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please help

hi its about my sister. shes 17 and has swollen lymph nodes behind her ears on both sides. there is 3 of them, shes also got loss of appatite and weight loss. she has lost 15 kilos in about 12 weeks with out trying. her iron level is 4. she is always feeling sick and faint. she has now get really bad breath and headaches. what could this be. please help. she has seen 5 different drs
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Avatar universal
I hope so too - when is she seeing the specialist? And what type of specialist are they?

Please keep us updated of your sister's progress...

Thinking of you,

Jo
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Avatar universal
they have done lots of blood tests and all they keep coming up with is that shes low in iron. she is getting sent to a specialist but there taking there sweet time. my mum has had breast cancer and my dad has got an uncurable type of cancer. she has got a new symptom witch is a rash in her hair. she is coming out withnew symptoms just about every day.were just hoping this has nothing to do with what they have got. thank you all so much i just hope they get to her soon before she gets any werse.
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Avatar universal
Some of her symptoms could be due to her low iron levels which possibly needs further investigation.

Dental issues can cause bad breath and headaches too.  Just a thought.  I would recommend your sister follow up with her doctor.
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351246 tn?1379682132
MEDICAL PROFESSIONAL
Hi
Welcome to the MedHelp forum!
There are a few things which come to my mind. May be there is a bleeding in your sister’s gastrointestinal tract, either due to esophageal varices, polyps, gastric bypass site, hemorrhoids or an ulcer. Low iron could be due to poor intake, loss from body as happens in acidity and GERD, rectal polyps etc, due to improper absorption as in IBS or due to storage disorders. Also she needs to get a pheripheral blood smear done to know the RBC count, structure and whether there is cytopenia (general decrease in cell count). The renal function and liver function needs to be checked as also electrophoresis of hemoglobin to know whether there is thalasemia trait or sickle cell anemia. Once the cause is found and corrected, then the lost iron is replaced by iron therapy, either in form of pills, capsules or syrups, or as injectable preparations. Consult your PCP regarding this.
Since she has swollen lymph nodes behind the ear, axilla, groin and neck should be checked for swollen lymph nodes. Lymphoma is a strong possibility. Generally lymph nodes behind the ear are due to local infection of ear or scalp.
Do discuss this with your sister’s doctor. Take care!

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Avatar universal
Hi Kyematt,

Sounds like you're pretty concerned about your sister and losing 15 kilos in 12 weeks at the age of only 17 is indeed really quite worrying - was this information made quite clear to the doctor's she has been seeing? If not, it should be made crystal clear as obviously your sister can not continue to lose weight at this rate (without dieting or exercising) & still be considered healthy!

If the doctor's she has been to haven't already done blood tests then she needs to find one that will do this ASAP! But this isnt the only route your doctor/s should be exploring if no answers are found on those results.

If it were me, I'd be looking for the doctor to send me for other testing too - like a biopsy of some of the matter from one of those swollen lymph nodes or maybe CT/MRI scans or sending me off to an ENT (ear, nose, throat) specialist at the very least (if one of the ones she has seen wasn't one).

Please, I urge you to keep looking for the answers & pushing your doctors too as whilst the symptoms could be caused by relatively minor ailments there are also more serious ones which should be considered and the sooner you find out if it's something more serious the faster it can be fought & the better chance of full recovery.

Hope this helped!




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Avatar universal
Only from simple blood test you can find what is bad and then you could do the conclusion, what is the main problem.
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Avatar universal
Have your sister done the blood test ?
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