Potatoes and Fever

For over a week now we have been struggling with Isabela's flu symptoms: cough, little appetite, runny nose, stuffy nose and fever of 101 to 103. But it could also be she is teething. We have been giving her Motrin every 8 hours until we found that Croatia does indeed have Tylenol except it is called Lupocet.And so we are alternating every 4 hours. After a third visit to the pediatrician a blood test was finally done and confirmed no bacteria infection and therefore no need for antibiotics.

We have been doing every trick in the book to have her eat and drink. She had chicken soup with a medicine dropper another time I disguised the motrin with applesauce then yogurt and we have every type of cup available:sippy cup, lid with straw, lid with no straw and a regular bottle.

I won't deny I am feeling quite frustrated with the health care system. Yes it is free and should not complain. But I am starting to see a trend here. Pediatricians are not very fond of "prevention". I asked a second opinion about the seasonal flu shot, the same flu shot that USA advocates giving at age of 6 months and so on. Here in Croatia the doctors see as a waste of time, an unnecessary poke.

Home remedies are quite popular though. At this point I am willing to try anything, including my mother-in-law's advice about using potatoes for the fever. It won't hurt Isabela and why not try it right? Well try explaining to your 18-month old why she has to walk around with potatoes slices drenched in vinegar on the soles of her feet. At first she squirmed and kept saying "socke," her word for socks and then she was stomping around trying to dislodge the potato slices from her feet. It was funny at the time and somehow we managed to distract her from them and you know what? she forgot about them and ended up walking all afternoon with the potatoes on her feet! Did it help with the fever?? Hard to say with all the medications she was taking and that evening she still had a 101 fever. We tried putting a new batch of slices in the evening but this time she cried and refused we opted for a warm bath.

Hope we are on our way to recovery. Over all she remains her active self and that is reassuring. Do you have any home remedies you would like to share? Like I said, we are willing to try anything and everything.

Do we over medicate our children?

When Beli got sick a few weeks ago with a minor cold and was having a runny nose I thought I would run to the pharmacy and purchase Benadryl. I have a degree in pharmacy so I knew what I was talking about when I tried asking the pharmacist for an antihistamine. But in spite of hand charades as I pointed to MY nose and performed loud snorting noises....it was useless..we were literally Lost in translation..in return she sold me a natural cough syrup..all natural she said with limited english. "We don't sell antihistamines or any medication for such a young age." I very well know homeopathy is the same as sugar water. All right I accept that: No medicine for your child.

Do you remember when the FDA ordered all OTC cold and cough products to be removed from the shelves of pharmacies and grocery stores? and parents felt helpless? Yeah, does how I felt: helpless and lost in translation.

The following week it was time for Beli's last series of the DTaP vaccine and I thought might as well and also request the seasonal flu shot. Imagine my dismay when the pediatrician told my husband and I that "he does not recommend the flu shot because there are so many different strains that one don't even know for sure if the flu shot will even be effective, plus your daughter is healthy". While this is partially true, I still believe it is the right of the parent to request it. So you don't recommend the flu shot I repeated back, "No" he said, "plus I don't even stock it." By now I am biting my tongue as to not to say anything rude or disrespectful. That was his opinion, I had mine. He was a nice person but I won't be coming back to see him again.

That night or the next morning, Beli developed a minor rash on her body and where is the benadryl when you need it???She also had a mild fever throughout the night and we ran out of infant's tylenol (which I brought with me from the states). I asked hubby if he could go to the pharmacy and purchase another bottle of tylenol(I keep saying pharmacy because unlike America you can't go to the grocery store and purchase any sort of supplement or medicine, you have to go to the pharmacy.)

Do you want to know what he brought back? A bottle of children's motrin. Hubby said "I showed the pharmacist the bottle" but he said "we carry no such product here in Croatia". Really??? I am glad Beli has no problems tolerating motrin. Her rash is almost gone and fever has subsided. So does this mean that the pharmacist was right in not selling me any medication(benadryl)? That they knew that if we just waited out that her symptoms would resolve on their own?

And so I came to this conclusion, Europeans are a healthy bunch. They don't take medication for every symptom they experience. Instead they resort to home remedies and natural products. And this is a good thing. So I should accept this norm and stop harassing those poor pharmacists who are only doing their job.

But one thing is for sure, I am determined to get that Flu shot!