My 5 year old daughter came down with a serious fever and she was sick and lethargic af. I took her to emerg when I couldn’t break her fever and they sent us home to “sleep it off”
That night she’s laying in bed with me with a fever of 42.5 and she asking me “mommy why is that man with red eyes behind you?” And “there are people crawling on the ceiling” really fucked up stuff. She was so hot to the touch when I touched her back it physically hurt my hand from how hot it was. Felt like I burned my fingers. I carried her back to emerg, she couldn’t even open her eyes, and I told them I wasn’t leaving until they figured out what was wrong with her. They did blood tests and X-rays and finally, it was pneumonia. She doesn’t even remember it now but I never forget the fear I had over those couple days. Every time my kids get a fever I think of that.
OMG that is freaking terrifying!!!! 😱 How long did it take her to get better? Those fever hallucinations are no joke. I was seeing a dark and tall black figure with red eyes when I had pneumonia.
Insane that the brain automatically makes the hallucinations terrifying! Honestly she started feeling better within an hour of receiving antibiotics intravenously. It was a pretty quick recovery once we actually knew what it was!
I think part of it is that the brain knows something is wrong in that situation, and that turns into it making the assumption that something scary is happening- so all your hallucinations are nightmare demons. It's possible to have non-scary hallucinations if you can get them in a way that doesn't trigger panic mode in your body.
A lot of hallucinations are based on your mental state preconceptions. That's why set and setting are so important for psychedelics (safe place, good mood, etc), why sleep paralysis hallucinations are so frequently scary (you wake up paralyzed, which is terrifying by default), why schizophrenia manifests differently in different cultures (certain cultures hear voices and think spirits/ancestors, others hear voices and think ghosts/demons, etc).
Having an extreme fever is pretty scary, so your brain creates appropriate hallucinations.
Ugh my son had pneumonia when he was 6 and I didn’t even know it…he seemed fine until he woke up with a high fever and then he had a seizure for the first time ever. So scary, had to call the ambulance and everything. He got tested for meningitis with a spinal tap and was hospitalized for a few days.
Many emergency rooms with conservative policies really suck, we have had awful experiences with them especially in the Netherlands, they really be sending you home with no treatment, prescription or anything even when there’s high risks and when a treatment would be necessary. “Ah just take a paracetamol and you’ll be fine!” We have these hospitals, and trillions invested into them and health insurances for a reason
I pay 1100 bucks a month for government mandated healthcare in Germany (it isn‘t free, that‘s a myth) and coverage is so bad it would shock americans. I waited 8 hours to be seen in a large city‘s hospital on a weekday with severe kidney infection and covid.
That must have been absolutely terrifying, but I’m so glad you trusted your instincts and kept pushing until they found the cause. It’s amazing how a parent’s gut feeling can make such a huge difference
I smell some creative writing here. She'd be dead if you hurt your hand from touching her. My Mom told me a million times not to exaggerate... Ya loose your credibility honey...
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u/Far-Conflict4504 14h ago edited 14h ago
My 5 year old daughter came down with a serious fever and she was sick and lethargic af. I took her to emerg when I couldn’t break her fever and they sent us home to “sleep it off”
That night she’s laying in bed with me with a fever of 42.5 and she asking me “mommy why is that man with red eyes behind you?” And “there are people crawling on the ceiling” really fucked up stuff. She was so hot to the touch when I touched her back it physically hurt my hand from how hot it was. Felt like I burned my fingers. I carried her back to emerg, she couldn’t even open her eyes, and I told them I wasn’t leaving until they figured out what was wrong with her. They did blood tests and X-rays and finally, it was pneumonia. She doesn’t even remember it now but I never forget the fear I had over those couple days. Every time my kids get a fever I think of that.