poppy
Frequent Contributor (1K+ posts)
Member # 5355
posted
....every five weeks. A medical professional told me this about her child. Said an infectious disease doc prescribed steroids, which helped.
I didn't say anything as I was in the middle of a medical procedure and that time interval didn't sound usual for tickborne disease.
But I was shocked that an ID doc would be diagnosing it as autoimmunity and handing out steroids to a child. Of course, I don't know what was looked for in the way of causes. But very suspicious about this treatment. A fever can be a warning of an infection, and if you knock down the immune system the fever will go away but the infection will not.
I will probably never see this person again, so won't have a chance to get more info and offer any suggestions. Very frustrating.
Posts: 2888 | From USA | Registered: Mar 2004
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poppy
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posted
Hmmm, second thoughts on this subject. Maybe she was telling me this as a way of suggesting what I had was autoimmune!
Posts: 2888 | From USA | Registered: Mar 2004
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Keebler
Honored Contributor (25K+ posts)
Member # 12673
posted
- And if that doctor is that ignorant about the dangers of steroids in her own child with a fever, does she know all she needs to know about other matters of diagnosis and treatment -- or which other doctors to trust?
I sure would not trust that she does. I would not be able to trust her at all about anything.
Short term, to mask symptoms, those steroids may have worked to reduce fever - but the doctor is certainly not looking to the long term effects, I'm sure.
It is horifying that a child - that anyone - would be given steroids to suppress a fever instead of doing all possible to find the CAUSE of that fever.
This is good information for you to steer clear of her, too. If she trusts the other doctor in that steroids are the answer to a recurring fever, how thorough is she going to be in her own work with her patients? Not very, I would say.
That she tells you this every five weeks, well, that also seems to say she does not believe you have have lyme. Why else would she tell you this - every five weeks?
I know I could never trust her skill with her behavior - she couldn't be saying it any more clearly: she does not believe you have lyme.
And she is sharing stupid decisions about her own child on top of that. -
Posts: 48021 | From Tree House | Registered: Jul 2007
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poppy
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Nurse, not doctor. No training in infectious diseases is my guess and no reason to know very much about them.
It is the fever that occurs every five weeks. I only saw her once for a procedure, will not need to see her again.
Posts: 2888 | From USA | Registered: Mar 2004
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posted
I had this starting with a week long 105 fever right after a surgery. I then would get a 102 fever for a week every 3 to 5 weeks it seemed.
It turned out to be babesia. Personally I will never allow them to give me or my son a steroid unless its a life or death on the spot reason to give it.
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poppy
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posted
Wondering if a steroid would cause a babesia test to be false negative?
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posted
I tested positive four months after getting the cortisone shot in my knee, but my ortho gave me a 10 day course of azithromycin a week later due to my fever of 105.
I know the steroids do mess with the lyme test and all, IMO I don't see that any benefit of the steroids outweigh the negative side effects unless of course it's a life threatening situation.
But again the steroids work by suppressing your bodies immune response to reduce inflamation making you defenseless.
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