Childhood Illness Anyone?

Hello Everyone - There is a subject that I'm quite curious about and it's childhood illnesses. 

I have a great-niece who, at the tender age of 1 1/2 has been in hospital quite often with chest infections (pneumonia and bronchitis) and I started to wonder if she too has something going on...

I was a sick kid - I rememeber having bronchitis often as a kid and getting really sick with high temps (my mom trying to get the fever down with cold baths and cold cloths etc). 

Does anyone else remember being sick like that as a kid? 

I'd be interested to hear if you were totally healthy too...

Personally, I think we've had this since birth, hence my curiousity.

I was infected with Staphylococcus within hours after birth which I'm sure would mess anyone up but I never looked into it. I also had multiple strep throat infections and ear infections (about once a month) until I was about 10. I also developed IBS at age 14. When I finally became an adult, I had been relieved that all of that was behind me and I was managing my IBS and then everything started happening to me within the past few years.

As a young child I had severe and chronic ear infections, but was relatively healthy. When I was 18 I got a bad case of mono and that is when my health went downhill. I never fully recovered and after that I got sick all the time with strep and wierd blood counts and periods of debilitating fatigue. My son, who is 9 now has been prone to bronchitis and pneumonia since he was 3 months old and had RSV. He also gets strep all the time Then when he was 7 he got mono and afterward developed arthritis and had a high sed rate and positive ANA and anemia. There is the possibility that he has also had rheumatic fever. THere is no question that his immune system is not working correctly. He is currently being treated for both rhuematic fever and arthritis. This is a great topic and I'm really interested to see what others have to say.

Hi-- my mom gave me my baby book and I had pneumonia three times before I was a year old. One time I was so sick they had to give me a shot in my chest, my mom said. I was dying. I had every childhood disease with a vengence, chickenpox really really bad. Had ear infections and throat infections throughout my childhood, one throat infection lasting two years because they kept treating me for strep when I actually had a staph infection. Had kidney infections as a toddler at age four had an IVP. Ran real high fevers and had to have ice baths and alcohol baths and hated my mom for doing it. I had blepharitis so bad that I had to wake up early for school because my eyes were so badly crusted shut that I had to soak them for twenty minutes with warm water to soften the crusts so I could open my eyes. That was the worst. Had very dry eyes, light sensitivity, very swollen lids. My oldest son has this problem to this day. Also, bad sinusitis throughout childhood. Puberty helped, I think, then I started getting UTIs all the time. Still the occasional throat infection, blepharitis went away when I started wearing contacts at 14, perhaps due to the solutions, don't know. Except for UTIs and menstral cramps, was fine till 28, then lost pigment and got very ill. Was probably hypoglycemic as a child, very anxious and hyper, and extreme reactions to anything, like poison ivy, I was allergic to. Sorry so long, but good topic. I've always wondered whether I've always had this problem, and whether what I see in my sons is my crappy auto immune problem visiting them. Can't get the docs to test them though, "men don't get autoimmune disease."

I was a very healthy kid except for those usual kid disease, like chickenpox..., until 17.

I never was sick growing up. Just colds and the stuff kids gets.

I've had my share of health problems, starting when I was 11 and came down with hepatitis. I was complaining of feeling bad for 2 months before my folks took me seriously. At age 14 my left foot swelled up like a balloon and was so tender that I couldn't walk on it and cried when the sheet touched it, so my mother put a shoe box under the sheet so nothing would touch my foot. I had exploratory surgery and the doctor didn't find anything, so he removed some tissue, sent it to the Mayo Clinic in Rochester (we were living abroad) and they found nothing wrong. I had amoebic dissentary, and always felt like I had a weak immune system.

As a young adult I had benign breast tumors, cancer of the cervix, thyroid cancer, and later a miscarriage, hysterectomy, and most of the typical femal problems.

I have always had a propensity to come down with whatever cold or flu that was going around and it was always harder for me to recover.

My former mother-in-law, with whom I've always been very close, has told me that she remembers all the flares I've had since my early 30's that were never diagnosed. She thinks I've always had lupus.

My rheumy, when I told her about my childhood, and particularly the swollen foot agrees. She believes that my swollen foot was due to lupus. In fact she told me at my last visit that I've probably had lupus all my life.

This is an interesting topic Sandspoker. And here I am at age 58 and have only been diagnosed for a couple of years even though I've been going to rheumy's telling them that I thought I had lupus for twenty years.

What I find interesting is the people is folks like Lu and Hippi who have children with autoimmune problems. My mother had lupus and my 19 year old daughter has a positive ANA, renaud's and chronic strep throat.

Thanks for starting this greata topic Sandspoker.

Pat

i had chronic ear infections too. Every spring since i was little i would get ear infections and the one year i didnt get it was the year that they diagnosed me with lupus.

Hi sands, I was healthy except for alergies and kid disease until I was 16. I've had pnemonia and bronchitis more times than I can count since then. I had no problem conceiving in fact I was on birth control when I got pregnant. I was going through another bout with bronchitis and on antibiotics. I didn't know that antibiotics effected how birth control pills worked. I'm greatful I had my son though because three years later I had cancer and that was the end of my child baring years so even though it wasn't planned he was still a blessing.

hugs
carol

I was not in and out of the hospital but I did have mumps, then as a child I stopped sweating the docs
said my sweat gland stopped working and they gave me something dont remember what. Then at about I was diagnosed with high blood pressure and given meds. They thought I had a thyroid problem something would show a possitive then it would dissappear. When I had my first child
had pre eclampsia. After birth all things went away was healthy. Although at 21 caught the chicken pox, Then was healthy until 10 months after my
4th child. I have finally gotten a diagnosis of mctd.