My daughter will be 3 in Dec, however she has been experiencing strange illnesses for over a yr.Last yr she woke “zoning” out, but awake,put in bath to pep her up and I noticed her feet and legs were blue.I dressed her,assuming she was cold,brought her down to her high chair when I noticed her fingers and lips were also blue.Per Dr, went to ER.Oxygen levels normal,fever 101,still limp and staring.Chest xray,per ER Dr,diagnosed pneumonia and she was given Amoxicillin.Her Peds Dr next am, rejected the pneumonia diagnosis saying Palos Hosp was not accustomed to reading xrays in such small children,took her off Amox.That made sense to us as she did not have any cold symptoms.We were told that blue extremities are normal in infants/toddlers at times.Little things like getting sick alot, though I didn’t pay close attention as I assumed they were flu and normal kid illnesses followed the yr.4mnths ago she woke at 4 am screaming “my head” “my head” and pounding her fists into her head.My heart was pounding as I thought my GOD an anurysm(my cousin,8, died of one).But as quickly as I ran to her she stopped and went to sleep as if nothing.I thought/hoped nightmare.A few wks after that she woke up zoning out again and feverish, coughed and vomited.For 3 following days she persisted with the fever and a cough that made her vomit and she insisted her head hurt,I thought she had strep.Dr said she had no signs of a respiratory infection and seemed to pat me on the head as if I were nuts regarding the headaches. Like I made it up.I didn’t.She coughed steadily and vomited with the cough so my husband called the Dr for the cough syrup.Few wks after that she woke up,came into our room and projectile vomited repeatedly and said her head hurted her and went back to sleep.New Dr wants an MRI.Our Private Health Care won’t cover this.My husband thinks I am worrying too much and that she is fine and refuses the MRI for reasons of insurance and that she will have to be mildly sedated.She popped out of sleep Sat night, vomited and went right to sleep.I just don’t know what to think.I feel torn between am I making too much of this or am I not?Of course there are days when she is so tired she falls asleep on the floor and she has missed her preschool class 2x’s for this.But, todd’s get tired right?She gets terrible mood swings, but again, all todd’s do this? I’m just confused. As my rambling suggests!

Dr.Sinuhe Answers:

Thanks for your question. I’d love to be able to comfort you and say this for sure is nothing. Unfortunately, I’m not in position to do this, regardless of the fact that toddlers do get tired sometimes and they sure do get mood swings. The fact that she has repeatedly woken up from the sleep, complained headache and vomited may indicate a serious disease - the dark end of the spectrum would be a brain tumor. Obviously, it is important to diagnose and treat such a disease as soon as possible.

Therefore, if after a thorough history and a physical examination her own doctor thinks she needs MRI, it is very hard for me to disagree. Please keep us posted how things turn out.