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Help: - 4-year-old, high fever, abdominal pain

For the first time I am having fear when I see my daughter's condition is worsening and both her pediatrician and ER doctor have no conclusion on what's the cause.

Beginning Friday night, her temperature went up to 104 and above, more frequent intermittent abdominal pain, she was sent to ER, did blood (WBC 13.0) and urine test (negative on blood, nitrite and leukocytes, bacteria um none detected) and ultrasound exam on her abdomen around her belly button. Earlier stool test was also negative on rotavirus and no WBC feces. Both ER doctor and her pediatrician (done before the ER visit) physically examined her belly with hands pressing on various areas and eliminated appendix infection. She was discharged early Saturday morning without a conclusion (but suspecting virus) due to all available indicators are negative.

During Saturday and Sunday, her condition was worsening in that her temperature had to be controlled by Motrin and Tylenol alternatively and her abdominal pain is more frequent and long-lasting. Virtually any little food can trigger her abdominal pain.

Two weeks back, Sunday night, she vomited twice and began to express abdominal pain. Since then, we visited her pediatrician several times and did urine, stool and x-ray. The first urine test showed she was dehydrated (Ketones 80 *). This was largely due to not drinking enough water on the long flight from China to US.

In the last two weeks, she does not have any diarrhea. Her abdominal pain is getting worse with increasing frequency. Her aptitude is way below her normal.

My fear is her doctors are running out of ways and my daughter's life is really in danger.

Please help!!!
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Avatar universal
Thanks for your reply.

Her pediatrician and ER doctor did order stool test and blood cultures. Stool test turned out to be negative and we are still waiting for some of the blood cultures results.

As you mentioned, my daughter had a much more thorough ultrasound this afternoon in the entire abdomen area. All seems good.

Up until 5:00pm this afternoon (Monday), she was in high fever above 103, persistent abdominal pain and looked very tired. We used motrin about every 4 hours and pushed her to drink a lot of water while felt so helpless :(

The last time we fed her with motrin was around 2:00pm before her nap. After a very heavy (in terms of amount) ball movement around 5:00pm, she showed unimaginable progress during dinner: ate a lot, drunk a lot, unbelievably active, and hasn't complained abdominal pain since.

We're still observing and really hope this shows the end of my daughter's mysterious illness (although we began to think maybe it is indeed virus infection).

Thank you again for the very helpful information.
Helpful - 0
351246 tn?1379682132
MEDICAL PROFESSIONAL
Hi
Thanks for the post!

I am so sorry to hear about your 4 year old daughter. In such a small child it is difficult to rule out appendicitis by physical examination alone. An ultrasound of whole abdomen should be done. The symptoms could also be due to amoebiasis (ruled out by stool test), Dengue fever or colitis. Common tests which should be carried out include X-rays of the colon, stool for blood and pus, sigmoidoscopy, and/or colonoscopy, stool and blood cultures.
This needs a more detailed investigation and probably you should consult her pediatrician and get these tests done. It will be a good idea to start with stool test and ultrasound. Keep her well hydrated with sips of liquids. Take a second opinion if required.

Hope this helps you reach a dignosis. It is difficult to comment beyond this at this stage. Please let me know if there is any thing else and do keep me posted. Take care!
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