6 yr old with unexplain temps and swollen lymphs

[blueeyesmama]

Hello,  I am a mother looking for some answers.  I have a 6 yr old who experiences a fever up to 102 in mornings and evenings for a period of usually 7 days.  His lymph nodes are very swollen everytime.  He doesn't eat much but doesn't complain of throat hurting.  I have seen a pattern lately where he gets this every 2 months.  Strep is always neg and they just write it off as a viral.  He does usually complain about his ankles hurting but this has been something he has always complained of legs hurting.  He is pigeon toed so we have always wrote it off on just being growing pains.  My brother had JRA and it was a severe.  I am not sure if arthritis is hereditary but want to know if this could be a possiblity.  I had labs ran but since we do not have a RA doc on our island the peds are just writing it off.  His ESR was high but not extremely and he was a bit anemic.  The ped doc isn't concerned but there has to be an answer for why he is having the fevers every two months.  I just need to know if anyone else has had this experience with their child or if a doc could give me an answer to my questions that would be great.  

[geminigirl1963]

Best of luck with your child and the physicians.  I agree - if you don't get satisfaction with the pediatrician and the problem continues, you HAVE to be very stern and insistent with them to either refer you to another doctor or run additional tests.  It is also definitely a good idea to document EVERYTHING - not just when the symptoms occur and what you do to eliviate them, but also when you speak to a doctor/nurse, what they tell you, what you ask them to do, their response, what tests are run, results, etc.  It may sound like a lot of work, but it may be very helpful in the event that they refer you to another physician.  Although they will send at least part of your child's medical records to the new physician, they may not include everything and it could be helpful for you to have some additional information available.  Doing these documents, also, could help with your insurance company - if you're not having luck with your current physicians, you may be able to contact the insurance company, tell them everything you've been through and what you've done so far, and ask THEM for permission directly to do to a different doctor.  Sometimes doctors are not very willing to ask this type of thing of an insurance company because essentially they would be losing money if you go somewhere else, but you've got to be your child's medical advocate and do what is best for THEM, not what is best for the doctor's wallet.

I agree, it does not seem right and especially with your family history, I would pursue it strongly.  Best of luck and please keep us posted!

[blueeyesmama]

Yes thanks to you both for your opinions given.  The bad thing is that we are military living in Okinawa Japan with little resources.  Having Tricare Insurance is a pain aswell.  Most specialist are on the island of Hawaii 6 hrs away.  You have to be dying for the Military to pay to refer us there for a specialist.  Our Pediatrician seems not to be worried about it but it just doesn't seem right to me.  So I am going to log it down and if it continues this pattern again I will be back into the office with my foot down to run more test.  

[rafe44]

I dont know much about what your child has. But just make sure that they run every test your doc can think to run on him. And then have Doc send him to specialist.A blood specialist probably could diagnose the problem. Something isnt right. So take care and keep us informed.

[geminigirl1963]

Obviously I'm no expert, but to me, it does sound like it very well could be JRA - or some kind of auto immune disorder.  I'm also concerned that you say he is anemic - anemia with swollen lymph nodes could possibly be a sign of leukemia.  I would definitely push for more intense bloodwork, including a test for JRA and possibly even some x-rays or ct scan to see what might be going on.

Like I said, I'm no expert - just giving my two cents.  I hope your son feels better real soon and remains that way.

Best of luck!