My 13year old son has a swollen lymph node behind his ear. Blood work shows platlets at 145 and then 24hrs. later at 138 and his bilirubin was 1.6 the first time and 2.3 24 hrs. later. He has asthma and IBS but otherwise is healthy and very active. The lymph node was causing pain and that is what brought us into his doctor in the first place. What could be causing this?
There can be many causes for the swollen lymph node. First and foremost it could be simply because of repeated sore throats if he suffers from them. Even an infection in the scalp or a boil in the area can cause this. However, what is important is that more important causes like tb and many others should not be missed out. For this you should consult your family physician, and he will examine the child and if he finds it clinically significant he may advise a FNAC or an excision biopsy of the gland. Regarding his raised bilirubin, he may be suffering from jaundice-early stage. Sometimes many a people have raised bilirubin without any other symptoms. Put him through full liver function tests and a USG of abdomen and consult a general physician or gastroenterologist.