We were told our 10 year old son has periodic fever syndrome (PFAPA) two years ago. Last year he was put on predisone. It's so hard because we have been to so many doctors and they don't know what to do any more. We don't know what to do next. Does any one have children who are going through this????

Yes my 6 year old was diagnosed with P.F.A.P.A this morning. She has had all the described symptoms for about 2 years. We have missed alot of work due to doctors not believing us. Our Pediatrition was informed of the fevers with no symptoms and she thought we were nuts. We kept taking her back about once amonth for these fevcers and some illness such as strep, ear infections colds combined with PFAPA. She finally called the CDC and they saw her today. Dr Feder dianosed her in about an hour. He has writen papers on this which can be found by typing Periodic fevers in the google.com search window. We are just starting our battle with this disease. They are putting her predisone in anither 21 to 28 days. Hope this helps. Good Luck !!

ccrider_fatboy

[This message has been edited by moderator2 (edited 04-15-2003).]

My nephew is 2 yrs old and has all of a sudden developed fevers upon fevers. It all started a few months ago with a simple ear infection, then it spread to both ears. He then developed a croup cough, and from there he had to be hospitalized. he developed severe abdominal pains that were alleviated with a suppository. He is no longer in hospital, but still gets fevers mostly every night... he saw a rheumatologist and she said he doesn't have rheumatoid arthritis, but she can't explain the fevers.. according to my sister, he is now being given medication that will cause drastic weight gain... not sure what else to do

Medication that causes drastic weight gain would be steroids. Steroids do this.

Steroids really need to be used with caution in people of any age and especially children. 2 years is extremely young to start giving steroids. They have lots of side effects, such as weight gain, increased appetite and moon face. Steroids also can cause irreversible side effects with long term use, so I would be very careful when giving them to kids and they should not be given to kids on a long term basis.