Children and blood tests, how much to be learned?
 

I won't get too much into the details but my youngest (3) has had some goofy health issues. Nothing terribly serious, but certainly concerning (slow healing, infections, asthma, somewhat serious hearing issues, adenoids removed, etc..). We have no real answer as to why yet and the doc agrees it's not "normal". He's an active and normal kid outside of this stuff and it doesn't affect his daily life other than coughing spells.

Anyway, I am wondering if we should invest in some type of "full panel" blood test type of thing to (potentially)rule out any serious diseases or conditions. My wife called the doc about it and got the assistant who said she would ask the doc. The doc then responded through the assistant with "what tests would you like to run"?

I have no idea other than "The important/big ones" :D and he's obviously kind of blowing me off, trying to point out my lack of knowledge in a subtle way(which I may deserve). I admit an ignorance on the issue and am really just spit-balling out of fear/hope for preemption.

So anyway, are there any tests that make sense to run if I'm willing to pay? Or maybe I'm just being paranoid? He''s had blood tests but as I understand it the scope of them was pretty narrow and in response to the days specific issues..

Thanks guys.

Hrm.

There aren't any blood tests that will do what you want to do, i.e. rule out serious diseases. The kid has probably already had the usual stuff run, hence the doc's question to you.

I'm not a pediatrician, but I'm not aware of any generic panels of tests that will do what you are looking for.

Pm Livi and get his thoughts or get him to weigh in here for the bene of the board.

Thanks Rick, what is the "usual stuff"?

bump, I promised my wife some info on this :D

Thanks again guys

For a kid, I'm sure he has had a CBC and basic chemistry done at some point.

Depending on the specific symptoms, a autoimmune workup might be in order, really this kind of thing depends on what the presenting symptoms are and if there are any abnormalities on the basic lab work.

It won't be long before DNA analysis will be able to tell us everything we ever wanted to know. More than everything we wanted to know, in fact. Len, your completely legitimate concerns remind us that serious ethical questions are on the immediate horizon. Huge benefits along with huge moral dilemmas are barreling toward us. I just hope we humans can work it all out.

sounds like everything I had growing up...which was attributed to a major deficiency of Immunoglobulin A

Here's the wiki on my "disorder"

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Selective_IgA_deficiency

Thanks guys, I'll bring this up to the doc and see what he says. I know that I'm just being a classic paranoid parent but a little embarrassment/chastising via the doc is worth it :)

Embraer, thanks for the link I'll check it out.

First off, have they already done any blood work? If so, what if anything was abnormal?

What do you mean by slow healing, infections etc?

You probably need to talk to somebody who is not a pediatrician, maybe an infectious disease guy, pulmonologist if the respiratory stuff is predominant. There is a lot of stuff to know, perhaps rheumatologist.

There are some pretty smart mugs out there, but you can't know everything. The eye can only see what the mind knows.

I don't know the name of the test(s) but one tested for antibodies (the three main ones I guess) and he had a deficiency on one and they gave him a booster.

Slow healing - He has had a few cuts and what not and he literally healed slowly. He spit his forehead open and needed 14-16 stitches IIRC, we waited two days past the day they scheduled to remove them and it still opened back up upon removal (nice scar on that one) :) He had tubes put in when he was two and the holes never healed up and even got bigger(40% of drum). Patches (synthetic) did not take and he now has to have organic patches done when he's older. Until then he lives with the holes. That kind of stuff//

He has had infection issues for a couple of years which is part of why his adenoids were removed recently. He has been a bit better since then BTW.

The doc called back today and asked what tests I want....I have to get back to him tomorrow.


Thanks again!!!

Len,

Sorry I did not see this in time. If you still would like some advice, please PM me the details of your sons history and an e-mail address and will get back to you with some thoughts on the subject.

Thanks Livi! I'm off to work right now but I'll try to get you that later today when I get home (no pc at work).

Thanks again to everyone.

Hrm, the slow healing does sound a bit strange. I'm not a pediatrician but maybe some sort of collagen/connective tissue disorder??