Author Archive
May 21, 10 | Posted by: David Melbye, M.D.
Hand, Foot and Mouth
We are seeing a lot of kids with “Hand, Foot and Mouth” disease right now. This is a viral illness caused by the Coxsackie virus. The symptoms are fever, painful red mouth blisters on the tongue and back of the throat and blisters on the hands and feet. Kids can get any combination of these symptoms. Some will only get the mouth sores, some will only get the blisters on the hands and feet and some will get both. The lucky ones only get the feet and hand blisters because those are typically only a temporary cosmetic issue and not painful. The mouth sores can be very painful and often times kids will not want to eat or drink. This illness is contagious and often spreads quickly through daycare and school. More »
Apr 20, 10 | Posted by: David Melbye, M.D.
Getting ready for summer
When we bought our house there was an old play set in the backyard that was not in the best condition. My wife wanted to get a new one last summer, but we held off and used some extra wood to brace it. It took a pretty good beating last winter, and there was no way it was going to make it through this summer. We were thinking about getting a rainbow system but I got “sticker shock” and decided I could build one myself. We went to Menard’s and bought a build-it-yourself set that was “easiest and fastest to build”. I should have known by the picture of the circular saw on the box that it really wasn’t going to be that easy. More »
Mar 10, 10 | Posted by: David Melbye, M.D.
What’s the deal with fevers?
Let me start by saying that babies under the age of 2 months are different than older kids. Any baby under the age of 2 months with a rectal temperature greater than 100.4 degrees should be evaluated urgently in a pediatric emergency department.
Having said that, kids over the age of 2 months are a different story. More »
Mar 5, 10 | Posted by: David Melbye, M.D.
Winter Blahs
Winter is starting to wear on me, and my family. I’m sure a lot of you are feeling the same way. The weather is starting to warm up a little so there is some hope that spring will eventually come. To break some of our cabin fever we went to the auto show last weekend. I know my kids are tired of our house because they kept making me get into cars and “drive” them to Florida, Georgia, Mexico or Africa. I have no idea who their travel agent is. When we were leaving one of them even tried to escape with another family who didn’t have their winter coats on. More »
Jan 15, 10 | Posted by: David Melbye, M.D.
What kind of thermometer should I use?
Everyone should have at least one thermometer in their house, the question is which kind? There is actually a pretty simple answer to this question, a digital electric thermometer. What about mercury, ear and temporal scan thermometers? Let’s go through those one by one.
I don’t think a lot of people have glass mercury thermometers anymore, but if you have one you should get rid of it because it can break and release hazardous amounts of mercury into the air. Remember how our parents thought it was cool to watch the mercury beads roll around in a bowl? Sometimes I wonder how any of us survived.
A lot of people have ear thermometers which if used correctly can be reasonably accurate. The problem is if your child’s ear canal isn’t perfectly straight, has any ear wax or if the sensor isn’t at the right angle with the ear drum because your kid is squirming around the reading will be incorrect. So they may be accurate according to the box, but in reality they are very rarely used correctly and do not give an accurate reading.
Temporal Scan thermometers are relatively new so their reliabilty has yet to be verified. According to the companies that make them, the major “benefit” of the temporal scan thermometer is that they are easy to use when your kid is asleep. My response to the would be why in the world would you check your kids temperature while they are sleeping? You should leave them alone and go to bed yourself.
So you should have 2 digital electric thermometers in your house, one labeled “rectal” to use on anyone 3 and under and one labeled “oral” to use for anyone 4 and older. You should wash your themometers with lukewarm soapy water or rubbing alcohol and rinse them with cool water in between uses. You should also make sure not to get them mixed up…
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