Anaemia and borderline under active thyroid

[kathaskittens]

I’m wondering if anyone may have experience of something like this they could share? My two year old was very unwell about six weeks ago with fever of no known origin and swollen lymph nodes in his groin. He had blood tests at the time and wound up in A&E due to increased white blood cell count and blood spots appearing on his skin. They repeated the blood test and monitored him for the evening, eventually concluding it was a viral infection as his white blood cell count was reducing.

They recommended a repeat blood test to make sure he’s completely recovered, which he had last week. The GP phoned today advising that he’s anaemic (more so than six weeks ago - we didn’t know he was then!) and that he’s got a borderline under active thyroid. His WBC is back to normal thankfully. Obviously he’s now going to have another blood test, and an ultra sound of his groin as the lymph nodes there are still swollen. But I wondered if anyone has gone through similar with their toddler and could shed some light on what might be going on? He’s pretty well in himself, if occasionally lethargic!

Could he have inherited a trait from either you or his dad? Sickle Cell and Thalessaemia traits often present as mild anaemia.

My daughter has been anaemia for over 12 months. Other than being pale and having very swollen lymph nodes in her throat, in the main she has been ok. She is on liquid iron (sytron) 9mls a day. I have to say, the side effects of the medication weren't nice to begin with. She couldn't hold her bowels, was often sick and generally unwell. But that's all settled now and she's fine. We have another blood test in a few weeks and if she's still anaemic then they will do a transfusion/infusion. I've no experience with the thyroid issue but with the iron, hopefully your son should be ok with the right treatment.

Thank you both for replying so quickly. I think it’s unlikely to be anything from us as we’ve just no history of those conditions on either side of the family and aren’t in a higher risk group. He also had the heel prick test as a newborn which I think flags up sickle cell, though I could be wrong?

Thank you for giving your experiences of anaemia @isitsummeryet1 - so far my son has no real symptoms other than a bit of lethargy and the odd fever. Hopefully the repeat blood test will show it resolving itself, or we can make a plan moving forward! Glad your daughter is doing well :)

I guess we’ll know more when we get the blood test through, hopefully that’ll shed some light on the thyroid issue, which I’ve never really heard of before!