Tuesday, April 24, 2012

HFMD: Hand Foot Mouth Disease

18th April: Somehow my daughter have this type of small red lesions since she come back from her kindergarden. After some careful examination of her hand, legs, and mouth, i had an uneasy feeling that she might get what we call HFMD, Hand Foot Mouth Disease. Coupled with slight fever on the same night and she started complying of pain during meals, HFMD is confirmed.

19 April: Then the nightmares start for both of me and my wife. Big ulcers start developing on her lips, sidewalls, and tongue and she were not able to eat or drink. Constantly crying day and night asking for pity and love causing me to feel so sorry for her.


Due to her intolerance of pain, she refused to take anything even a sip of water. I had to buy a lot of vitagens, ice creams, and other cold drinks. Still we are having a hard time to persuade her to drink any. There were time when i had to force the drink down her throat because she is dehydrated.

20th April: On the third day, she was able to drink vitagens on her own sucking from the side of her mouth, not to touch the ulcers located in the middle, but still the pain is unbearable. Everyone in the family too felt the pain and asking me to do something, or bring her to see a doctor. Being a pharmacist myself i had all the best medicine for her but still cannot do much on the ulcer as it had to run its own course in between 5-7 days. I even come to tears seeing her crying at night saying "very pain very pain". 

The boy consoling her sister.
If you think it is already the worse day of your life, it can be real "fcuking" bad. Due to their closeness, the boy got infected as well. Then the hell break loose.

21 April: Two of them crying at the same time all the time.  After persuaded by our parents, i finally agreed to bring them for a checkup in Klinik Kesihatan Teluk Intan. But my main purpose bringing them there is not for a checkup but for more for the case reporting, so the pegawai kesihatan will go to her kindergarden to disinfect and check on other children.We sincerely hope that no child will ever has to go through what my children experiencing at the moment.

As i expected, we were asked to stay at home for quarantine until they recover. We were dispensed paracetamol syrup for fever and glycerin paste for their ulcers. We still take the dispensed medicine although we had better nurofen syrup, bonjela and lignocaine gel at home. Hey, we pay RM 1 for the checkup what!

We have some sleepless night straight until today because we need to console them and carrying them around hoping to take their mind away from the pain.


24th April: Today is the sixth day of her HFMD, and she is on her recovering way. The younger boy is also recovering well and we are so glad he is able to start eating soft food.

My only mistake here is i didn't quarantine her until it is too late. But come to think of it, how do i able to separate them? Both of them constantly need my wife. They would not sleep unless my wife is beside them.

The only consolation here is now they will have the immunity to this specific HFMD strain of virus. At least less one worry in the future, although there are few more type of HFMD virus strain.

Ask the pharmacist aka Zombie due to sleepless night
1) Always consult your healthcare professional if you are unsure. Do not self medicate on your own.
2) Watch and monitor them for any signs of dehydration owing to decreased food and water intake secondary to their mouth pain. Go to pharmacy and talk to your pharmacist for better medications.
3) Google for more information on HFMD if u need. Any type of emotional support and educational support will be needed.
4) Seek hospital attention if they vomit, not passing urine for the past 6 hours, disorientated, and constantly sleepy.