Why does my son get sick once a month?

amother

Sun, Jan 03 2010, 10:18 pm

My five year old gets sick once a month without fail. He get's occasional strep but it is mostly virus's. Since school started this is his fifth illness. In November he was sick twice once in the beginning and once at the very end so he managed to stay well in December. Now it's the beg of january and he has strep. I actually took him to the doctor today for a swine flu shot and while they did the routine check of his ears and throat (no fever or any other symptoms)his culture came out positive. I find it very hard to work knowing this is a monthly thing. My other son ahd strep at the end of November and now he has an ear infection. I thought as they get older it is supposed to be less illnessess. Just venting I guess.

happyone

Mon, Jan 04 2010, 6:46 am

amother wrote:

OP, what are your son's symptoms? If he gets a fever, sore throat, mouth sores, stomach ache once a month (like clockwork - can last a week each time), I have some ideas for you as I went through something similar with one of my children.

PFAPA comes once a month with mouth sores, fever and stomach ache. OP said it's different viruses so could just be your child has a lower resistance, weaker immune system or is just in a school where hygiene isn't that much of a priority. I would ask the teachers if they practice good hygiene. If they wash the children s hands, make sure children that don't feel well stay out for 24 hours after fever etc..

amother

Tue, Jan 05 2010, 10:30 pm

happyone wrote:

amother wrote:

Right. (I'm the amother you quoted above.) PFAPA is exactly what my daughter had (and still occasionally has episodes, although much less frequently). I'm actually surprised anyone else here has heard of it! Wow!

OP, if your child is having recurring strep infections, and getting antibiotics each time, chances are it's a kind of chronic strep that may only become antibiotic resistant... You might ask your doctor about tonsillectomy (sometimes strep kind of "moves in" to the tonsils) if your son's tonsils are always huge... but first find out about all possible natural remedies for chronic strep.

If it's various random viruses and when you say "once a month" you are just estimating and it's not actually once a month by the calendar, then yes, strengthen your son's immune system first of all, and go from there.

By the way all that anti-bacterial soap and such are probably just making problems by creating resistant bacteria...

Israeli Mother

Wed, Jan 13 2010, 6:04 pm

amother wrote:

... but first find out about all possible natural remedies for chronic strep

I must stick my nose in here. As an ND, I can tell you that if a child has strep - put him on antibiotics. Strep will go away by itself without intervention but you are risking rheumatic fever or glomerulonephritis [kidney disease].

After he is finished with the antibiotics, then work on getting and keeping him healthy. So how do you do that?

The best way to ensure that his [or anyone's] immune system is functioning at full strength is to make sure that he gets plenty of sleep. Yes, sleep. Believe it or not, this really does affect the immune system. The next thing is to ensure that he is eating real, whole, foods -- lots of fruit, vegetables, whole grains [no white bread, no junk food, no bisli or bamba], plenty of water to flush out the toxins, a good amount of protein, and very little sugar or sugary foods.

I know that this is a tall order with a young child, but it can be done. You will have to enlist the help of his teacher/ganenet to minimize the junk being given out in school.

Good luck and I hope the winter is easier from here on in....

amother

Wed, Jan 13 2010, 10:03 pm

Israeli Mother wrote:

amother wrote:

... but first find out about all possible natural remedies for chronic strep

Hi Israeli Mother, I'm the amother you quoted. I respect that you are an ND and appreciate your viewpoint. THe reason I said to explore natural remedies (including ways to build immunity, such as adequate sleep and whole foods diet, definitely part of that) is because often kids with chronic strep that "lives" in their tonsils do get put on antibiotics... repeatedly... with bad consequences for their overall health, digestion, etc., not to mention the possibility of creating resistant bacteria.

If the antibiotics, taken properly and finished, etc., have not wiped out an infection the first or second time, then taking them a 3rd, 4th, 5th time isn't necessarily the right thing to do. It's time to look at other options. It also might be time to think about tonsillectomy in some cases.

Disclaimer - I am not a doctor (of any kind) but I went through this with a child and did exhaustive research. BH she is healthy today. (For PFAPA the main thing is to get them through their early childhood in one piece because they generally outgrow it by adolescence. OD'ing on antibiotics isn't the way to go for this condition. However, I have no idea what the OP's child may be dealing with - recurring illness/infections can mean many things.)

Israeli Mother

Thu, Jan 14 2010, 5:45 am

amother wrote:

THe reason I said to explore natural remedies (including ways to build immunity, such as adequate sleep and whole foods diet, definitely part of that) is because often kids with chronic strep that "lives" in their tonsils do get put on antibiotics... repeatedly... with bad consequences for their overall health, digestion, etc., not to mention the possibility of creating resistant bacteria.

I hear what you are saying. We agree that strengthening the child's health is very important and how to go about that. What you must do when your child [or anyone for that matter] must be on antibiotics is to have them take probiotic capsules 2 hours before or after the antibiotic -- NOT at the same time. This prevents the gastrointestinal upsets and candida overgrowth that can come along with antibiotic treatment. For kiddies that don't swallow capsules, you can just open up a capsule and dump the contents into yogurt -- it doesn't taste bad. Actually, they have very little taste at all.

amother wrote:

If the antibiotics, taken properly and finished, etc., have not wiped out an infection the first or second time, then taking them a 3rd, 4th, 5th time isn't necessarily the right thing to do. It's time to look at other options. It also might be time to think about tonsillectomy in some cases.

You are also quite right here. However, you cannot just let a strep infection go without doing something because of the possible consequences, which is why I responded to let people know that an antibiotic is necessary in the case of strep. I am not a proponent of throwing antibiotic treatment at everything by any means and it is to be avoided whenever possible. Unfortunately, sometimes it cannot be avoided.

Sometimes, as you mentioned, there is an infection in the tonsils that the antibiotics are just not killing and so the child is sometimes kept on antibiotics to keep the bacteria count down until surgery so that they are not sick when they undergo surgery. In this case it is very important to keep up the probiotics in order to keep the tummy happy and the yeast lonely LOL

A good rule to follow in most things in life is that if a treatment didn't work the first or second time then doing the same thing 3 or 4 or 5 times will probably not yield any better results and it's time to look for a new way to tackle the problem...

amother

Thu, Jan 14 2010, 8:45 pm

Israeli Mother wrote:

amother wrote:

Thank you for your thoughtful response, Israeli Mother. I do know about probiotics and agree 100% with everything you wrote.