Rosie is now almost 13 weeks into glandular fever and although in some ways she seems so much better, she is still not right yet.  Although the major symptoms like her swollen neck, sore throat and fever have all disappeared completely, she is mostly struggling with terrible fatigue. As well as being unbelievably tired, she suffers from achy muscles/ joints and daily headaches, apparently all quite typical of glandular fever.

Seeing your child so unwell and low is heartbreaking, so I have been doing everything I can think of at home to get her back to her usual self. That is her normal seven year self, the one that dances in the kitchen and does cartwheels in the living room. The one that smiles and giggles non stop and plays happily with her friends and sisters. We haven’t seen that girl for a while now:

Here’s what we have been doing at home:

Start the day with Weetabix on the Go Kids
Rosie is currently doing half days at school and on some days it has been a real struggle to get her up and out of bed. She has definitely not wanted to eat anything first thing so I have been giving her these Weetabix on The Go Kids drinks to start her off. To be honest she’s been having them in bed allowing her to wake and get up slowly. They are not the sort of thing I would usually give my girls for breakfast but they really seem to have helped her. I am going to keep giving them to her until she’s better.

Eating as healthily as possible
I have of course been trying to fill Rosie with as many nutritious foods I can but it hasn’t always been easy when she has little or no appetite. I have mainly been giving her small (tiny) portions at every meal so as not to put her off.  She will always ask for more on her good days.

Drink Innocent Super Smoothies
Rosie mostly drinks water so isn’t a huge fan of juices. However, she has found these innocent super smoothies delicious. They look, smell and taste gorgeous and we both feel as though they are filling her up with the good stuff. She loves the green one which has to be good for her right?

Eat healthy snacks like fruit, vegetables and Graze nuts and seeds
Rosie already eats lots of fruit, vegetables and enjoys nuts and seeds. She spotted the Graze packs in the supermarket recently and has tried several different ones, enjoying the new flavours. I’m trying to make sure she gets a real mix of the good stuff rather than too many less healthy/ sugary snacks.

Fill her with vitamins and minerals
All the girls have a daily multi vitamin tablet and often have those Actimel yogurt drinks. However, we have also added Feroglobin into her diet. Rosie has been taking this since about week three.

Sticking to a routine
As I mentioned before, Rosie is currently getting up and going to school for the mornings. It hasn’t always been easy getting her up but we are trying to keep her in a routine. In the afternoons she’s been resting. On her worst days she sleeps or has a lie down with a book. On the better ones she might just have a bath and then rest with a book or in front of the TV.

Work with the school
We have been keeping the  the school up to date with her progress and Drs appointments and working with them to keep her in school. Her return to school started slowly with afternoons and since then she has done mornings. After half term she will be staying to lunch and then we will assess it from there. That is still over three weeks away so fingers crossed she is feeling much better and more like her old self by then. She has struggled with concentration and the noise of the playground but is doing pretty well.

Getting her checked at regularly at the surgery
Rosie has seen the Gp every few weeks to monitor her progress. Last week they also contacted a Paediatrician to just make sure they are not missing anything. The consultant told them that they were not surprised she still wasn’t right 12 weeks later, that Glandular fever can be completely debilitating. Basically she is recovering just very slowly. They did suggest we have her eyes checked just to make sure the headaches are definitely part of the fatigue. We did this and eyes are perfect.

Add bath salts to her bath
We’ve been adding Dr Salts 100% Dead Sea bah salts to her daily baths. Apparently they soothe aches and pains, aid detoxification and rebalances skin aswell as improving mood. Rosie has spent a lot of time in the bath during this illness. At one point she was having several day to ease her tummy pains. Thankfully, they have settled along with her glands but baths help to relax her and ease her achy muscles.

Give her some control back in her life
Rosie has been feeling so out of control lately so I have brought her a 4head stick to rub on her head whenever she has a headache and I’ve also given her a book to record how she feels each day and her mood. I am hoping she will see that there are more good days than bad days soon. These are only little things but they have really helped her.

Positive thinking and reassurance
A few weeks ago Rosie was starting to really get down, worried she was never going to get better again. I have tried really hard to make sure that she understands that she will not feel like this for ever and that she will get better. I think she does believe this now and her mood has definitely improved.

Reduce her medication
There is no magic pill or medicine that you can take for glandular fever. It is basically rest your body needs. We have been using Calpol and Nurofen to help relieve symptoms for the past twelve weeks. We did wonder whether use for this long could be making the headaches worse or causing rebound headaches but the the Gps/Consultant don’t seem to think so. It’s a tricky one, medicine helps to relieve the symptoms but too much can cause headaches. We are therefore trying to reduce her intake and are only giving it to her on the days when she really needs and asks for it.

I’m not really sure whether any of this is helping or not as she isn’t better yet but she is better than she was a few weeks ago.  Thirteen weeks is a long time to be poorly so fingers crossed she bounces back to her usual self soon.

Watch this space.

Karen x