Kids sick, again

My children are home from school sick again and I'm getting frustrated with all these illnesses and weird symptoms and strange rashes we've been dealing with since winter started.

Today it's a sore throat, cough, fever, runny nose, and a little stomach ache, mainly on the part of the older child. The younger child has what you call "sympathy illness" although she'll probably come down with a fever tomorrow. They both stayed home from school.

At the urging of my husband and my sister-in-law, I took my older daughter in to the doctor's office today. She was tested for flu and strep throat but doesn't have either one. It's just something that needs to run its course, I was told, and I had figured that anyway.

While we were there, I had the strange rashes they both have looked at. My younger daughter broke out with them back in December and since I thought she had ringworm, I kept her out of school. They kept popping up in random places like her temples and the back of her neck so I had her tested then. The diagnosis was pityriasis, skin rashes that go away in a few weeks or months and that are not contagious.

Interestingly enough, my older daughter came down with these same rashes in the same spots, only hers are worse since she has trouble with her skin. I've been treating both of them with tea tree oil, which is antifungal, antimicrobal, and anti-everything else bad. A trace of fungus showed up in the test done on my older daughter's rashes, so I was given a prescription for an ointment.

We've also been to the doctor in the past few months for other things like allergies and colon troubles. I'll sure be glad when we get all of this worked out.

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