DS is sick, need advice

[CallMeMommy]

So yesterday we were in the ER most of the morning because my 5-year-old woke up with a high fever, horrible headache, neckache, and a huge swollen lymph node (I'm talking size of a pingpong ball) on the side of his neck. The phone advice nurse was worried about an abscess, I was worried meningitis, so off we went. The ER doc is pretty sure it's neither but didn't definitively rule either out but did give us an antibiotic since his white cell count was super high. Said it most likely wasn't meningitis since the neck pain was coming from the lump and not his actual neck. We're going on 24 hours on the antibiotic now and he's still not any better, huge lump is still there, still can't move his head without pain, still has a fever when not medicated.

I guess what I'm looking for is anything we may have missed (mumps? but the lump isn't near his chin, it's definitely on the side under his ear) or any other remedies we could try to make him feel better. We're trying to make him as comfortable as possible but it's hard since any movement freaks him out. I'm also going to put in a call to our regular doctor this afternoon if he hasn't improved at all but I'm not sure what else they can do.

[Marnica]

sorry mama that you are having to deal with this. I would have worried about memingitis given the symptoms you described as well!

The only thing I can think of is that swollen lymph nodes can often be very large and very painful, but they can get that way from viral illneses as well and bacterial ones. The abx was given as a precaution I assume, but if what your son has is viral, abx will do nothing which is why there may be no improvement after being on them. If this was a bacterial infection, your son would be noticeably better within 48 hours I would think. I would give it another day and if there is still no improvement I would consider that this may be viral. I would still follow up with his regular doctor regardless.

If it is viral, there is not much to be done except make him comfortable. Not sure if you are into natural medecine, but I have found that my ND has had things he can Rx that have been very helpful in fighting viral illnesses. Also swollen nodes can last for weeks, especially if the cause is viral.

[balancedmama]

What about mono? Both of my kiddos had it last year - at age 1 and age 3. DS was just mildly ill, but DD had fevers, headaches, really crabby, and especially notable was the GIANT lymph node.

[CallMeMommy]

Mono! I never thought of that!

He's doing better now, DH called at lunch and said DS was down on the floor playing with his toys and could move around easier, so I'm not quiet as worried. But I'm still going to be keeping a close eye on him.

[StephandOwen]

On Valentines Day this year ds had something similar- fever, tired/out of it, neck pain (couldn't move his neck at all, said it hurt at the back of his neck). We took him to the ER (also concerned about meningitis). The ER dr said his throat was slightly pink with one little white "suspicious" patch (and huge tonsils, but they always are)... so they did a strep test. It came back positive. The neck pain was caused by hugely swollen lymph nodes in the back of his neck. He got an antibiotic shot and by the end of that day was already starting to feel better. The next day he was running around

[CallMeMommy]

They did a strep test in the ER, it was negative. I thought for sure that would have been it, but no. We did take him back to the doctor today, he was acting pretty normal this morning then out of nowhere started SCREAMING that his neck hurt. Tears, shaking, screaming, I mean I was freaking out he was so bad. The family practice doctor wouldn't even see us and sent us straight up to Peds, and by the time the doctor saw us he was fine Laughing, playing, moving his neck a lot more normally. She checked him out for meningitis again and it was all negative, so now we're thinking it's a kink in his neck on top of whatever bacterial thing he has going on (though she said if she'd seen his white count on Tuesday she would have started him on IV antibiotics! So instead she just upped his Augmentin). We're supposed to take him back on Monday if the swollen lymph node still isn't down and he isn't acting like himself and she'll do another blood count and chest x-ray, but I'm thinking if we can get his neck under control he'll heal up a lot faster. I'd like to take him to a chiro but the last time I did that for his ears he completely freaked so I'm not sure how he'd handle it.

[Marnica]

Originally Posted by CallMeMommy

They did a strep test in the ER, it was negative. I thought for sure that would have been it, but no. We did take him back to the doctor today, he was acting pretty normal this morning then out of nowhere started SCREAMING that his neck hurt. Tears, shaking, screaming, I mean I was freaking out he was so bad. The family practice doctor wouldn't even see us and sent us straight up to Peds, and by the time the doctor saw us he was fine Laughing, playing, moving his neck a lot more normally. She checked him out for meningitis again and it was all negative, so now we're thinking it's a kink in his neck on top of whatever bacterial thing he has going on (though she said if she'd seen his white count on Tuesday she would have started him on IV antibiotics! So instead she just upped his Augmentin). We're supposed to take him back on Monday if the swollen lymph node still isn't down and he isn't acting like himself and she'll do another blood count and chest x-ray, but I'm thinking if we can get his neck under control he'll heal up a lot faster. I'd like to take him to a chiro but the last time I did that for his ears he completely freaked so I'm not sure how he'd handle it.

Try and find a chiro that uses the Activator technique
http://www.activator.com/

it is not scary like a manual neck adjustment can be! There is a search tool on this website. there seem to be a ton in MN. It is so gentle, you barely even feel it.

[CallMeMommy]

Sigh... Well, I think the kink is gone, but the super-huge lymph node is still there. He's been on augmentin twice a day for 5 days with no improvement in the node. His fever is gone, but he's still not 100% back to normal and the node hasn't gone down at all. I really don't want to put him through another blood draw, but I'm at a loss at this point. I thought for sure the antibiotic would have fixed him up by now.

[nycmom18]

im sorry he's not fully better by now, but i just wanted to put in a note for probiotics if you're not already not for this ilness, but for future prevention after the abx of course

[kalimay]

My friends two year old had mono last year and it sounds like he looked similar to you child. It took him a good two weeks of rest and lots of healthy broths before he was well again.