Today's guest columnist is Dr. Adam Giddings, a second-year resident in Family Practice at the LSU-University Health Center program here in Lafayette. Seeing your child with a nosebleed can be a very traumatic image. While it may…
I can still see my oldest daughter, 10 years-old then, with her forehead on the dinner table. She could not eat, her stomach hurt too bad. At that time she was having some school trouble, so my wife and I passed it off as…
It is no secret that doctor's offices and Emergency Departments are extremely busy these days. It is the "cold and flu" season, and RSV season, and that makes for a lot of sick kids. In other columns and blog entries, I have…
I took care of a teenager this past year who suffered from too many antibiotics. Her doctor originally thought she had a skin infection and put her on the first antibiotic course. The skin did not improve, so he put her on a…
Its happening a lot this time of year. Parents rush their kids into the Emergency Department- for fever. When I get to the bedside, mom is sick with worry. The child, however, is walking about the room, opening cabinets,…
Being a new mom is hard. Most moms will tell you that the first months of baby's new life were a blur of fatigue and misery. You are tired from child birth and then from waking up every three hours to feed baby. You are…
Kids and teens will sometimes have chest pain. It happens more often than you think. We see at least 4-5 kids per week in the Emergency Department for complaints of chest pain. When it happens, parents sometimes freak out. Is…
A common reason for parents to bring their kids to the ED is belly pain. Doctor’s offices and “quick care” urgent care clinics also send us a lot of kids with belly pain. Everyone has the same basic concern- is it appendicitis…
It happens at least once per week that a family brings their child in with a frustrating problem. The complaints are vague, like mild fever off and on for weeks or months, or headaches or belly pain, or odd rashes. The problem…
Occasionally I am surprised by some parent’s beliefs. There are a lot of “old wive’s tales” out there which I am used to: fever curdles milk in baby’s stomachs, fever will cook baby’s brain, blowing cigarette smoke in ears is…
We can tell by the paramedic’s voice on the radio if a child is truly sick. This time his voice has that urgency that says “be ready.” Moments later they come trundling in, oxygen cylinders hissing, monitors beeping, and the…
Every pediatrician has come to know The Look. The parent’s face falls. They are obviously disappointed, sometimes angry. It happens when the parent came in expecting that the doctor will prescribe an antibiotic for their child’…
