Recurring Fever

[ConcernedMommyOf2]

Saw the forum on recurring or chronic fevers in children.  Dealing with the same situation myself.  Just found this information and wanted share.  I am going to ask my pediatrician about it as well-

"Few diseases cause a regular pattern of recurrent fevers. The most common diagnosis associated with this fever pattern is PFAPA syndrome (i.e., periodic fever, aphthous ulcers, pharyngitis, and adenopathy). PFAPA is characterized by high fevers lasting three to six days and recurring every 21 to 28 days, accompanied by some or all of the signs noted in its name. The syndrome usually occurs in children younger than five years who present with regular fevers and cervical adenopathy. Aphthous ulcers, which are usually small and relatively painless, are the symptom most likely to be missed. "

Hope you find this helpful.




This discussion is related to 7 year old son with recurring fever.

[momkm]

My son is 7 years old and was diagnosed with PFAPA (fever sydrome).  He would get a fever about every 14 days.  They lasted about 3 days and would get as high as 104.0 F.  We tried steroids, but that made his fever come every 7 days like clockwork.  The doctors fought me on doing a tonsillectomy, but after the steroids didn't work they felt they had no other option.  We did the tonsillectomy and he has not had a fever since.  It's been over 6 months since his surgery.  They say they don't know much about this syndrome, but all research I did showed a tonsillectomy was the cure.  It worked for us!

[gracehouse]

Recovered!
Hi all,
I wanted to share my son's story of overcoming PFAPA in the hope that it may help someone's child, who suffers from the same. Here is our story:
My son's recurring fevers started at 6 months of age. Initially the fevers, occurring every 4 to 6 weeks like clock work along with swollen adenoids were his only symptom. No runny nose, cough infection or anything else. The fevers lasted 5 days and did not respond to tylenol and motrin. They would peak at 40'C every 5 hours. We were in despair, my husband was missing so much work, and we could do nothing for our sons suffering! At just over 1 year old he started to have a febrile seizure once during every episode. We were in the ER every month with no help. In August 2008 he had two seizures during one fever episode and spent 5 days in the Calgary Children's Hospital where he had a host of blood work and tests done, along with a brain scan. We were discharged with no answers,  only a referral to a pediatrian. At this time I began to do as much reading as I could and learned about PFAPA and it's various treatments but our pediatrician had never heard of it and wouldn't even entertain the idea that he might have it. The pediatrician sent us to an infectious disease specialist who diagnosed him with PFAPA, after just coming back from a conference on it and learning about it for the first time. We were very reluctant to start steriod treatment, and opted to go the route of adenoidectomy (we also read about the ENT in the Washington Post article), although at younger than 2 our son was not yet old enough. So we prepared ourselves to wait.
Now for the good news! At around the same time as the diagnosis, we were contacted by an Upper Cervical Chiropractor in Calgary who had heard of our son's case and asked if he could see him. I was hesitant at first, not even knowing what "Upper Cervical" was and whether a chiropractor could possibly cause more damage than good. However we went ahead... The Dr. explained to us that Upper Cervical chiropractors specialize in the treatment of the very top bone in the spinal column, which encases the brain stem, called the atlas. They take very precise and careful measurements to assess whether it is subluxated (out of place). After performing x-rays on Benjamin it became apparent the his atlas was rotated and shifted over to one side, putting definite pressure on his brain stem. They also found on that very first day that the temperature on one side of the base of his skull was 1'C hotter than the other, another indicator of pressure on the brain stem. The day after his first adjustment, the difference in temperature was less than 0.25'C. Now for the best news! Treatments started at 2 to 3 times per week. The first month, he developed a fever, but it was entirely less severe and lasted only 2 days. He had a very minor seizure. The next fever was 8 weeks later, very mild and manageable with Motrin and no seizure. Then nothing for 3 months. Then a mild fever, but after a visit with the chiropractor, the fever ended after 30 hours. And now we have been fever and seizure free for 5 months! My son is himself again. He only goes to see the chiropractor once a month just to check up and they never adjust him unless there is a need. He loves to visit "Dr. Dave" and we have been so encouraged! If anyone has questions please let me know. I hope this brings encouragment!