very tired 13 yr DS -

[bruffin]

Ds had a chest infection/pneumonia a month ago. He recovered quickly but never got his oomph back.This week he seems to have gone down hill has only been to school one day. He is incredibly tired and has a cough. Also lacks appetite and doesn't want to do any of the activities he normally loves doing.

Took him to the doctors this morning and she says his chest is clear, tonsils and ears are also clear and his glands are not enlarged.

She has ordered blood tests for anemia and thyroid and is referring him to paediatrician for the febrile convulsion he had with the chest infection..

Any ideas ?

Try some minidex (sp?) tonic, it's in an orange box. It can sometimes take ages to get back to normal again, poor thing A referal to a paediatrician is a good idea though.

Post viral fatigue? I don't know much about it but it could be...? Maybe give him an all round supplement, he must be knocked for six after that Hope he's better soon.

Thanks will give minadix a try, I have been giveing him a multi vitamin but I will try the minadix instead.
Also he is right in the middle of puberty and had big growth spurts, I suppose thats taken it out of him as well.

He now also seems to have a very low body temperature.
He is complaining he is cold all the time and took his temperature tonight and it was only 95 but later it was 97.
I started the minadex yesterday, does anyone know how long it should take to have some affect.

Has he lost any weight?
Is he coughing anything up from his chest?
Did he have tonsillitis with the chest infection?

Sounds as if he should be checked again by paed chest wise ~ did he have x rays when he was in hospital?

hmm, low temp and lack of energy could be thyroid ishoos - when does he get the test results back?

Does he have a fever or night sweats?

Have you had his blood sugar checked/ My DS was incredibly tied and turned out he had diabetis which can be triggered by viral infection. Is he thirsty as well as tired?

mears ~ good thinking

Thanks everyone for replies

Yes he did have an xray in hospital, it showed a shadow on the "right heart border" according to his notes.

No he isn't coughing anything up, but he didn't have a cough as a symptom originally.

He didn't have tonsilitis.

I am sure they took his blood sugar in a&e when he was taken to hospital and seemed to be okay

He actually seems to be drinking less than usual. He normally drinks pints of milk and he has hardly had any in the last week and he normally has a very healthy appetite but he is not eating very much compared to usual. He is on the thinner side but I couldn't really say if he has lost weight or not.

I have been searching the internet tonight and found that "hemolytic anemia" is a complication of "atypical pneumonia"

We should get the blood test back this week.

presumably they found the exact organism responsible for the atypical pneumonia?
did they exclude TB?
I think he may need to go back to the paed who treated him in hospital ~did he have a clear x ray when he left or at follow up?

He was only in hospital overnight, they said he could go home or stay for a few more days.

They just said bring him back if we were worried. To be honest at the time we were more worried about the febrile convulsion than the underlying infection that caused it.

yes I wouldn't have thought they were very common at 13
did he have them when he was younger?

We have an unusual family history with febrile convulsions usually stopping at 10.
He had a lot of fc's until 6 then another one at 8 and the last one at 10, so we thought he had finally grown out of them.

I got the results back and the thyroid is normal and the hemoglobin is 15 which is also normal.

I got another appointment for him tomorrow night. He needed a sweatshirt last night and is not interested in food at all.

does he have night sweats?

Apologies for not getting back earlier. I ended up having to cancel the appointment as his train was cancelled, but he is so much better this week, appetite back and getting his bounce back, even in this heat