Contents:
- Medical Video: What Will Happen If You Eat Nothing for 7 Days
- Effect of appetite on symptoms of TB in children
- How can a child's weight remain or go down even though he still wants to eat TB infection?
- Other symptoms of TB in children
Medical Video: What Will Happen If You Eat Nothing for 7 Days
Tuberculosis or TB is one of the most common infectious diseases in Indonesia. TB in children can generally be seen with a drastic reduction in body weight. This decrease in body weight begins with a decrease in the child's appetite. It is a common symptom that can be seen in children. However, for some cases it is not like that. Children can still eat normal portions but their weight does not increase, there is a possibility that they also have TB. Therefore, parents still need to be aware of TB in children.
Effect of appetite on symptoms of TB in children
The symptoms of TB in children that are first recognized by parents are the growth of children who are obstructed, so that their bodies become smaller than their peers. Children look thin and appetite decreases.
However, not all symptoms look like that. TB in children can also occur if the child still wants to eat as usual, but the weight does not increase or even decrease.
This condition is rare, but parents still need to be vigilant. Recognizing the symptoms of TB in children can help you to deal with this disease more quickly.
How can a child's weight remain or go down even though he still wants to eat TB infection?
Basically, calorie needs the body will also increase, if someone has a chronic disease, such as TB. Therefore, some children still have a normal appetite, to meet these calorie needs. This is in contrast to the common symptoms of TB in children.
But on the other hand, these caloric needs will not be fulfilled because children and parents do not realize that the actual calorie intake that children usually get everyday is not enough to cover their calorie needs.
Infections in the body make your child need more calorie intake than usual so the child must increase his nutritional intake. This high calorie requirement is the body's way of getting additional energy used to attack infections. These calorie needs are also used to repair damaged body tissues.
In addition, the nutrition of food eaten by children is not used properly because it is used by the body to attack the infection it has. So that child weight do not experience an increase even though the child's appetite tends to be normal.
Some parents are not aware of this, so children's food intake is not added anymore. Even children remain thin and TB stays in your child's body without you even knowing it. If your child does not experience weight gain for a long time, immediately consult this complaint to the doctor to get the right solution.
Other symptoms of TB in children
In addition to weight that does not rise or stunted growth, parents must pay attention to several other symptoms of tuberculosis. What are the symptoms and characteristics? Following reviews from Indonesian Pediatrician Association (IDAI) in 2013.
- A fever that doesn't heal for more than two weeks, even though the fever isn't too high
- Having a fever several times in a few weeks (the heat rises and falls)
- A cough that doesn't heal or even gets worse for more than three weeks
- Weight loss or not increase for two months or more
- Children look weak, not powerful, and not as active as usual
- Swollen lymph nodes (usually seen from a lump around the neck or lower jaw of a child)
- Live in the spread area of tuberculosis or close to people who have just been infected with tuberculosis
If the child shows the characteristics above, immediately bring the child to check with the doctor or to the hospital.
