Recurrent Unexplained Fever

[LouLouLouL]

Hi,

My son is 4 and has periodically suffered with a high fever between 39-40C since he was a baby.

The fever completely wipes him out and masks any other symptoms of what might be triggering his fever. He doesn’t eat, sleeps a lot, drinks a lot, loses his balance, sometimes comments that he feels sick or has a sore throat.

It happens maybe every month or two, lasts 2-4 days, only ibuprofen will control it and, although it was scary early on, it’s now just something we accept as how his body fights off bugs.

The thing is that we haven’t left the house in 10 weeks now and he currently in the midst of another fever. We are super strict with sanitisation and everything, we even disinfect and quarantine our food deliveries.

I guess that suggests his fever might not be bug related after all but the only other thing I might be able to link it to right now is a growth spurt, which Dr Google says isn’t a thing.

Does anyone have any shared experiences or insight?

Thanks.

Hi have you seen a GP, if so what did they say about it?

Hi OP, my DS has something that sounds similar. We have been under the paediatrician for a while now but they still haven’t been able to suggest what it is exactly. What does your GP suggest?

My DS seems to be put on ABs if we go during an episode as a ‘just in case’ but he always gets better by himself.

Periodic fever syndrome has been considered but doesn’t really fit. It’s been a worry but at almost 5 the episodes are getting less often and less severe. Drs and is are hoping he is growing out of it now?

Sounds like ear infections to me, especially with the loss of balance. It isn't a bug you pick up either, so perfectly possible.
Ds used to get ear infections around every 10-14 days through baby/toddler stages.
Now he's 12yo he's mostly grown out of it, but the symptoms were exactly as you said above.

did you manage to get any answers from the gp? we're in a similar boat with our 4 year old, since May she's having fevers every 1-3 weeks that have no other symptoms. We had a doctor come out who checked her over, ears and throat clear too. So confusing!

pfapa (periodic fever syndrome)? - can be cured with very high dose vit D (obviously only on prescription with bloods to monitor)

My son had lots of high temps, we were so worried there was something serious underlying. It turned out it was his ears and he needed grommets. We discovered this in a roundabout way as the gp didn't spot it. He's fine since getting grommets in age 6

@painandmorepaini saw that you wrote last year that pfapa can be cured with high dose vitamin d, do you have any idea about the dose? My older is under suspicion for this, and his vitamin d came a bit low. I’m beside myself because he has a fever every week. No other symptoms, sometimes an inflamed throat (but no pain). Going crazy.

@aphrodites @Elsajinx Is there any updates on your DC?
im experiencing similar …

My kid got officially diagnosed last year, we were given the option to not medicate since his flares were often but short. I started him on tart cherry juice concentrate (it’s quite sour so we mix it in apple juice) and magnesium/d3/k2 and his flares went from every 2-3 weeks to every 7/8 weeks. I highly recommend ❤️ Hope your kiddo is doing ok

@Elsajinx Thankyou for replying. I’m glad you got a diagnoses and I hope it all continues helping.
our story is; DS had a fever 12 days ago, went up to 39.9 at times. Lasted two days with no obvious cause and he had no other symptoms other than being slightly tired - checked over by a GP nothing came to light.

12 days later he has another fever.
The 12 days between he’s been fine, been preschool, days out etc. just a bit worried!