Mysterious long-running low-grade fever, no other symptoms
Our 2 1/2 year old has had a low-grade fever (99.x) for 5 weeks now. He's mostly acting normal and happy, sometimes a little bit "needy" or "ADD"ish (more than usual/typical 2-yr old behavior!) On and off, he'll have other symptoms like a runny nose, cough, or not eating much, but the fever has been constant (for at least the last couple of weeks, since we began measuring daily) and the other symptoms have been brief.
We've seen doctors twice now (his regular pediatrician as well as a sub) and they've checked his ears (fine), asked if the fever ever spikes above 100.8 (it doesn't), if he's acting normally (mostly, yes) and if he started preschool recently (he did, this fall, it's now November). Then they've said not to worry, it's most likely a recurring set of viral infections that his body's fighting off.
But every week that the fever continues (even while keeping him out of school to recover), I get a little more worried that something more serious is going on. Should we be doing something more / different?
I don't want him missing so much school so I'm tempted to send him, but I also want to give him a chance to be free of illness (although that plan doesn't seem to be working). Your thoughts are welcome!
3 Answers
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I don't think you should worry if the temperature is below 100 degrees.
We've had similar issues with our child, even since he started preschool 3 months ago. I did some research on the web and found this great link to a fever article on WebMD that has a couple really great quotes:
Don't get too caught up in the exact temperature. While it is true that higher fevers may signify a more worrisome infection, more important are your child's symptoms, such as respiratory distress, irritability, listlessness, lethargy, poor feeding, fewer interactions with then environment, rash, vomiting, diarrhea, etc. I'm much more worried about a listless child with a temperature of 101, than a smiling playful one with a temp of 103.
and I also like this one:
So repeat after me: fever is our friend, fever is our friend... It lets us know that an infection may be brewing, and, at the same time, it helps to fight off that infection. And that infection- induced fever doesn't go high enough (typically >106.5) to carry a risk of causing damage to the brain and body.
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One thing to remember is that 98.6 is an average and some people run hotter or cooler, and that it varies by time of day too. According to wikipedia normal range is from 97.2 to 99.5, with early evening being the highest and early morning the lowest.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Normal_human_body_temperature
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two things - if you're using those ear based thermometers they can be off by 1/2 to 1 degree sometimes, so check orally to make sure it's not your thermometer consistently off - also, it really never hurts to go to another pediatrician - I've found with our family that sometimes we've had to go to a few different doctors before we found one that was able to take a different angle on the problem.
Good point. I'm not overly worried anymore but, just as an update, we're now on week 7 with basically a daily fever of 99 degrees. But today his temperature was 98.6 - fingers crossed! We travel tomorrow across the country!
- andrea, Nov 24, 2009