Help with calming down child for a throat culture

[Anonymous]

My daughter had a bad experience having a strep throat culture when she was three (she moved and the throat swab went back too far resulting inher throwing up). Since then she has been terrified of having another one. Luckily she really hasn't needed one till now. But now she does and is so afraid that we ended up walking out of the drs tonight rather than getting it done. Any suggestions for getting her to calm down enough tomget the culture done?

[Anonymous]

Hold her arms. It takes two seconds.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Hold her arms. It takes two seconds.

This. She needs to man up.

[Anonymous]

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

[Anonymous]

My DD is like this too. It been really bad. Sometimes bribery calms her down for a bit, but not always.

[Anonymous]

My son is like this with the dentist. There is really no way to calm him down, I have tried everything. We have to resort to force, there is no other way to get the appointments done, and we have to do them.

[Anonymous]

I spent a year passing strep throat back and forth with my sister for a year and a half before the drs told my parents "pick a kid to have their tonsils out; that's the only way to stop this."

I hated the throat cultures and absolutely cried about it. I had to sit on my moms lap and she would hold my arms against my sides. She would always say "If you want me to not hold your head still you have to hold it still yourself." The nurses always went fast and I always coughed afterwards, and then got a toy or sticker from the basket.

Tell your daughter she has to do this for her health. Throwing a fit is unacceptable. You want to cry? Sure. But you suck it up and do what you need to.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Hold her arms. It takes two seconds.

This. She needs to man up.

Girl up?

[Anonymous]

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.

[Anonymous]

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.

[Anonymous]

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.

[Anonymous]

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...

[Anonymous]

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.

[Anonymous]

OP my youngest hates them too and he's 6yo. He's had two this winter (strep both times) and both times I held him in my lap with my arms around him preventing him from rebelling. He had to have a lot of shots and tests when he was younger and it was the only thing that worked. I have to say now, he is far less agonized about it. But there's no way on earth that he'd go for practicing like the PP suggests. Do what works for you but a tight hug for 20 seconds isn't really all that traumatizing. Some kids are just never going to want to have this kind of test done.

[Anonymous]

She'll just blame you for letting someone else hold her down.
We should be sympathetic to our children's fears but we can over confirm them.
practicing with a swab is nice but you really don't have time for that and most good doctors will not prescribe antibiotics without a positive strep test.
Strep throat is serious if it goes untreated the results could be far worse than a swab.

Talk to her about it. Tell her it has to be done. Give her the choice of maybe sitting in your lap while it is done. You can cry and comfort her after.