Help with calming down child for a throat culture

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If I was your doctor and you wasted my time that way I'd be dropping you as a patient.

Thankfully, pediatricians are understanding and kind. op doesn't need to worry about getting dropped.

Not all pediatricians are understanding and kind.

And many are lazy idiots.

[Anonymous]

In the middle of a massive panic, your child is not going to be reasonable so you are just going to have to get her through the situation quickly and safely. Nothing will be gained, *for anyone* by prolonging the time it takes to get the culture done while my child gets herself more and more worked up and the doctor/nurse gets more and more behind and siblings get more and more impatient and I get more stressed and upset from seeing my child in such a state of true distress.

For all that we usually prep beforehand, often it does not work in the moment and usually I find that for most things medical the best of all bad choices is to simply restrain a panicking young child and get whatever it is over with.

Depending on my child's level of distress I do this one of two ways. If I catch it early enough that the child is somewhat compliant I usually just hold her in my arms relatively loosely, usually sideways because that's how they both prefer to sit, and whisper something soothing.

If it's to the point of complete hysteria or a near panic attack (usually older DD before blood work) I end up with her on my lap and me holding her in almost a harness style hold with my arms lightly crossed over her chest and a hand on each of her shoulders giving a gentle circular shoulder "massage" as an alternate sensation to distract her. At this point I also have to either be constantly talking to her as a distraction -- usually in our second language -- or I will share my headphones with her and put on one of 2 or 3 specific songs from my iPod. It looks somewhat odd and maybe even harsh, but it's predictable and soothing to her (again, usually DD1, it works with DD2 but she's only needed it once) and gets us through necessary but unpleasant medical procedures regularly.

For a rare or occasional medical thing just holding the child in your arms should do it; if this seems to be becoming a regular issue maybe develop some sort of calming ritual and/or words you can say to help your child feel safe even when scared during procedures. We're to the point now where DD automatically asks me to hold her whichever way she thinks she will need for certain procedures or appointments.

[Anonymous]

As a child and teen I used to have to get throat cultures several times a year, I was always getting bad sore throats with puss all over my tonsils. Interestingly I never once had strep. I hated the throat cultures and developed a phobia about them, which I still have.

As a young adult I still got these sore throats until I was about 22. I could not deal with the throat cultures. I used to pull the swab back out inadvertently because I would gag so much. What I started doing to help me get through the throat cultures was to get some of the cholorseptic throat numbing spray and spray it into my throat before the throat culture. Then I wouldn't gag. It seemed to work great to solve my problem. Now I'm not sure if there is anything in the chloroseptic that could cause the strep test to be invalidated. I would ask about that, but if not it might be worth trying. Another thought is to suck on ice cubes before the culture so that would numb the throat somewhat, maybe it would dull the gag reflex a bit and make it more tolerable.

Good luck. Throat cultures are horrible.

[Anonymous]

Tell her it has to be done so the doctor and you can figure out a way to help her throat feel better.
Let her know it gets done faster if she is still.
If she really has strep another day or 2 she will be begging for a culture or anything to help her stop feeling so completely terrible.

Have her sit on her hands while in her lap. You can bear hug her tightly.

[Anonymous]

I just had to comment in this post...I was taking my 12 year old for a culture, she, too has had bad experiences in the past and really needed to overcome the fear. I read the responses and was laughing so hard, the pediatrician asked what was so funny. 'Man up', I told her...'or maybe you want to drop us as patients'? To which tears were rolling down our eyes with laughter. I surely hope those comments were made to give us some lightness and not sincere cold hearted advice...obviously from childless responders.

Well, after the laughter cleared, my daughter remained petrified of this swab stick about to go in her throat. The doctor recommended she do it on herself, or me, to show it wasn't so bad. My daughter slyly looked at both of us, wiped her tears, smiled and pointed to me...oh no..I am not fond of getting things shoved down my throat, but I better man up, for the sake of my girl. It really wasn't bad, yet still she was afraid. We finally calmed her down, the doctor was so patient (an attribute I appreciate in my pediatric group) and it was done. Outcome.. negative result in the culture with a positive in overcoming fear of throat cultures...for now.

Have patience, hold them gently and ignore the advice of not soothing your, or any child, we see in emotional pain. As in life, don't compare your life to others, you have no idea what their journey is all about.

[Anonymous]

My ped doesn't even make a big deal out of it. Grabs the swab, turns around and squeezes DD's cheeks and does the swab really quick. She doesn't even have time to process it before he's done.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Thanks 11:12 for the helpful suggestions. I don't intend to hold her down or tell her to "manup". She is 5 and scared, and needs help to work through the fear and not make it worse.

My 4-year-old is also terrified of the swab after having strep multiples times in the spring. It was to the point that he talked about "the plastic thing" constantly and told me how he didn't want it ever again. Then comes this fall when I think he has strep and we have to go to the doctor. It was pretty awful because I had to carry him into the office screaming and he continued through the exam and while we waited. It was embarrassing and I felt terrible for him but there was no calming him down. And then I held his arms while they swabbed him. I know you don't want to but isn't a few seconds of your daughter being angry at you better than undiagnosed strep? I see it as our duty as parents to do what's best for our kids so if that means holding them down for an important lab test then so be it. My son cried for a few seconds after the fact and then immediately told me it wasn't bad at all and he was fine. It was very strange to see him go from hysterical to fine in such a short amount of time.

I'm afraid that counting on your daughter to work through the fear may not be viable. At least not while you're sitting in the office with the nurse in front of you ready to swab.

[Anonymous]

Just ask for the antibiotic. I mean if your kid has had strep before and you are reasonably certain that's what it is - meh, take e medication.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I am an adult and I absolutely hate throat cultures.

I can do shots left and right. Blood work everyday.

However, I despise getting my throat swabbed and as a 24-year-old woman it still sends me into a panic.

I have a horrible gag reflex and pretty severe emetophobia (fear of vomit). I remember being very sick at about age 8, and having little to no energy. Completely flipped out when I had to get a throat culture and when I ended up needing an antibiotic vaccine they had all these nurses come in to hold me down and I was fine.

It is a fear, you have to respect that she's not going to be reasonable if it sends her into a panic. It's important to sympathize.

It's necessary, and it sucks. Best thing to do is tell her it only takes a few seconds, and that she probably won't throw up. If she does it's ok. Give her something to look forward to afterwards.

I still have to fight back tears when I get mine done.

Last time I needed to get a throat culture, the nurse let me do it myself while she watched. I have no problem with the throat culture, just the lack of control (sort of like how brushing your own hair doesn't hurt as much as when someone else brushes your hair). I am going to ask to do it myself from now on.

[Anonymous]

What about trying some ice/ice cream to numb the throat beforehand? I used to do that and it helped a lot, less of the gag reflex. I hate throat cultures too.

[Anonymous]

I hate swabs

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Unless there is no other solution I find holding children down is one of the worst things you can do. Your daughters fear is legitimate. She has had a traumatic experience that was very real and now fears it will happen again. The solution is practice. And getting her involved. She needs to work through the traumatic experience before she can experience the same thing again without the fear involved. That's how trauma therapy works.

Start with little steps. For example: She gets a q-tip and practices putting it in her mouth. Swipe the insides of her cheeks. Swipe the teeth. Talk about it, take her fear seriously but also explain why these things need to be done. First swipe front teeth, then back teeth. Tongue. Roof of mouth. First in the front then further back. Always on her terms. Teach her how to hold super still even when she gets scared. Have her swab your mouth. Swab your own throat, showing her how to do it right. Explain that the weird feeling is normal, coughing is normal, even throwing up when it goes in too far is normal. Explain she won't throw up if she doesn't move and it doesn't go in too far.

There are a lot of little practice exercises she can do with you to prepare her for the actual appointment. If the appointment HAS TO happen right now and there is no time for practice take her and have SOMEONE ELSE hold her down. You do not want her to associate you with being held down. A member of staff needs to hold her. You are in front of her and hold her hand, talk to her, calming etc. Don't be the one holding her down forcefully...

This is the best response op. If you can’t do this now since she’s sick now, you could still do some practicing and exposure tomorrow before you try again and at the very least start doing this after this before the situations arises again. This is actually what a therapist would help you do to walk through a fear like this

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If I was your doctor and you wasted my time that way I'd be dropping you as a patient.

Thankfully, pediatricians are understanding and kind. op doesn't need to worry about getting dropped.

Not all pediatricians are understanding and kind.

They are absolutely not, some of them really don't seem to like children very much

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I just had to comment in this post...I was taking my 12 year old for a culture, she, too has had bad experiences in the past and really needed to overcome the fear. I read the responses and was laughing so hard, the pediatrician asked what was so funny. 'Man up', I told her...'or maybe you want to drop us as patients'? To which tears were rolling down our eyes with laughter. I surely hope those comments were made to give us some lightness and not sincere cold hearted advice...obviously from childless responders.

Well, after the laughter cleared, my daughter remained petrified of this swab stick about to go in her throat. The doctor recommended she do it on herself, or me, to show it wasn't so bad. My daughter slyly looked at both of us, wiped her tears, smiled and pointed to me...oh no..I am not fond of getting things shoved down my throat, but I better man up, for the sake of my girl. It really wasn't bad, yet still she was afraid. We finally calmed her down, the doctor was so patient (an attribute I appreciate in my pediatric group) and it was done. Outcome.. negative result in the culture with a positive in overcoming fear of throat cultures...for now.

Have patience, hold them gently and ignore the advice of not soothing your, or any child, we see in emotional pain. As in life, don't compare your life to others, you have no idea what their journey is all about.

Lollll oh my gosh this is SO funny ..and also didn't happen.