4 year old with strep throat, unexplained bloodwork..please help!!!

[Djmorello]

Hi everyone,
                  I'm hoping someone out ther has some kind of info. for me.  My 4.5 year old has been sick for the past month.  It started with a cold, a week later she had a 103.5 fever, red cheeks and hands, impetigo and a runny nose, so we took her to the doctors.  I had asked them to check for strep, but they peeked in her throat, by visual exam only, said she didn't have strep, and of course said it was viral.  3 days later she began having difficulty walking due to severe pain in her legs, she started complaining of a sore throat and headache, the redness on her cheeks and hands was worse and she still had a fever.  At that point we brought her back to the doctors and they still felt it was viral but I demanded they do a strep culture.  the culture came back POSITIVE!!  After seeing the difficulty my daughter was having walking they sent her to the hospital for labwork which consisted of a cbc, sed rate and cpk.  On her cbc her wbc count and neutrophil count was low, her lymphocyte count was high and her cpk was high.  I was told by the doctor that my daughte needed to be started on antibiotics for strep and that she probably has a mild acute myositis.  It's been 7 days since she's been on the antibiotics.  Her cheeks are still flush and she is still complaining of headaches, sore throat, runny nose and is still running a low grade fever.  The pain in her legs has gotten a bit better but she still has pain.  The newest symptom of concern is her fatigue level.  She still palys with her sisters but she is sleeping much much more than usual.  The doctor sent her for repeat bloodwork today and is also testing her for mono.  Has anyone gone through something similar or is there anyone out there that can tell me what her bloodwork means?  The doctor knew I was upset about their relaxed treatment of her condition and I feel like they are not telling me everything.
Thank you,
Danielle

[momoftwo74]

Hi. It sounds to me that your daughter may have developed some complications due to the delayed treatment of strep. Rheumatic fever is caused by untreated Strep and can cause painful and inflamed joints, heart damage etc. Your daughter should have been feeling much better within a couple of days on the antibiotic. You dont want to mess around with waiting days on test results. Although her low WBC and neutrophil might suggest a viral infection (maybe mono or another virus), it can also happen with a severe infection. If I were you, I'd bypass the doctor, take her to a pediatric or normal ER. Tell the ER pediatrician or doc everything you have posted here. YOU know your child best. If your gut instinct is telling you that something is not right, then LISTEN TO IT. I agree the docs arent telling you everyhting. I know the ER is expensive, but you don't have to wait days and days for results of blood tests either. Make sure you tell them about the headaches and muscle pain combined with a strep infection.I hope she feels better.Keep me posted.

MM

[Djmorello]

Thanks so much for your input.  I took my daughter to her E.N.T. to evaluate her...there was no way I would going back to her pedi.  The E.N.T. sent her for additional bloodwork.  On top of the strep she also tested positive for Mono.  Her cpk levels were back down to normal so I'm assuming the myositis was getting better with the antibiotics.  Just yesterday he did a repeat strep culture.  Her cheeks are still flush and blotchy and she's still running a low grade fever, and she still complains of pain in her feet and legs, mostly in the evening.  I'm searching for a new pedi., I just don't know where to go.  None of the ones around here seem to be reputable.  If my daughters 2nd strep test comes back negative, do you think the red blotchy cheeks could be from the mono?  

[momoftwo74]

Poor baby. Strep and Mono at the same time! I would expect that her strep test will be negative next time since most strains of Strep respond well to antibiotics. I imagine that the blotchy cheeks, flushing is related to the Mono virus. I have a son who will be three in July. He gets VIRAL throat infections a couple times each cold and flu season. It never fails that he always gets the red cheeks with the viral throat infections, but doesn't get them with other bacterial illnesses like strep etc. Your daughter's immune system is taking a double whammy so she probably won't be herself for awhile. Mono takes awhile to recover from, but luckily there aren't usually any major complications from it. Im sure the doc told you to let her rest, limit her activity. Also, you mentioned that you have other children, Mono is pretty contagious, I'd watch the close contact between your other children and the sick one. I hope she feels better soon.

MM

[justwords74]

i am actually going through some of the same symptons...only i am not 4 - i am 34!! at any rate, i woke up with a really bad sore throat and fever 2 thursdays ago and got treated for strep that friday. a few days later the sore throat and fever had gone but that saturday i could feel my legs feeling kind of weak, by monday my whole body was super sore and i would be out of breath completing the simplest tasks on top of that i have what looks like blood in my urine.  this past friday i went to a doc in the box b/c my primary care doctor's ofc was showing very little concern to my pain (needless to say they are out of here) the Dr. explained to me that my symptons were myosistis and gave me 2 shots and prescribed naproxen and a steroid pack niether of which are helping outside of giving me the side effects in addition to the pain i already had...i am supposed to be going back to the ofc today b/c i could really use some relief!! my wife is 8.5 months pregnant and she needs my help with our 3 yr old. we are staying with my inlaws for the next couple of days for the assistance. oh the pain!!

[caregiver222]

I feel so bad for your daughter. You are a terrific mom for sticking to your guns!

At that age, your child is completely at the mercy of physicians, and it clear they fell down on the job. They goofed up big time and are afraid of a tort action by an attorney. The first thing you have to do is, in writing, by registered mail, request every bit of medical data they collected on her, from each of the treating physicians.

Children are very resilient, and even when horribly abused by the medical community, generally bounce back.

I would generally like to see someone treated at a teaching facility, preferably one with a pediatric speciality. The down side is they are a "teaching" hospital and tend to repeat bloodwork (a little one only had so much blood) and take unnecessary dangerous x-rays to cover their butts.

I really am above my pay grade in giving and advice to you, but I would suggest a modest vitamin C supplement (use the crystaline kind and don't megadose!), a D3 supplement, 1000 mg a day of omega 3 and try to get her out in the sunlight at least forty five minutes a day.

[Djmorello]

I'm also 8.5 months prego and I know how much I depend on my husband to help me with our 3 little ones and I can only imagine how aweful it is to be so sick as an adult.  My daughter was down and I mean "down" for well over 3 weeks.   I hate doctors now a days.  I'd be super worried about the blood like looking urine.  If you have what my daughter had, which was a severe strep infection and Mono, the Mono can do liver and spleen damage.  You may want to push your doc to do more testing or request a second opinion.  Good luck to you.