And we're back...

[MicroByte]

I've been lurking for the past few months since my son has been doing better so really haven't been posting. Well, first week of school and he's now got symptoms of fever, loose green stools and some stomach pains. Going to schedule appointments with his Ped and GI later on today.

How do you handle situations like this? To me it seems like he is having a flare up, but how do you rule out the "normal" kid stuff like Strep, colds or anything else? I hate to always jump to the conclusion that it's his Crohn's causing things when there are so many other things that can seem similar as well.

Ugh, I was hoping he could get more into the school year without missing school...

 

[Clash]

I know the feeling, my son started school a few weeks ago and we have had several appointments and a sick day. Ughhh... I was really hoping to start the year off with more solid attendance but the school as been great. His appointments were check ups and such but the sick day seemed to be symptoms brought on by stress and made me really nervous but so far so good.

I hope your son is feeling better soon, and although I hate to wish a virus on ya maybe it is just a bug and not the start of a flare!

 

[Mehita]

It's frustrating, isn't it? Are any of your son's friends sick? I also always call the school nurse and ask if there are any GI things going around. At our school when you call your child in sick, you also have to report the symptoms, so they usually have pretty good records if there are stomach bugs going around.

My son always gets anxious for the start of school, which increases bathroom visits and stomach aches so I try to purposely schedule his check up visit the week before school starts. They always do routine blood work and this gives us a sense of whether the symptoms are more physical or mental.

I hope it's nothing and he feels better soon.

 

[Tesscorm]

My son is probably older than yours (he's 18) so I can count on him being a bit more aware of how he's feeling but my experience has been...

Once in a while Stephen has had 'off' days which may have included a bit of fever or feeling feverish, looser BMs/constipation, paleness, tiredness. I try to treat what I can at home when needed (ie tylenol for fever, rice for D, prune just for C)... so far, these symptoms have only lasted a few days and haven't worsened day by day. So, I wait out the days and see how it goes.

As it's happened a few times, I now know what are the 'typical' symptoms but if it was a new symptom, if they were worsening or not going away after a few days, I would call the doctor.

 

[MicroByte]

Thanks for everyone's replies. Wife just got back from Ped and it's nothing "normal". I left a VM with the GI to see if we can get some blood work done without an office visit since that would probably be the outcome anyways based on our past visits.

I really wonder how much stress plays into this, stress has so many manifestations that you wouldn't even think of. He was fine all summer long and it's too coincidental that this occurred on the first week of school.

@Clash/Mehita - thanks for sharing this, sounds like this somewhat re-affirms my notion that stress could be a trigger.

@Tesscorm - I wish he was a little older. He's 6 so it's hard to get any info on how he feels with the usual generic answer of "feel good". That was his response even as he was running a temp.

 

[dannysmom]

When you go back to school you are also exposed to LOTS more germs. In both 7th and 8th grade Danny attempted school - in 7th grade he caught a cold virus that went all through our family and it lasted months for Danny and all his 'Crohn's-like' symptoms worsened. In 8th grade he caught 2 back to back colds and again the Crohn's like symptoms worsened. Every time Danny gets sick, his Crohn's-like symptoms worsen. HE is in 10th grade now and again attempted school ... and is so excited about it. I am dreading him catching a virus ... and then it setting everything back.
I hope your son feels better soon!!

 

[Patricia56]

Fever is always a sign of illness in our experience. I would do a wait and see if he had no fever but with a fever at 100.5 or higher twice in 24 hours I would definitely assume it was illness.

You don't use a signature so I don't know what meds he's on so I can't comment on that.

I totally agree that stress and exposure to bugs play a part.

If it's an option to home school him when he's this little you may want to consider that, particularly if he's not in solid remission.

How long has it been since he was diagnosed and how often has he flared in the past year?

 

[kimmidwife]

School and this time of the year seem to be a major trigger for my daughter. We can't seem to get past a September with no flare . In fact her first crohns flare ever was at the end of August / beginning of September.