - it is totally safe). So having the same dose often and close together keeps the efficacy high.
 
The safety of giving these four remedies to Natasha as often as I could kept us both happy - well, happier. I was also taking two or three of the calming tablets whenever I gave Natasha her single tablet - boy, did I need it by the sixth and finally day! I think it worked for me too, though I was still pretty snappy after no sleep (even nap times were hard to get her to sleep and stay asleep).
 
The other thing that helped calm and soothe her was a bath. We had two baths a day for about four days. And she wanted constantly to nurse. She would be on there for 15 minutes, then would be fine and in good spirits for half an hour, then want back on again, whining the whole time. I had to say no and try desperately to distract her for the sake of my own sanity and comfort. I ended up with a huge blister on my right nipple from her being on there so much and every time she latched on to that side it hurt like crazy. I thought I was being pretty fair in drawing the line at 30 minutes out of every 60 that she was awake, but you'd think I was being evil to hear her side of the story (which would be told in a series of whines).
 
As Julia, our midwife, put it, "they are so reactive" when they are sick. When we are not feeling well, we know why we are feeling the way we are, we know that we are sick and that it will not last and we have developed the ability to suffer through it in silence (more or less). What we really feel like doing is whining or complaining when it is really bad, but we deal with it. At 1 ½, a toddler does not know how to "just deal with it," so she deals with it the only way she knows how and the only way she can. She releases her feelings through her body, in this case whining.
 
So if any of this sounds familiar or is something in the future reminds you of this, just be aware that there is a lot of grinning and bearing it and "waiting it out" to do before it gets better. The virus is pretty much harmless, though, and you just have to keep an eye on temperature and see your doctor if a fever returns once the rash appears.

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