<p>My daughter was a year round competitive swimmer growing up and while she was perfectly healthy in outside pools indoor pools not so much.She would get more colds in the winter and during her teen years complications- pharyngytis(sp) , bronchitis. She even became anemic which her doctor said was surprisingly common in young women swimmers.Competitive swimming can be very strenuous and if you can, see an ENT and/or allergist to make sure everything’s okay. Sleep more and eat very healthfully , as well. Good luck.</p>
<p>An ENT saw him in the emergency room. First the emergency room doctor saw him and then the ENT on call saw him. When the doctor from his college health center brought him to the ER, filled out his paperwork, gave them a copy of blood work that she had done on him the day before, and spoke with the triage nurse, she asked if they could have an ENT check him out in addition to the Emergency room doctor. Surprisingly, they must have listened to her because he indeed was looked at by an ENT.</p>
<p>It was the ENT who said that it didn’t look as bad as it seemed. He gave son a number of a specialist in the area just in case he didn’t see any positive results within the next few days. Luckily, he is beginning to feel better. The health center at the college will check him again on Sunday and will have him stop in during week so they can monitor the progress.</p>
<p>Thanks for the advice about the ENT. You’re right about the ability of a bad strep infection to cause other problems. He’s being monitored pretty closely and is starting to feel better. He was smart enough to go to the health center at the first sign of severe tonsil pain. He said that it was the worst pain he had ever felt in his throat and it came on very quickly.</p>
<p>WOW, sounds like NYSmile wins as the Health Service doc who is most attentive! My kids’ school has a health center that is good for band-aids & very basic stuff. Fortunately, there is a free shuttle if they have greater health needs & it takes them to the university med school. We met with family practice docs there before each kids started school, so they have records on file. It would be a 5+ hour plane ride to be with the kids if they need us but only 30+ minutes for our best friends to be at their side. So far, we haven’t had to be physically with them for anything.</p>
<p>My kids have had more than their share of health issues over the past 9 years but fortunately, they’ve been pretty healthy at their U, in spite of the Health Service. LOL :0</p>
<p>Hope everyone weathers the health issues of living in close quarters, stress of exams & new situations, etc. Mono is very common in college settings–I had it back in the day as well. Both of my kids have had mono in HS. My D periodically has her mono re-activated, especially when she gets any infection or run down. It is something she tries to watch for & pace to avoid.</p>
<p>I think son may have lucked out when he initially arrived at the health center. The doctor (Director of Health Services) happened to be in the office. Often times, kids see a physicians assistant or a nurse practitioner, but he lucked out. The nurse practitioner saw him and because his throat was a mess, she handed him off to the health services doctor who was in the office going over charts.</p>
<p>I’d suggest that for folks whose kids DO have significant chronic health issues, they strongly consider establishing a file & relationship with a family practice doc associated with the U, that the student can get in to see if the health issues are greater than the student health center can handle. That has helped our family greatly with peace of mind. FWIW, we were able to deduct the costs associated with us traveling with each of our kids to set things up with the family practice doc when each began school in our medical savings account with hubby’s employer, so it was using pre-tax $$ (small point, but everything helps). The family docs at the U med school made referrals to specialists for our kids to see if they wanted to & also agreed to work with the HI docs.</p>
<p>nysmile, I am glad to know that your son is feeling better.</p>
<p>I do agree about checking health services at the college. Here is one experience that I found unsettling, and I will follow up again: I called the health center of a rural college. My concern is that my son has access to a health care specialist should the need arise because he would not have a car (at least as a freshman). I asked if there were a shuttle, bus, taxi or some transportation available if the school’s doctor could not diagnose (ie: x-ray might be needed) or treat through the health center. The person answering the phone honestly told me, “no”. The school has a shuttle but it is reserved for conferences (don’t know what that means) only. The student would need to find transportation and there are no cabs available at this rural school. This is definitely something to consider, IMO. I will call again and double check all of this information. At the very least, I would have thought the campus police could take a student to an ER if necessary, but that also does not occur at this school. I imagine one would need to go by ambulance at the point, but I did not inquire further.</p>
<p>I had another thought on what might help him aside from the vitamin c, Try to get him to swallow some gatorade, or something else that is full of vitamins. I may sound like a broken record on this, but win i was younger i was sick about every other week with something or other. </p>
<p>Kudos to the school doctor though. Sounds like that school has a good one.</p>
<p>hope your son gets feeling better.</p>
<p>For irritated/raw throat, you might suggest your child swallow cold/cool soothing non-acidic beverages to help it feel better (like they do for patients who have had tonsils removed). Jello and ice cream can also be soothing. Hope your kiddo is fully healed soon!</p>
<p>Sounds like a great medical center at your son’s school… may our kids all be so lucky if they need it…</p>
<p>I was sick constantly freshman and the first half of sophomore year, and nobody at the health center had any idea what was wrong with me. I don’t know how many times I was told to take a Tylenol and drink lots of fluids, never mind that I’d been sick for eight straight weeks and showed no signs of improvement.</p>
<p>Sophomore winter I was finally referred to a real doctor and, after a battery of allergy tests and blood tests, was diagnosed with an antibody deficiency that makes me inordinately sensitive to [url="<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pneumococcus"]pneumococcus[/url">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pneumococcus"]pneumococcus[/url</a>] bacteria (the kind that cause pneumonia, which I had sophomore fall, and other respiratory and sinus infections, which I have all the time). I’m in treatment now and praying things will improve, because it’s been exhausting.</p>
<p>My transcript is a mess (a withdrawal freshman fall, a C+ in economics freshman winter…) and my first year of college sucked socially, but having a diagnosis after 1.5 years of inexplicable illnesses is an incredible relief.</p>
<p>Liz Lemon-- is there anything they can do to help you build up those antibodies?</p>
<p>I received something called a “Pneumovax” shot in January that they think might help; I’m going in for a blood test tomorrow to see if things have improved. I’ve felt less awful than usual lately, but it’s also getting warmer, so it’s hard to tell…</p>
<p>Hope it works! Pneumonia is one of the things that’s scared me most with S1 and his continual colds and various upper respiratory issues. Keeping fingers crossed for you–</p>
<p>Good news: I got my lab results back today, and my antibodies are at a normal level. Apparently the vaccine really helped. What a relief.</p>
<p>Agree with drinking gatorade plus how about multi-viatamins? We sent our student back to school over 11 hours away this year with vitamins and plenty of gatorade to drink. Knock on wood-so far no illness! Last year, esp during winter/spring semester, terrible colds/ear infections, etc. Now, if we can just make it thru finals…</p>
<p>Liz, that’s great news! Best of luck for continued good health. The Pneumovax sounds interesting, and I will file that away in a corner of my brain for future reference. </p>
<p>Gee, you can learn something new every day on CC! :)</p>
<p>too everyone w/ a student sick hang in there, and next time everyones children goes too the doctor GET their ears checked. Im a student whos been sick every other day w/ something or another since Junior year of hs till now. Until now nobody thought too check my ears, and they were clogged. I know its nasty, but it’s the cause of almost all the sicknesses i had this entire time. I feel better, all together since i got them unclogged. Its a simple but nasty procedure just don’t look, and deal w/ a little pain, medical bills will certainly decrease.</p>