Mom desparately seeking answers

March 18, 2011

Hello. My son just turned 4 years old in February. When he was 2 1/2, he

started having very high fevers. He would just have fever, no other symptoms.

We would call his doctor and she would say that it was just a " virus " . That was

in October 2009 when the fevers started. In March 2010, although I had not

recorded the dates of the fevers, I noticed that they were coming at regular

intervals. After being told by his pediatrician that they were just " viruses " ,

I decided to switch him to a new pediatrician. In my opinion, viruses do not

come every 4 weeks. At that time, I started documenting his fevers and they

were coming so regular that I could mark my calendar as to when they would come.

He also developed a new symptom with leg pain when he had his fever. At his

first visit with his new pediatrician, they did blood workup. He had an

elevated ANA and very low iron level. He was sent to a pediatric rheumatologist

and the workup there was negative. He was then sent to a pediatric infectious

disease specialist who said that they " thought " that it might be (a

periodic fever disorder) but there is really no test for that so this was just

guessing.

Well, it is now March 2011. He is still fevering regularly, every 4 to 5 weeks.

He has SEVERE joint pain. He gets up in the morning and can't walk. I have to

carry him. He cries with his legs hurting and feet hurting during the night.

He has also even complained with his wrists hurting. We have another

appointment with the infectious disease doctor and the pediatric rheumatologist

on Monday. I can't help but feeling that he has some form of arthritis. He has

no other symptoms with these fever episodes other than severe joint pains. He

also had his first eye exam last week and he was diagnosed with a lazy eye. I

have also read where juvenile arthritis can lead to eye problems.

My reason for posting in this group is to ask if any of you have experieced

anything like my son's problem.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thank You.

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