chronic sinusitis in 3 year old

[hoodcindi]

Ok I have a long question...I have a 3year old daughter....she is in daycare...she has always seemed to be more sick then my other two children..at 7weeks she was hospitalized for RSV...and the months to follow it was illness after another...croup, fifth disease, rotroviruses, recurrent ear infections, and lots of "colds"....Last feb. started a long long road...she was seen at the er...with sinusitis and strep throat...the thing is she never got better...it is two weeks antibiotics for sinusitis, then a break from antibiotics at most 1 week...then she would start the vomiting and diarrhea..(she was not on antibiotics when she had diarrhea) Then the fever would come back and thick nasal drainage.We are seeing a ent, then in April she got a really bad stomach bug..they thought was caused by the large use of antibiotics...one stool sample later...Salmonella..(nobody else was sick)..she has had her adenoids out, is on reflux meds, had surgery on her throat for trachea malasia(which was causing sleep apnea)..now we have diagnose of chronic sinusitis...and schedule for ct scan of sinuses with endoscopic surgery following...The "stomach bugs" come every month and last for 3-7 days..with mild fever, diarrhea, and vomiting...the ent does not seem to think it is related....we talked about cystic fibrosis(but it is so rare to have no lung involvement, he tells me, and there are steps you have to follow and rule things out first.) it is one illness after another..she is growing and thriving, but always on antibiotic.....any thoughts would be helpful,,,thank you

[healthiswealth]

Sounds like you need A NEW DOCTOR FOR YOUR DAUGHTER! You may also want to check out www.****.*** - it's worth a shot.

[AshleyLynn]

I'm surprised that they wouldn't at least want to take a look at her immune system, since it seems like there have been more infections involved than just her sinuses.

See with sinuses they need 2 clear things in order to fully resolve any sort of sinusitis:
1. The correct antibiotics
2. A clear drainage pathway

If either one of these things are off...the infection will just keep coming back because in reality...it never really left. So if for some reason she has any sort of anatomical problems (like incorrect bone structure, cysts, bone spurs, etc) in her sinuses, or something else causing her sinuses not to drain properly the infection can't really be cured. I've had several sinus surgeries myself...I have TERRIBLE sinus problems, so I definitely know how she feels.

I'm really curious to see what the ENT says though. I just think (and hey, I'm not a doctor, just someone with a terrible immune system...haha) that with as many different infections as she has had, they would look at the whole picture and not just her sinuses. But sometimes you have to take one battle at a time...I definitely know that route too.

Keep in touch! Definitely let me know how it all turns out on Thursday ok? I'll be praying for her!

Ashley

[hoodcindi]

ok we had our ct scan done fri morning and the ent will see me Thur for the results and our next step.... The pediatrician said the blood work came back...WBC -normal, RBC-low and to increase vitamins ....she also said some of the numbers seemed to be acidtolic(not sure about spelling)..She told me that can be b/c of her recent bout of vomiting and diarrhea...When I asked her about the complete IGa blood work she told me that she did not think it was necessary and she believed it was not involved..then she asked me about cystic fibrosis once again but said she would wait to see what the ENT thought...She also told me she would consider sinus surgery a last resort...HELLO WE HAVE BEEN ON ANTIBIOTICS FOR 10 MONTHS   I don't know i guess i will till Thur and see what he says.

[AshleyLynn]

I really hope the best for her...I don't wish this upon anyone. Please keep us updated ok?

Take care!
Ashley

[hoodcindi]

okay yeah i got it by going to the original website...thankyou so much.....it really seems to fit my baby...I will defiantly ask the dr about it fri

[AshleyLynn]

Hmmm...you'd have to have adobe or acrobat reader to be able to read the link...it's a pdf file. Let me link you to the original website.

www.primaryimmune.org

I'm not sure why the other link didn't work for you. It worked when I copied and pasted it...(you can't just click on it).

Take care,
Ashley

[hoodcindi]

ohh ok , I will ask the peditrician about that on fri....also I could not get that link to come up?

[AshleyLynn]

Make sure you actually request that they complete an immunologic workup though...otherwise a "full blood work-up" usually only involves a CBC (Complete Blood Count) which doesn't actually tell you much of anything about your immune system.

I am going tomorrow morning for 10 different types of immunology testing, including a Serum Monoclonal Gammopathy Evaluation, a Lymphocyte Subset, IgG subclass, complete IgG IgA IgM and IgE work-ups, and antibody evaluations for diphtheria and tetanus...all of which would not be detected in a CBC (which of course will also be completed).

I'm just speaking from experience is all...I've dealt with chronic sicknesses all my life (for example, I've had documented over 8 different sinus infections this year, and 6 sinus surgeries in the past 16 months, I've most recently been on antibiotics for the past 10 weeks for this last sinus infections...just to name a few)...and believe me, you don't want your daughter to go through what I have at 23 to just NOW be finding out about these things. Have her tested.

Good luck!

Ashley

[hoodcindi]

thanks for the website...I am going to take a look....sunday they took a full blood work up and a complete stool sample...we will get results fri...so maybe I will know answers then......:)

very hopeful

[AshleyLynn]

I'm so sorry to hear that your child is sick so often.

I would definitely recommend having a full immunology workup completed on her. Recurrent infections are very common in many immunodeficiency disorders, especially sinus infections.

Take a look at:

http://www.primaryimmune.org/publications/book_pats/patient_and_family_handbook_4th.pdf

This is a handbook of primary immunodeficiency diseases...and you'll see that her symptoms fit the Common Variable Immune Deficiency Disorder which is caused by a deficiency in the IgA levels of her immune system. The other immune deficiency that could fit this could also be the deficiency of the IgG level, which is explained in that handbook as well.

Anyway, I would definitely recommend having either an immunologist or an infectious disease doctor (if the pediatrician doesn't recommend doing it) take a look at her immunology profile.

Best of luck!
Ashley