What could this be?

[hitmouse]

My DS is 14 and for years has had a recurring illness. Every six weeks he gets bad backache, sore throat, temperature and generally feels really ill and tired. He's seen a paediatrician who couldn't find anything despite full blood tests and said we just have to live with it. I feel strongly there's something underlying that keeps coming back as he gets this like clockwork on a cyclical basis. Does anyone have any idea what it could be?

An outside chance but has cyclical neutropenia been excluded. tends to affect children more htan adults and gives a cyclical drop in white cells in the blood.

That was suggested by the paediatrician and I thought it sounded like a good fit but took him for a blood test when he was ill and his blood count was normal so that's been ruled out. The blood tests showed evidence of infection and I wonder if he has some underlying infection that flares up. It seems strange that it's so regular.

I'll watch this thread with interest, as DD has been getting exactly the same symptoms; the full blood tests came back clear. for your DS.

Same for your DD CastleDouglas! The paediatrician was very thorough and helpful but said he'd probably just have to learn to live with it, but it lays him low for several days every 6 weeks so really impacts on his life. I feel really frustrated as I know something must be causing it and just want to know what!