Trying to Figure Out Why My Child Runs Fevers Every Month

Hi J.,
Just to let you know if you didn't know already, a fever from a UTI is usually very high and doesn't get better on it's own. My daughter who is 22 months has had 2 UTIs in her lifetime and her temp last time was 104.5. So if it's low grade and goes away it probably isn'y a UTI. Hope this helps.

My daughter is 4 and does the exact same thing. She runs a fever of 102 it seems like every other month. She never has any complaints to go along with the fever. We have taken her to the doctor but she never does cultures for strep she usually just write for an antibiotic. We have had her blood drawn as well and the only thing was her calcium came back low. She has no problems using the bathroom so we ruled out urinary tract infection. We having her blood drawn again tomorrow to check her blood levels. I am just as puzzled as you. It can't be anything infectious because she is the only one that gets sick. My son is 5 and usually never gets sick. What sort of specialist are you taking your child too? My husband and I are thinking of having our family doctor refer us to someone.

My daughter Lilly was that way. I am not sure that it was every month but it was quite often to where I was afraid that she had something going on. We did the test for the urinary tract infection and we were always checking for ear infections. It turned out that she just runs hot. Whenever she is fighting something off - she gets a fever. She is 8 now and is a twin so it seemed odd that she would get something and her sister almost never caught it. Lilly is a messy child - she always has her hands in things and is very creative. I think she just picks up more bugs than my other 2 children because of her style. She has outgrown it mostly but does spend more time at home with a fever than my other 2. Now she probably only has fever 3 or 4 times per year.

Hope this helps.

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My daughter now 7 also had the same problem since she was 3 or 4 and all we got was its just a virus it will go away, let it run its course which got really annoying. We had her tonsils and adenoids taken out when she was 6 and she hasn't had a fever since just a long drawn out cold which we found out was due to asthma. Hope this helps

My son has this same fever about every 2 wks, and everytime I take him to the Dr. we are told it is ear and throat infection and they give him the same med. I know u said it wasn't that, but I have another app to take my son to get a 2nd opinion because it doesn't seem as if the Dr. is helping my child (seeing as it comes back every 2-3 wks) . Maybe you can do that. I know this wasn't much help, but it always helps me to know that I am not the only on going through a situation.

A.

J.,

My 7 year old daughter has this same issue. When she was 4 years old she had a fever every four weeks. When she got out of school for the summer the fevers disappeared and didn't come back until this past school year when they occured every 2-3 weeks!She has been to see an Endocrinologist because she also has slow growth and is very small for her age. She has also been to see an Infectious Disease Specialist at Duke. So far we have gotten no definitive answers about the fevers or the delayed growth. The Infectious Disease Specialist thinks the most likely cause of her fevers is something called Familial Mediterranian Fever which runs in families of Mediterranian or Middle Eastern Descent. He prescribed a medication called Colchicine and the fevers have gone away, but we don't know if that is a result of the drug or if it's a fluke. After all, the fevers went away on their own before and then came back. Does your daughter have any growth issues, or just the fevers?

This sounds similar to a problem a friend of mine was having years ago with their oldest child. I believe they discovered that they had mold in their crawl space and it was getting into the ductwork in their home. This may not be your situation, but you could check into it to make sure.

My daughter has those same strange fevers. They will run as high as 105 degrees. But fortunatly with mine, it does not slow her down. I have learned that unless there are other symptoms, just let it go. If there is a fever, it is the body's way of fighting something. If they are comfortable, just let the body do it's job. My brother who is 38 years old, had the same fevers. I hope this give you some comfort. Good luck and God Bless.

Sounds almost like a hormonal thing. A womans temperature rises after ovulation due to an increase in progesterone. Then it drops just before menstruations starts. I know she is just 2 but she might have a problem with one or more of her glands or ovaries. It's probably not that but worth getting checked out if nothing else comes back positive.

Hi J., my husband and I went through something similar with our son. He's now 13, but was 3 years old when it begin to happen. Like you, we had so many tests done b/c we wanted to make sure what was causing him to run a fever. And yes it would come and go. So after ruling out a lot of our concerns, we begin to look through our home. Was there something that he was allergic to and we had no idea? Come to find out it was a respiratory infection. There was no sign of congestion, stuffy nose or watery eyes. And of all things he was allergic to; it was the candles that I was burning daily. The toxics from the candles where making him ill and I had no idea. Needless to say the candles went away. It's so easy to overlook things. Now things have never been better. Best wishes to you and your family.

Hi J.,

As I read your email I couldn't help but think this is exaclty what we have been experiencing with our daughter since the age of two. She turned 4 in May. We have been to specialists and still have have come to no conclusions. She does not fit the "criteria" if you will for any syndrome or disease and for that I am thankful. The pediatrician and I had worked out a plan that each time she has a fever I would take a urine speciman. I will tell you honestly that I have done it each time because the culture for the UTI NEVER comes back positive. One Dr. suggested that it could be she experiencing or fightring a sinus infection of some sort. Who really knows? I will tell you that the fevers have become further apart since she has become older and I am hoping that they will end as she gets older. (The same philosophy you are familiar and mentioned)

My son is 2 and we're having the same problem What is this?

Hi J.~ I have a dear friend who is going through the same thing. Her son is 2 and has been diagnosed with cyclical fever syndrome. Unfortunately, there is not a lot to be done. If the fevers are cyclical, then you can prepare yourself for the time of month when she will be ill and they have advised her to keep her son away from other children who are sick. That's about it.

If you would like to send me your email address I can give it to her and maybe she can offer some words of advice and support.

Praying your daughter to good health,
S.

Teething? Getting her rear molars might make her get a fever.

Also, she might be having a reaction to something she's eating -- even if she typically eats it. I have some form of lactose intolerance. It's not too bad, because I can usually eat whatever I want, BUT if I eat/drink dairy too much or for too many days in a row, I get intestinal discomfort, gas, diarrhea, etc. It seems to build up and up and up in my system, until it finally overloads and then makes my body go wacky. Perhaps something like this is happening to your daughter -- she's reacting negatively to something in her diet, but it builds up over time, rather than something like "eat peanuts = throat swells". You may want to do a food diary for your daughter and see if you can identify any trends like that.

Hi J., My youngest child had the same problem years ago. We took him to doctors, did all sorts of test and we could never find a reason for the fevers. Finally after more than two years, one doctor suggested taking out his tonsils and adnoids-- altho he wasn't having sore throats. We were at our wits end by then and agreed to the surgery. Since then he hasn't had any more unexplained fevers in 10 years. He was either 4 or 5 when he had the surgery done.

Our family doctor thought that taking out his tonsils was not needed and wouldn't help him in any way and he did not recommend it. A lot of doctors feel that way. Removing tonsils to stop unknown fevers is an "older" practice. However if you do gets to a point where nothing is working, go see an ear nose and throat doctor and see about taking out her tonsils. Our son was better immediately. Good luck to you!

That is very odd. Does it happen at the same time each month. I know she is very young, but I used to get an ovary infection every other period, as I had 1 bad ovary. I have never heard of a child this small having any issue like that, but could it be possible?? Her little body may be reacting young to a larger issue. I would pray that is not the issue. How high of a fever are you talking? Over 102??? As long as she is not lethargic, or ill, I would not stress over that. Good luck and God Bless!

I completely understand what you and your family are goin through. This happened with my daughter as well...dr trips, meds, even the ER, etc...all to be unexplained. Our Ped said it is her body fighting off something and yes, every time we turned around it seemed to be happening all over again. All we could do was make her comfortable, Tylenol and Ibuprophen to keep the fevers down and Pedialyte and Sprite to keep her hydrated.
Then, all of a sudden once she hit 3-3 1/2, it stopped and we didn't even notice it until I opened the bathroom cabinet and saw all the bottles of fever meds! Tossed!! It's more so the worry of something than it actually being something. Get used to it, you'll end up going through this will allergies too (we discovered it was the pink rug in her room). Not meaning to frighten you but it always seems it's one thing after another.Good luck!

Get her allergy tested. It's pretty common for both kids and adults to run fevers in association with allergies. The way your immune system works is you get sick at the initial exposure to something and then run a fever. Meanwhile, your body makes antibodies to whatever is making you sick...allergens, viruses, bacteria, whatever. This process takes about 3 weeks. Then, the next time you get exposed to that same thing your body attacks it. In the case of allergies the body may overreact to the allergen and cause recurrent fevers. Someone else mentioned tonsils and adenoids and that could be the case as well. The tonsils are a good place for bacteria to hide and incubate until it's ready to come out and make you sick (usually during periods of stress, like being to tired, having a fun day of vigorous play, etc.).

Hope this gives you some ideas to look into.

Same as previous post, wanted to let you know that when my sister was little, she had fevers pretty much every week. doctors could not figure out what it was. eventually, they took out her tonsils. turns out although they appeared perfect on the outside, inside was they were bad (something like a pretty piece of fruit, but is bad on the inside).

anyway, just thought i'd let you know. once they were removed, she didn't have any problems after that. if i remember correctly, i do remember her fevers getting pretty high though.

hope something here clicks for you!