9 Year Old With Cough, Sore Throat, Headache, Fever. Taking Motrin. Remedy?

Posted on Sun, 1 Jan 2012

Medically reviewed by Ask A Doctor - 24x7 Medical Review Team

Sun, 1 Jan 2012 Answered on

Thu, 21 Jun 2012 Last reviewed on

Question : My 9 year old son has a cough, sore throat, headache, chills, dizziness and fever of 103 to 104. I gave him Motrin over an hour ago but the fever is still high. This all started earlier today but earlier, his fever came down with Motrin.

Answered by Dr. Naveen (-4 hours later)

Hi

Thanks for the query.

All the above features mentioned by you such as cough, sore throat, headache, chills, dizziness and fever are of Pharyngitis.

Usually the upper respiratory tract infection is of viral in origin, and subsides within 3-4 days.

Your child would require symptomatic medicines such as paracetamol 3-4 times a day to reduce fever, throat pain and headache and povidone iodine gargles 3-4 times a day after food, to reduce the sore throat. Cough is usually due to the congested pharyngeal wall which will irritate the throat and induce cough. And, this will subside once the sore throat is relieved.

Also, encourage your child to drink plenty of warm water and warm liquids to keep him hydrated. If the above symptoms do not subside within 3-4 days, he will have to start on good antibiotics after consulting a pediatrician or an ENT specialist.

Hope I have answered your query; I will be available for the follow-up queries.

Regards
Dr. Naveen Kumar N.
ENT and Head & Neck Surgeon

Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Jyoti Patil