lymph node questions

[nycmom18]

i have posted a couple of months ago about my sons swollen lymph nodes. i still have questions

we did a CBC which came back normal, so we are not hugely concerned with the lymph nodes, except for the fact that they are not going down. why could this be? i know children are encountering foreign matter all the time and building their immune system, however, our chiropractor said that my sons lymph nodes were larger than most....

so my questions:

-are they swollen for a good reason, or after 5 months should i try to get them to go down some other way?
-what would be a concern for them being swollen for so long?

he has only had 1 little tummy bug over the course of these 5 months and it wasnt even that serious. here's what im doing for him in terms of trying to clear his system:

-visit the chiro every 2 weeks
-limit sugar and processed grains intake(he never really had much of it anyway, but he probably gets some form about 2x per month)
-just brought out our mini tramp recently and try to get him to jump daily
-epsom baths 1 day a week
-just started green smoothies
-he hasnt had dairy in probably the last 6 months
-probiotics daily

a couple of other concerns that could possibly be related are:

-only poops once a day
-has mildly low iron which 2 out of 3 docs are not concerned about

my theory is that he has a sluggush digestive system, possibly because of an allergy or sensitivity, therefore he is not absorbing iron as well, and his body can't rid of things as optimally as one would hope

aahhhhh....the body is so complicated! thinking of making garlic lemonade and possibly castor oil packs. thoughts? information? TIA!

[JaneS]

chronic strep?

[nycmom18]

well he's never been diagnosed with strep or had any fevers...could he have chronic without having fevers? i used to get strep every year as an older child. hmmm??

[Amila]

My DD has had 2 enlarged lymph nodes in her neck since she was 6 months old- no rhyme or reason! I just check them periodically to make sure they don't get bigger and stay bigger. If the CBC came back ok, I wouldnt worry, sometimes they stay big permanently.

[Panserbjorne]

I would do the castor oil packs. I would also do what I could to make sure his system wasn't overly acidic as that can create problems with drainage. Is the chiropractor feeling like the tissues feel good and things are moving?

[nycmom18]

yes, thank you, i think i will try castor oil packs. for a 2 year old: i could put castor oil on paper towels and then tape to his neck? i think i read this from a previous post of yours. how would i get them warm though? we dont have a microwave.

i will reexamine his diet to see if it's too acidic. we've been following the blood type A diet which im pretty sure is not acidic in nature, as we have low stomach acid to begin with. but thats interesting, because i have a strange feeling that his body doesnt process meat that well, blood type A's dont in general anyway, but because hes obviously not absorbing the iron in the meat, and i have given him meat daily from when he was 10 months old or so, probably twice a day.

his chiropractor feels them at every visit and notes they are still enlarged, she says she is not concerned about anything serious, but i havent asked her if they are moving or staying the same size or anything. i would assume she would let me know if there was a problem, but i will ask next visit. she is very proactive in general.

thank everyone for your input, the pieces will slowly but surely be coming together!!!

[Panserbjorne]

this is completely anecdotal and I don't expect you to shift your perspective based on this post. However. I've posted this before. I'm a type A and as a vegan AND vegetarian I was highly acidic. I could never figure it out because on a PLANT based diet (I didn't eat grains or refined sugar or anything for years) that shouldn't be the case for anyone. I kept trying to shift the pH and it was an exercise in frustration. Then, in 2005 I went on the SCD from that that diet. So very few veggies, limited fruit and TONS of meat/eggs/dairy etc. I was worried about the acidic nature in the back of my head but it wasn't my choice to do it...it was for my daughter and if it was going to kill me I was still going to do it.

Well, funny thing happened. My body alkalinized. My *theory* is that the pH is more tied to minerals than anything else. As a type "A" I'm not supposed to eat meat, but as my digestion improved on an animal based diet I alkalinized. All I'm saying is that sometimes people have the right concepts in some ways that don't really work for individuals in the way they think they should.

I am still eating animal products and have stayed quite balanced. I will never personally go back to a veg/vegan diet-at least not anytime soon. I was not thriving on it. I didn't know because I didn't have another frame of reference. Again, it's not about the diet-it's about what MY body needed. I had enough damage that it just wasn't feasible at that point.

The only hope I had was to eat meat because my digestion was so poor. I had other work to do but it was a part of *MY* healing. I'm just throwing it out there because there are many ways to get to the same destination. It may be that he's not digesting the meat well, but that doesn't always mean he'll be better without it. Just my two cents!

[nycmom18]

very interesting! i do believe that every body is unique, so it makes sense to me. now, how to figure out my sons....!

[JaneS]

Originally Posted by Panserbjørne

My *theory* is that the pH is more tied to minerals than anything else.

Yep, Weston Price's research showed that it was a high mineral diet which still produced alkaline bodies eating very high acid foods.

[Panserbjorne]

Originally Posted by JaneS

Yep, Weston Price's research showed that it was a high mineral diet which still produced alkaline bodies eating very high acid foods.

whelp, there you go.

[Chakra]

We have a machine called the lymph star pro that would do wonders for your son. You can call the company and ask them questions about your sons swollen lymph nodes for some really good advise since they are so educated in the lymphatic system and thats all they do lymph research. They are very nice and always happy to offer advise.

lymphstarpro.com

[nycmom18]

thanks for the info chakra!

[Panserbjorne]

Originally Posted by Chakra

We have a machine called the lymph star pro that would do wonders for your son. You can call the company and ask them questions about your sons swollen lymph nodes for some really good advise since they are so educated in the lymphatic system and thats all they do lymph research. They are very nice and always happy to offer advise.

lymphstarpro.com

that link didn't appear to go to a live site...are they down?

[Koalamom]

Bumping this thread as I am dewaling with this in my baby. Swollen lymphs on the base of his skull since birth. I know it bothers him as he wont nurse resting his head ever and the Drs say to give him tylenol all the time, and wont do any further testing. So since this thread, nycmom, how is your ds coming along?

I wonder if it is because mine are swollen alot or from the lyme?

[rainbowmoon]

has he been tested for mono?

[Panserbjorne]

could be from lyme? Do you know why yours are swollen? Are they hard?

[AllyRae]

It could be something called "shotty lymph nodes"--nodes that swelled for illness and never went down and are now enlarged and hard. I responded to your other thread because I was being scanned for large hard non-painless lymph nodes. I had a CT scan in February, three months later, an ultrasound, and yesterday another ultrasound (They keep scanning it every couple months). It isn't shrinking, but it hasn't grown either, and there are no signs of cancer (I also had it biopsied). Every indication is that it's just a couple lymph nodes that are now permenantely enlarged.

[Panserbjorne]

when they are hard I have had great success with calc fluor cell salts and castor oil packs.

[Koalamom]

I always want to say everrything is from lyme as it usually ends up being from it, but I really don't know. I not only have large lymphs like my ds, but my neck is numb most of the time. It comes and goes fro years like that. One thing I did realize is that when I eat grains, they swell and feel sore. I really don't want to cut out grains, as I have almost nothing to eat from allergies. But I wonder if that is why my nursing son has issues, and I would be willing to change for him.


We havent had cell salts for a long time beacuse of the dairy and trialed them the other day. My 3 yr old got a super 103 fever, and I felt crappy. I have no idea how ds was, but he was verrrry cranky. I guess I should try non lactose ones now.

AllyRea, interesting about them never going back down, and do they ever hurt? As I think that they cause my ds alot of discomfort, that he wont nurse right without crying when I touch his neck.

This may be a silly question, but what lymph nodes are we talking about? It just occured to me that there are many lymphs through the body.

[Panserbjorne]

yup, my littlest needs lactose free as well.