6yo no energy, dark circles under eyes, seemingly low immunity, talk sense to me

[phdlife]

He's had glandular fever 2 years ago and then again earlier this year OR it was a false positive triggered by a similar virus (CMV or parvovirus). He was also diagnosed with "not quite anaemia" iron levels 3 months ago.

Since start of Oct he's missed about 12 days of school with low temps and what originally I thought was a cold - sneezes/congestion/sniffles, but that's been constant for over a month now so got to be something else. Doesn't it?

GP has tested for thyroid function, coeliac, vit d and zinc deficiency, inflammation, EBV, I can't remember what else - it seemed a long list - all good bar iron. The supps seemed to help for a while but many days he drags his sknny little butt around, frequently has reddish or quite grey shadows under the eyes, "feels terrible" or runs out of steam even after 11 hrs' kip.

I want to go back to gp and stamp my foot, but tbh I don't know what else we can look for. Any suggestions?

bump for you. this must be horrible for all of you. i hope someone is of more help

I don't know much about this kind of thing but there must be an underlying cause for the deficiency and that is what the GP needs to find or refer him. Just giving supplements is clearly not the answer.

Hopefully someone with more knowledge will come along and help but definitely keep stamping your feet. Hope you get him better.

gp said iron deficiency is quite common in kids especially after a growth spurt - which he's definitely done this year. She said they just outstrip body's ability to lay down stores.

ok it is so my bedtime, thanks for your bump chibi

Is he taking iron?
Or even a good multivitamin?

It can take 2 or 3 months of iron replacement to really replenish stores.
Also repeated viral illness can really take it out of kids - hopefully he is just going through a horrible spell.

All the nasty worrying stuff seems to have been well investigated by those blood tests you mentioned.
Maybe give it a couple of weeks and then, yes, go back if you are still worried about him.

Must be worrying for you - I have no idea/no medical back ground but some non specific suggestions, have you ruled out a food intolerance? usually common after tummy bugs but may well be something he can't tolerate after being ill that could be affecting absorption of everything he needs.
in terms of natural health it sounds like he has chronic illness (low level illness) rather than acutes (high temps, short acute illness) ds3 had on and off temperatures for months and doc's believed he had a low level antibotic resistance ear infection (he has ENT issues) and in end suggested low/no sugar diet, supplements and dietary changes. After 2 weeks we started to get high spiking temperatures which I was told was his body fighting back properly (told not to suppress it with calpol or nurophen unless got to 40 deg C) - after a month he stopping having the temperatures and has been so much stronger since - just started school and not been ill at all.
Anecdotal I know, maybe some home things to try and sounds like you have every right to go back to gp and ask for some help, mothers intuition.. there are examples on here where its been so right

Hi,just wondered how your son was doing and if you had made any progress with the doctors. My daughter is 12 and is in a very similar situation and i'm sure it's related to Glandular fever. She first got GF just before she was 3 and has had what i presume to being recurring bouts ever since. For example, at the end of term, if she's overdone it or there are a lot of bugs around. Every couple of years she has a bad bout, where she is wiped out for a week or 2.

However at the moment she has been in bed for over 3 weeks now. She is fatigued, tires easily, feels nauseous, has an intermittent headache. I have taken her to the doctor and has had numerous blood tests, all of which have come back as negative or show that she has had gf or cytomegalovirus but that it is not active at present. We are waiting for Epstein Barr one to come back . She has a slightly enlarged liver, swollen but not red tonsils, slightly low white blood count and her glands are up. The doctors are doing nothing because nothing is showing in the bloods, whilst my child is obviously ill. She looks awful, very pale and big black circles under her eyes. I am so frustrated. Sorry , this turned in to a rant. Hope your son is feeling better. I have been speaking to a friend who has had chronic fatigue syndrome and i'm wondering if it is this.

Has he been tested for cystic fibrosis?

I'll be wondering about allergies. Would it be worth going to a nutritionist and maybe looking at an exclusion diet. Does he have any allergies, hay fever or asthma?

I was also thinking allergies. Google allergic shiners, DS gets these terribly when exposed to his allergens.

I would ask for referral to a specialist paediatrician to look at autoimmune stuff.