Posted on 10/16/2014 11:12:00 AM PDT by Pining_4_TX
I am asking Freepers for help in diagnosing the mysterious illness that doctors have failed to diagnose thus far. Our 3-year-old grandson has been sick for several days with high fever, a rash that started on his face but has now spread to his entire body, loss of appetite, and now peeling skin around his eyes, nose and mouth. His fever is minimal during the day, but starts to increase in the afternoon and gets close to 103.
He has been to the doctor several times, had a strep test that came back negative, and was taken to the local children's hospital for dehydration ($400 and all they did was give him juice and crackers). They did a blood test which was normal for white blood cell count, but said he is slightly anemic.
First they thougth he had a recurrence of fifth disease, and the hospital doctors thought he might have mono.
He is finally eating a little and will drink a little juice, but he whines and cries constantly and acts like his feet hurt. His rash is very itchy most of the time, so he scratches at it, particularly around his waist.
If you have any ideas or know of any children who have something similar, please post a reply.
He has another doctor's appointment this afternoon, so we will see if they have any better answers than they have so far.
And pray for him, if you will.
Stevens-Johnson. Reaction to the antibiotic. I had a severe reaction to Cardizem. Rash stared around my waist then spread over my entire body. I looked like a burn victim. Took nearly a year for all the scarring to go away.
Has he been taking any sulfa drugs....if so, thing Stevens-Johnsons syndrome. Also consider rickettsia such as rocky mountain spotted fever.
Has he been taking any sulfa drugs....if so, thing Stevens-Johnsons syndrome. Also consider rickettsia such as rocky mountain spotted fever.
Antibiotics + constant fever and you can develop a rash and dry skin. It’s not a far reach to skin peeling from the dryness.
I’m not a doctor or in the medical profession at all, so I’ll be praying for your child and hope it’ just common ordinary fall out from Antibiotics and Fever.
Has anyone suggested rheumatic fever?
This can appear in about 14 plus days after strep throat (especially if the strep is inadequately treated)
I only mention this because my greandfather had rheumatic fever when he was about your grandson’s age, and back then they didn’t have the wonder drugs we have now......but he survived.
google and read the symptoms of rheumatic fever, especially in connection to strep throat
Insufficient data to make a diagnosis.
Rash with a fever can be many things including: Hand Foot and Mouth Disease, Chicken Pox, Measles, Roseola, Measles, Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever, Herpes, Meningitis, Scarlett Fever, Rheumatic Fever etc.
Zith can cause SJS (probably other antibiotics as well):
Symptoms of things like SJS are not going to perfectly consistent from person to person either, so I don’t think it can be ruled out.
A friend’s daughter got a catastrophic case of SJS believed to have been brought on by Children’s Motrin. NSAIDs have been linked to SJS.
“I tell her something that WORKS and you go on the attack with me?”
But you didn’t tell her something that works. You falsely claimed that eating clay will “remove” viruses, which is utter nonsense. If that wasn’t irresponsible enough, you told it to a woman whose child’s health is at stake.
OK, at the doctor’s office they took blood, which was an ordeal because they couldn’t find a vein so they had to take what they could from a finger stick, and will test that. They did another throat swab for strep.
Everything he has fits with a really bad case of fifth disease except for the persistent fever. That has them stumped. My daughter asked about other things everyone suggested, such as Kawasaki, but they didn’t think anything else fit.
Thanks to my Freepers friends for your help. I will keep you posted of how he is doing. I appreciate your prayers and good wishes. Freepers are the best.
Outside chance possible contact with pesticide or chemical contaminant? Know of a case of accidental ingestion of pesticide which resulted in skin peeling.
Motrin / Ibuprofen “black-box warning” lists skin loss as a remote possibility. Fluoroquinolone family of antibiotics also can result in Stevens Johnson Syndrome.
praying for your grandson!
Whatever is going on it's systemic, so a throat swab should be sent out for culture, not just a quick in-office test.
Fifth disease I don't know. Not usually persistent, cyclical fevers.
It's not shingles if it's on both sides of the body.
The only time that happens is if someone has a severely compromised immune system.
And I've never heard of it causing a fever. Lots of pain, though.
Could be something from a tick. Tick diseases are epidemic across the United States and doctors are still in the dark. No good testing for tick illnesses. Igenex lab in California is the best lab for tick disease testing.
Here is an article about a tick illness called ehrlichiosis which causes rash all over the body
http://m.digitaljournal.com/pr/2252517
Other tick diseases cause rash, too. Might be a good place to do some research.
It sounds like an allergy, as others have mentioned. Does your family use Tide laundry detergent? I did for decades, and every once in a while, more often during the winter, I would get strange itching, redness, puffiness. Often where my clothes were making tighter contact with my body, like my waist. But sometimes in areas, like my lips, that were not in contact with any clothes. I tried everything to figure it out. Eventually I discovered it was from washing my clothes in Tide laundry detergent. Once I figured out the problem, it was easy to find that many others, on the web, have this problem. I switched to All laundry detergent, which says it is hypoallergenic, and I was cured/never had the problem again. Not to bash Tide, it’s a fine product, but just stating my reality.
I had the shingles shot a few months ago. I was talking to my 83 yr old mother about it and she said she’d had shingles when we were kids. She dealt with it and if I got it, I should just deal with it.
Insanity. You can lose your eyesight. You can have lingering nerve pain for years... I have enough things I have to deal with. I hope shingles won’t be one of them.
Heat and stress - two awful things to deal with when you have the shingles!
btt
5th disease
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fifth_disease
Praying - My brother in law went through 2 attacks of SJS. His was more internal damage. We think it directly led to his diagnosis of Hodgkins - he is doing much better - but its an ongoing fight.
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