What do my child’s symptoms say to you

[Bookworms77]

Hi all,

I will start off by saying I am seeking medical advice so I just wanted to go in armed with possible avenues/treatment to request.

My dd is 9. For various reasons she does not eat well and I’d say her diet could be improved. It’s not absolutely terrible but I would massively improve it if I could. This has been an issue for a number of years. She’s on the cusp of being underweight.

She has suffered dry lips for a long time. She is often dehydrated and drinks very little. Again this is an ongoing issue and we have had years of medical interventions.

However, recently her hair has started to fall out. Every time I brush it or even touch it, hair comes away in my hand. It feels so brittle. It’s not clumps but just strands falling away at the scalp. More than normal day to day expected hair loss. This started about 3 weeks ago.

Her lips have gone from being dry (normal for her) to being split, bleeding, sores etc again this is new.

She complains of aches and pains most of the time. Could be related but not sure.

Im trying to think of other new symptoms but can’t put anything down off the top of my head.

Im leaning towards some sort of vitamin deficiency? Has anyone experienced this. I don’t want to jump down this path if it could be something else though and it will be easy to explain it away as this because of her poor diet.

Any experiences?
Thanks

No no no. This is unacceptable! Why are you allowing this??
What reason are you being given for them not being done?

Go back to the gp and be assertive. Stand up for your child. If they're not well, then tell them you want bloods doing and you won't take no for an answer. Make it clear what you want.

Blood tests are pretty invasive tests and GPs tend to only authorise them for children if there is pretty clear evidence that a child is ill. If a child's weight and height are fine, their peeing and pooing ok, and they generally have enough energy to go about their day then they will be reluctant to take blood. At least this is what I was told when my child was ill.

Keeping a diary of symptoms without overly involving the child themselves, is a good idea.