Pains after eating?

[holdinghands]

My 13 year old DS has been complaining of pains in his stomach after eating but not all the time. It started about a year ago, he would get a few pains then go to the toilet and feel better, he has also complained of diarrhoea/constipation from time to time but not often enough to form any particular pattern or for me to be overly concerned. A couple of times I've given him mint chewing gum which seems to bring wind up and help.

Anyway, about a month ago he was sat on the sofa with his socks off and his feet looked slightly orange! About a week later he complained of having yellow poo, so I made an appointment with the doctor. The GP told me that she would only be concerned if there was blood in the stools and when she looked at his feet they were a normal colour again! She kind of laughed as though I was overreacting and told me he was fine.

Well today it's a warm day so I got the kids ice cream (ben and jerrys if that makes a difference) after school and as soon as DS had eaten it he complained of "bad" pains in his stomach. He had to lie down and said it hurt when he took a breath. I gave him some gaviscon (couldn't think of anything else!) and it has eased off slightly but not gone away completely. He now says he thinks he needs to go to the loo.

Has anyone had a similar experience? I don't want to go back to the GP just yet as she seemed to find my worrying amusing. Sorry for rambling!

[MollyAmelia2015]

Hello, my little brother (16) had this start last year.. Mum persisted with the doctors, in a similar situation got told there was nothing wrong etc, even though my brother kept saying he really wasn't feeling well! 3 months ago he's been diagnosed with Chrons disease, look it up and ask your son if he has more than 3/4 of the symptoms and go back to the GP! Chrons not treated can be very dangerous and painful! Hope this helped!:) x

[MollyAmelia2015]

Sorry Crohn's disease, spell check was changing what I wrote x

[holdinghands]

Hi Molly, thanks for replying.

I've just looked at the symptoms and at first glance I thought he only had a couple, pain and diarrhoea, but other sites give different symptoms and he may have a few. He is small for his age (his sister is a year younger but taller and he gets called a cute midget at school!) Which is listed as a symptom. He has complained a few times of pains in his legs but we put that down to growing pains and he does frequently get red itchy patches on his legs. On the other side though, he isn't losing weight or tired.

Before I take him back to the doctor do you know if certain foods bring it on? I was thinking of keeping a food diary.

[MollyAmelia2015]

Perhaps! My little brother is lactose and tolerant, is also allergic to beans.. Ever since the age of 6 he's been able to have small amounts of cooked dairy and in a slice of cheese pizza etc, they think it started as he and we all thought he'd over come it (because you can get rid of it and you can also get it later on in life) so he started eating normal ice cream, small amounts of yoghurt etc, but no ones sure whether that made it happen! However with the red rash etc, it sounds like he may be allergic to something you don't know yet as my brother would be in agony if he had a reaction!! Keep a food diary and see what he's eating before being in pain, have a day of trying lots of different foods eg. Fish, nuts, bread, milk, ice cream etc, as allergies can grow on people! Hope this helps again xxx

[DuckWaddle]

I'm not sure about the stool colour but he should definitely be checked for coeliac disease with the symptoms you describe. Don't let them fob you off and I hope he improves soon

[MollyAmelia2015]

Oh you mentioned heartburn also, does your son eat a lot of bread.. Or a sandwich every day! He may need gluten free bread as I use to get terrible heartburn with it so stopped eating it! As its so thick it's hard to digest sometimes! Have a think of what he eats on a day to day basis and when he gets pains even if it's not serious, just abit uncomfortable check every ingredient he's ate etc xx

[DuckWaddle]

Don't exvlude anything from the diet yet as tests may come back negative for example pi need to be eating gluten for the coeliac tests to work. If you stop eating it you may get a false negative.

[holdinghands]

Duck and Molly thank you! He's back on the xbox as though nothing had happened!

Hr doesnt eat a huge amount of bread, the odd sandwich a couple of times a week. He has cereal every morning for breakfast and drinks milk with crusha sometimes and never has a bad reaction (although he gets mild discomfort a lot of
the time so maybe that's it?) and yet a sainsburys cafe banana milkshake had him doubled over. He's just had pasta in a creamy sauce for dinner and no reaction?! I'll keep a diary now and hopefully something will jump out.

Thanks again girls