Keep in touch with your friend as usual. Ask if you can help your friend with anything. Do things together that makes your friend happy. Talk to your friend and find out what and to whom you can speak about your friend’s illness.
FAQ Category: Adolescent tuberculosis
Can I visit a friend who has TB disease and is in an isolation room in the hospital?
Yes, you can. When you keep in touch with your friend it makes the isolation period easier for him. Visitors need to wear respirators when they go to the isolation room. Make sure that you put on the respirator in a correctly and it sits tightly on your face. Ask the staff to help you. Small children are not usually allowed to visit. They do not know how to use a respirator and may get infected. Read more about isolation here.
What do I tell about TB to my friends and family?
Explain that TB is not easily transmitted. It can be cured with medicines. Those people who have inhaled the same air for a long period are at highest risk.
Tell your friends to read more about TB from the tuberkuloosi.fi -website.
What can I do to pass time during hospital care in an isolation room?
You may have to stay in an isolation room for some weeks, sometimes for months. This way the disease is not spread to others. Think and plan what would help make this time easier for you.
Bring some of your personal things into the isolation room. Keep your own daily routine. Be active during the day time: read books and magazines, watch movies, keep yourself updated with the Internet, meditate.
When your condition improves, you can start exercising. Ask nurses and physiotherapists for equipment. Take a walk outdoors if it is possible. Ask for and eat your favorite food and drink.
Stay in touch with other family members and friends via phone and computer. Follow your studies and do your homework. The municipality arranges school education in the hospital for children who go to the primary school. Visits are allowed but visitors need to use respiratory protection. Big group visits are not recommended. Small children are usually not allowed to visit.
The hospital school teacher will support children who go to primary school in their studies during the time they are treated in the hospital.
What are the symptoms of TB disease in a school-aged child and adolescents?
The most typical symptoms of TB disease in older children and adolescents are
- a cough for several weeks, which does not improve (tuberculosis of the lungs)
- fever which lasts over 2 weeks
- lymph nodes get bigger
- stomach and back pain
- weight loss and loss of appetite
- night sweats
- fatigue
At first there might be no symptoms.