"Ready to go to my Primary Children's"

Thursday morning we had to take Bella to her appointment at Primary Children's and she was so excited. I think she was so excited because she heard the words Primary and Children so she figured it had to be like church and there would be friends there. I didn't have the heart to tell her "no, baby we are actually taking you to the Dr. again". So lucky for us there were all sorts of fun toys for her to play with while we waited our turn.

Anyway, they diagnosed her with PFAPA Syndrome (periodic fevers with aphthous stomatitis, pharyngitis, and adenitis). Yeah it's a mouth full.

Here is the deffinition: PFAPA (periodic fevers with aphthous stomatitis, pharyngitis, and adenitis) syndrome is a periodic fever syndrome that typically manifests between ages 2 and 5 yr; it is characterized by febrile episodes lasting 3 to 6 days, pharyngitis, aphthous ulcers, and adenopathy. Etiology and pathophysiology are undefined.

PFAPA syndrome is a relatively common periodic fever in children. Although genetic causes have not been determined, this syndrome tends to be grouped with hereditary fever syndromes. It typically starts in early childhood (between ages 2 and 5 yr) and tends to be more common among males.

Febrile episodes last 3 to 6 days and recur about every 28 days. The syndrome causes fatigue, chills, and occasionally abdominal pain and headache, as well as fever, pharyngitis, aphthous ulcers, and lymphadenopathy. Patients are healthy between episodes, and growth is normal.

Diagnosis

Diagnosis is based on clinical findings, which include the following:

• 3 febrile episodes, lasting up to 5 days and occurring at regular intervals
• Pharyngitis plus adenopathy or aphthous ulcers
• Good health between episodes and normal growth

Acute-phase reactants (C-reactive protein, ESR) are elevated during a febrile episode but not between episodes. Neutropenia or other symptoms (diarrhea, rash, cough) are not present; their presence suggests a different disorder.

This is her to a T. The Dr. there said she should grow out of it. Just another couple of years. Yay! (sarcasm) We were given some medicine to give her at the first sign of an oncoming fever. This medicine should knock the fever out in a few hours instead of a few days. I hope it works that would be amazing! If it doesn't work we will try a different approach and it could indicate that she has something other than pfapa. But the good news is the Dr. said it's nothing to worry about and isn't really serious if it is indeed pfapa. She hasn't had a fever in 5 weeks (knock on wood). But we will get the medicine and have it ready for the next episode.

We're just happy to hear that it isn't a serious thing. And that all these crazy high fevers won't have a lasting effect on her. And let's just hope she grows out of it by age 5 like they say.