Ask any medical student, intern or resident: “where is the place where you get sick most often” and you’ll be told “the hospital.”
The problem is that the relationship also holds for “adults” with “work” and “children” with “school.” That’s because (more…)
A child’s “Job,” if you will, is school. Lot’s of time spent in school. Lot’s of fairly intimate exposures to other kids, some of whom possibly are “carrying.” (Viruses and bacteria – what did you think I meant?)
So, how does a parent prepare for Back to School? Are there any things you need to watch out for? The ol’ “Praemonitus, praemunitus” motto – “forewarned is forearmed” sort of thing. Get comfortable, this may take a bit.
5 Posts in "Back 2 School" Series
- Back to School: Intro/Index – 26 Sep 2013
This series could eventually become quite extensive as the years go by. We start out with at least 15 back-to-school diseases that are frequently seen. Then we throw in some psychological/emotional and administrative issues and eventually come back to take another look at those same issues almost 5 years laters - to see if anything has changed.
- Back 2 School 1: Tinea - Measles – 28 Sep 2013
The first post in the series about "back-to-school medical maladies" covering: head lice, ringworm, hand-foot-mouth disease, strep & scarlet fever, conjunctivitis, chidken pox and measles-the rubeola kind
- Back 2 School 2: Mumps - Flu – 4 Oct 2013
The second installment of what to watch out for sending children "back to school" this year (any year). Things like: Mumps, Fifth Disease, Impentigo, Scabies, Whooping Cough (Pertussis), Meningitis, sore throat and Flu. Many fairly easily prevented.
- 5 Back 2 School Issues – 26 Aug 2014
"Back to School" medical problems we once thought we had mastered, seem to be raising their ugly heads again prompting school and public health officials to issue immunization mandates; in addition, we discuss the topic "School Phobia."
- Refresh: 15 Back to school diseases – 16 Oct 2017
"Once more into the breech then"… So much has changed, and yet the issues still remain on the Back-To-School list. Here is an updated reprise of the same diseases covered four years ago; but, all in one post this time.
There are many childhood diseases which keep coming up in varied discussions. If you’d like to check into some PARENTING topics check out the series of guest posts by a colleague Dr. Greg Barrett- Real Pediatrics.
One afternoon next week you are aroused from the kitchen table, where you are sitting paying your bills, by some banging on your front room door. It is the neighbor boy who has come to tell you that your five-year-old son was just hit in the head with a rock and is crying.
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If other pediatricians are like I am, one of the most common topics they discuss on the phone is fever.
Callers sometimes simply state, “My baby has a fever” or “John has a fever of 103” or “Sally has a fever again; she needs some antibiotics,” – as if fever were the disease.
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A residency is basically two to five years in which a physician lives in the hospital.
In the case of a pediatrician, it is three years trying to learn the sum total of the current knowledge about children – and believe me that there’s enough and to spare.
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One of the most common questions I am asked is “can I take such and such medicine while I’m breast feeding?”
The concern, of course, is: does such and such medicine get into the breast milk and effect the baby when I breast feed?
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Concussions are when a child’s head gets knocked around and causes their brain to be bumped back and forth against the hard skull. It always causes at least some tissue damage but children’s bodies being what they are, doesn’t always produce noticeable effects, at least not immediately.
Here is a fairly large collection of posts about the why’s and wherefore’s of the topic, which is receiving a whole lot of interest from the research community, including explanations, examples and even videos.
11 Posts in "Childhood Concussion" Series
- Childhood Concussion Series: Intro/Index – 23 Jul 2013
This Childhood Concussion Series has grown into a fairly substantial number of posts, probably because there's a lot of interest in researching this topic, not to mention it's our kids, right? There's not only explanations but videos and examples too!
- More dangerous than we thought – 24 Jul 2013
This article begins a discussion about children's concussions and how new research shows that they are more dangerous than we have thought even just last year. We'll even give (and show) real-life examples.
- New guidelines for sports – 27 Jul 2013
Let's attempt to explain children's sport concussion injuries and the dilemmas around diagnosis, treatment and prevention. We'll be taking about the new concept of Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy as well as rules and regulations.
- Reading test a predictor of concussion – 30 May 2014
An interesting finding, if it pans out, is that simple tests (like reading) may be able to help diagnose childhood concussion and neurological impairment. That, of course, helps in treatment and rehabilitation.
- 10 scary issues – 18 Jun 2015
There are at least six scary issues about sports brain injuries and many of them involve player, coach, sponsor and even parent dishonesty, such as: denial, pressure to win, mis- or un-informed caregivers, legislation, return to play and repeat injuries (among others).
- Football and brain damage – 21 Aug 2015
This post attempts to explain football player's brains—well, as much as that is possible. Of course, that's in order to attempt to explain how they are injured and what happens when are. Sort of like an enigma wrapped in a mystery.
- 5 things to know – 12 Sep 2015
A concussion from a contact sport often leads to long term problems - many of which can be avoided if parents understood these five things before letting their children participate. Understanding these five things can help you make informed decisions about return-to-play after an injury.
- TBI, concussion and early nutrition – 28 Apr 2016
Here's an explanation of the "Cool Kids Brain Injury Nutrition Study" and the new things it has taught us about children who are injured playing sports receiving brain injuries.
- Video: Concussion 101 – 6 May 2016
This video is for kids and parents of kids who have had a concussion and explains in less than a few minutes the three important things to remember if you've had a concussion. It's when that awesome brain of yours gets bumped and thumped around a bit inside your skull and it's a lot more complicated than the doctors who took care of your grandpa or even your dad had any clue about.
- Video- concussion management – 30 May 2016
There is more new medical information about concussion, especially pediatric concussions, in the past 3 years than in the previous 10. We now know that it's much more complicated and substantial than we used to think and we're beginning to understand how better to treat children who've been injured. It's explained in this video.
- Helmits?! Do they prevent concussions? – 5 Apr 2017
What is a concussion? Probably not what you think it is. In this TED talk, David Camarillo (former football player now bioengineer) gives a lot of great information about concussions and how/why what we are doing to prevent them is letting us down. It's apparent that our safety standards bodies are also inadequate and are actually preventing new protective innovations. Watch with interest, then I'll explain the one weakness of his talk I'm disappointed in.
If you’re interested in reading about other childhood sports injuries, you may like: Common sports fractures.
Last week I described the problem of enuresis (bed wetting) — how it is fairly common (10-20 percent of seven year olds) and how there are a large number of contributing factors.
I have recently become aware of the statistic that approximately 3 percent of marine corps inductees have wet the bed within a year prior to their induction.
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Some of you might be old enough to remember a movie on television called “The Loneliest Runner” starring Michael Landon about a famous runner who said that he “owed it all to his mother.”
What he said he owed his mother for was the motivation to become a world-renowned distance runner.
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Oh, for the days when you were sick and you simply stayed in bed. Now, just as we seem to do with everything else, we over-think it to the point of complete distraction. Keeping sick kids home. What about school commitments, work commitments, baby sitters, getting to the doctors, the other kids – home, work, school, Aggghhhh!
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A cough is a marvelous mechanism designed to protect the lower respiratory tract from inhalation of food or foreign matter.
It is also the prime mechanism for clearing secretions out of the lungs when the natural ciliary function is compromised by acute or chronic infections.
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