9yo hypochondriac with panda eyes and always tired...WWYD?

[stealthsquiggle]

DD is, IMO, a hypochondriac. I honestly cannot remember the last day when she didn't have some ache or pain to complain about. She seems to have a very low tolerance for pain as well - a slight bump, or hair brushing, will result in howls of agony.

However, I am worried that as a result of all the "crying wolf" I may be ignoring something that I should be taking seriously. She constantly complains of being tired, even when getting 11 hours of sleep a night. A 9yo begging for early bedtimes just doesn't seem right. She often has stomach pains at night, and sometimes in the morning. I suspect these may be stress-related as she seems to line things up to worry/stress about at bedtime, often school stuff but she seemed to find things to worry about even in the holidays. She also has real "panda eyes" (dark rings). But. She is Little Miss Sunshine at school. Even members of staff who don't teach her have remarked on it to me, and every single subject report last term mentioned how cheery she was. She takes part in plenty of sport, seems to have enough energy at school.....

If I take her to the GP I feel I would be validating the moans and inviting more. Or would I be letting her know that I do listen? You can probably tell that I am finding her quite hard work at the moment, but I am also worried about her health and happiness (or lack of).

I guess what I am looking for is some ideas as to what the underlying issue might be, so that I can look for other clues. Dietary (reasonably balanced diet but maybe short in veg/fruit and long on carbs)? Allergies (I have assorted contact allergies, she seemed to get hayfever last summer)? Something else altogether? She is tall for her age (tallest in her year group, although she is also one of the oldest) and not skinny.

All suggestions welcome....

[crappyday]

Have you tried a regular multivitamin with iron? My DS sometimes gets like this. I did take him to GP and he had a blood test, but nothing came up.
We started him on multi vit just in case

[stealthsquiggle]

Interesting thought. We do have some, but I am really bad at remembering. I shall make an effort to remind her to take them (she likes them, so it won't be hard) every morning without fail and see if it makes any difference.

[lougle]

Try vitamin D. Low levels can explain all of those symptoms.

[stealthsquiggle]

I would be surprised, Lougle - she spends plenty of time outside, especially at school. However, most multivits seem to include vitamin D, so that would be covered as an eventuality if I get organised about her taking them.

[lougle]

For vitamin D you need 15 minutes per day of high sun exposure. We simply don't get enough of that sort of sunlight in the UK in the autumn/winter months, even if we are outdoors a lot. Vitamin D deficiency is classed as an epidemic.

[stealthsquiggle]

But isn't it really hard to get from supplements, or do I have the wrong vitamin ?

Anyway, I shall stuff multivits with iron into her for a couple of weeks and see if I can notice any difference before caving and taking her to the GP . Thank you all.

[lougle]

I think D2 is the best one to get.

[neolara]

Panda eyes can be a sign of a histamine reaction to something. My dd who has allergies will sometimes randomly get this.

[FrancisdeSales]

My DD age 12 has always had panda eyes or dark circles and strange aches and pains together with lots of GI symptoms. She has just been tested and the gaestroentrologist believes she has Celiac. "Silent Celiac" can have few symptoms. Celiac is an autoimmune disease caused by gluten.

I think my DH may have it as he also has the dark shadows. His dad was diagnosed recently.

[MyFriendsCallMeOh]

I would take her to the gp and have her tested for deficiencies, particularly ferritin (iron) and D2. Does she drink enough water? Panda eyes and fatigue can be signs of dehydration too...... Get it checked out, at least to rule out anything physical so you will know whether or not she's tending toward hypochondria.

[stealthsquiggle]

Neolara - she did have a reaction a couple of years ago which resulted in even more dramatic panda eyes, hence why allergic reactions were in my 'potential' list, but I can't for the life of me think what she could be reacting to.

Francis - interesting. I have been wondering whether it could be dietary intolerance, but Celiac is clearly something else altogether... What else did your GP consider before looking at Celiac?

MyFriends - good point about the water. I do nag her to drink, and school assure me that they do too, but that doesn't mean she is getting enough. I will redouble efforts and try and motivate DH to do the same when I am not here. I think I will give multivits and water a couple of weeks before taking her to the GP, though, unless she gets worse.

[Eelus]

My DS1 was very tired and pale prior to his coeliac diagnosis. He was 13 at the time and coeliac disease caused him to have a severe vitamin D deficiency. DS2 was diagnosed with coeliac disease before DS1, he had classic coeliac symptoms - losing weight, committing, swollen belly - and we only got DS1 tested because it often runs in families. His only symptoms were lethargy and paleness. He now realises at the time he was struggling to concentrate at school, but he's a good boy who has always done well at school, so teachers didn't notice as he wasn't mucking about, just drifting off a bit.
Coeliac disease presents itself in different ways. It could be worth checking the list of symptoms.

[stealthsquiggle]

She ticks the boxes for stomach pains, and tiredness. She is not actually any paler than you would expect for her complexion, but she is blonde so it's maybe hard to tell. Definitely no weight loss or "failure to thrive" though - she is tall and definitely not skinny.

How easy was it to access the tests?

[QuizteamBleakley]

I'd take her along to the GP though. She'll know that she's listened to and you can get some blood tests done to get some answers. I cried wolf when I was about 13 years old (every time I had history lessons) but the sight of two phials of my blood being taken soon put paid to that.

[tkband3]

I immediately thought coeliac when I read your OP (my three DDs are all coeliac). Worth getting her checked for it just in case.

[stealthsquiggle]

Thanks, all.

I think I will take her. I just might not tell her until the day before so that she can't stress about it...

[stealthsquiggle]

GP seems to think it's down to child cruelty (aka DD's very long school day/week) and "children do get tummy pains for no particular reason" - which seems to me to be missing the point that (a) it continued over the holidays and (b) her peers are coping fine with exactly the same schedule (more, in a lot of cases, since we live very close to school so she has no significant travel time).

However, the GP has agreed that blood tests would be a good idea, so that's the next step.

[bobkate]

I know that this is a really old post but I could have so easily written your exact post stealth... and in fact put into the search 'DD very dark panda eyes, always tired'.. and up popped your post.
My DD is also 9, has the very grey/purple panda eyes...looks quite washed out and is forever finding something to gripe about, tummy ache usually. It does seem to appear at bedtime, or before she has to do something she doesn't think she wants to do ( until she gets there and has a great time....namely swimming/sports after school clubs, etc ) and so therefore we have been dismissing it somewhat whilst recounting the old cry wolf analogy regularly.
She sounds so similar, she's a worrier which manifests in moody strops until I get to the bottom of it ( a long, drawn out, painful process ) yet she's a model pupil at school...chirpy and cheerful to all apparently.
She's usually pretty rubbish at going to sleep early enough. She'd read until midnight if she could. However tonight she konked out at 6pm... and I feel like perhaps I should take her to the GPs and ask for some blood tests to be taken.
I did wonder if perhaps her iron levels were low.
Did anything come up with regards to your DD?