OT: constant sickness

[BelleBoo&AmisMum]

My older daughter had something similar. It turned out to be her asthma being flared up by a very deep sinus infection. It was finally diagnosed after they did a head CT. She had to do a six week round of meds but it finally cleared up and she hasn't had the problem since.

I do think chiropractors can help (my dad is a retired chiropractor) but when there is something going on you need to see an MD and get it under control. I would never recommend seeing a chiropractor instead of a PCP.

 

[barnaby1]

Thankyou to everyone for their great and speedy responses.
I have thought about getting her allergy tested but hadn't thought about the strep. Might follow that one up.

I never see my GP (we don't tend to have paediatricians in the UK), he is a bit odd and rushes me out in about 3 minutes and never listens. As a nurse this doesn't bother me much as I always knew what I wanted but it means I don't bother to see him now. She has only ever had antibiotics about 3 times when it was going on a bit long and she had obvious tonsillitis or the like. Mostly it is just ibuprofen and paracetemol to keep her comfortable. She gets whopping fevers 40 + degrees c so to leave her with nothing would put her potentially at risk of a febrile convulsion.

I'm afraid I too don't have any faith in chiropractors but it was interesting to read other peoples success with them.

Thanks again and I will start looking into a couple of things. I will post an update if we have any success.

 

[NHDisneyMom]

My daughter had the same types of episodes. We spent one year where she seemed to spike a temp every 3 weeks. She seemed fine between, but she kept getting sick. I am the same type of mom as you - I don't raise my kids in a germ free bubble and believe a little dirt helps to build that immune system! Anyway, it really started to concern me after about the sixth or seventh visit to the dr.'s and my dr. ran blood tests. Her red and white blood cell counts were very off. It came down to her being anemic. She was a good eater so that never crossed my mind. My dr. said that getting sick depletes the iron and growing as fast as they are at that time depletes the iron and with not feeling well, she would not want to eat as much ... it was an endless cycle. I started really focusing on the foods that have iron and making sure she took vitamins with iron - I think you are supposed to take them with OJ to help absorb the iron but I can't remember exactly. Making sure she got iron rich foods and vitamins really turned things around for her. We checked her blood every couple of months and everything came back up to normal range and she stopped getting sick.

She is now almost 7 and I still watch her for anemia but so far, we have never had a repeat.

Just something to check and watch. Hope this helps!

 

[sl_underwood]

You are her mom and you need to trust your instincts, if you feel something is wrong, you are most likely right. For years, my dd was nearly always sick, she would get a cold and it would turn into pnemonia (sp) The doctors treated me like I was crazy for bringing her in and always made me feel like a bad mother. It wasnt until her counts went so low and she nearly died that they decided to test her blood. Come to find out she has a rare blood disorder called aplastic anemia which attacks her healthy cells. After two rounds of chemo and more hospital stays than any child should endure, she is a healthy preteen but if I had continued to listen to all those doctors who spend less than 5 minutes with my child, she may not be alive today. Trust yourself and get another opinion.

 

[shaylahc1]

I think it's fairly normal. I think every 6 weeks is actually good. Don't they say the average child gets 8-10 cold a year? My kids were always sick and at the doctor's office from ages birth to 3 or so. My DS was the healthiest by far and he didn't get vaccinated on schedule---not sure if that made a difference

 

[danyalep70@bellsouth]

Hi! Has your peditrician ever tested your child for cyclical neutropenia? Google it for more detailed info. Basically it's an auto-immune disorder that causes their white blood count to drop low once a month or so and they're more susceptible to getting sick. It's usually not that serious of a condition. My little girl has this and they said as she gets older (she's currently 3) her immune system would mature and she'd just outgrow it.

Her major issue now is that her gums get puffy and bleed during her low cycle. She used to get sick once a month with fever and a cold, but that stopped about 6 months ago. So, she is getting better.

To verify that this was the condition she had they tested her blood twice a week for six weeks to determine the cycle.

At first they suggested that we avoid sick people during the period that her white blood count is at it's lowest during the cycle. But since she hasn't got sick in a while, they revised it to allow us just to go along like normal and only modify it if she started getting sick again on a regular basis.

We didn't have to go through any type of treatment. But I believe there are some treatments if your condition is more severe. Ask your pediatrician what they think.

Good luck and God bless! I'll be praying for you guys!

 

[shelby101301]

Don't know if you're in this kind of area, but I had a similiar episode last spring and became concerned. It ended up just being a fluke thing and ended in 6 mos (we chose not to use antibiotics).

But one thing that stuck in my mind while talking with Ped was lyme's disease. She said it could cause fevers "by the calendar like clockwork"

So maybe that's something else to check out? g/l!

 

[barnaby1]

Bit of an update - spoke to my ENT colleagues at work and they have had a lot of success with a 6 week course of antibiotics with nose drops. He said it sounds like she either has asthma (which I had considered but not keen to have her labelled as such) or sinus infection which never quite clears up.
Going to give it a go. Will write an update after treatment (and hopefully no more episodes of sickness).

 

[mikayla'sMom]

You might also look into the above or other listed periodic fever disorders. The runny nose does not really fit though. The high fevers and time table with throat issues does. My son was diagnosed last year with this disorder. He was getting sick once a month with VERY high fevers, mouth issues (swelling, bleeding, puss), and he would almost stop eating. After tons of office visits, countles ER visits and two hospital stays; he was diagnosed with PFAPA. I wont go into more detail, because this is just another idea. If you do see a connection, please email me and I can give you more information.

No matter what, I feel for you! I have been going through this for 2 years. It is hard to have a child who is sick so much. Good luck to you and your family.

 

[nessz79]

My daughter was sick like this too and once her tonsils were removed she has not had strep or a really high fever since- 4 years!
I don't believe in Chiropractors so I would never go that way- I feel they are a bunch of quacks- I once had one tell me they could cure my godsons cancer- wouldn't trust them with my child!

Ditto the possibility of tonsils being a problem. Our son was ALWAYS sick with a bad cough and chronicly stuffy nose. It was his snoring that finally tipped us off that something was wrong. We had our regular ped refer us to an Ears, Nose, Throat Specialist. The ENT said that he had extremely large tonsils and was willing to bet that the adenoids were a problem, too. We had them removed and he has been much better since. He still gets sick pretty often (because he goes to preschool), but it's not as severe of a problem and he gets over illnesses much faster.

Our ped was never good at finding answers, either. See a specialist - start with an ENT maybe since they are cold-like symptoms. Get more than one opinion.

Edited to add- just saw your update. Good for you!