Re: Cimetidine success -- now what?

September 30, 2004

Our son Cody took Cimetidine for about a year also, and was fever free the whole

time. We decided that we would wean him off of it over the summer, so if the

fevers started again, he wouldn't miss school. He was taking liquid medicine

and we talked to his doctor about decreasing the dosage gradually. The day he

got down to taking no medicine, his fever started again, and he got them every 3

weeks. We decided at that point to have his tonsils removed. His surgery was

August 5th, and he had to have emergency surgery one week later to cautherize

the surgery site, due to continued bleeding. We finally got through a fairly

difficult recovery in time for Cody to start 1st grade on August 17th. The

excellent news is that Cody has had NO fevers since his tonsillectomy. I

realize it has only been six weeks, but we are very optimistic that the

tonsillectomy has worked to stop the fevers. We will keep everyone posted. I

will say that during the two week time period after his surgery, I questioned

whether we had made the right decision, because it was a very difficult time.

However, if we continue to have the success we've had so far, it was worth it!

Sheryl

Mother of Cody, age 7

Cimetidine success -- now what?

I haven't posted in quite a while because (8) has been on

Cimetidine for almost a year and has basically been fever free for

most of that time. She started last October as an alternative to

having a tonsillectomy. Her fevers were never as high as others

have had but tended to run at 103-104.5. She didn't really have

canker sores but had VERY involved tonsils with each episode. Her

last half of kindergarten (when the episodes started) and 1st grade

were tough because she missed so much school from being sick. The

first part of 2nd grade was also hard with fevers and it took about

3 months to see a reduction in the fevers. With the exception of

one fever this summer when we were on vacation (without the

emergency dose of prednisone because it had been so long without a

fever that I didn't even think of packing it!), she has been fever

free since last winter!

Since it's now been about a year we should probably begin to wean

her off it. Fran -- any suggestions as to the best way? She takes

2 pills a day -- one in the morning and one in the evening. I'll

need to speak with our pediatrician, but since she usually looks to

what information I have, your advice would be wonderful.

Just a side note on some of the other effects of . is a

very bright student and was easily able to catch up on missed school

work. However, what I have noticed is that since she missed so much

time in school while she was learning to read, she has had a hard

time catching up in that. She would be out sick and I could read to

her, but she was at the stage where she should have been reading to

herself -- but out loud. Since her throat always hurt, she wasn't

able to do that at that critical point in time, when she needed to

have help figuring out words.

is now old enough that she talks about her pills (the

cimetidine) and is thrilled that she is not sick all the time and

can enjoy a full day of school followed by a busy after-school

schedule.

Our thoughts and prayers are with all our kids who are so brave in

dealing with and al the awful symptoms.

Armstrong

Mansfield, MA

Mom to (8.5-) and Alec (11 1/2)

September 30, 2004