What could this be, and does it need GP?

[BarbieIsAWoman]

DS6 has suffered four consecutive nights of random acute pain in his groin/very lower abdomen. Second night he was crying out in his sleep 8-11pm, woke around midnight and vomited every 30-40 mins through the night until 6 by which time he was throwing up horrible yellow liquid (bile?) as his tummy was so empty. He was properly writhing around in pain, unable to stay still, pacing around the room, reminded me of a woman in labour (obviously not as extreme or we'd have gone to A&E) First, third and fourth night, he's been moaning in his sleep, waking and crying, writhing in pain, needed paracetamol and a heat pack but managed to go back to sleep.

During day time periods he's been relatively fine- maybe a little tired/up and down, but mostly full of beans, so we keep thinking he's better/fine then it happens again in the evening.

Possibly relevant history:

We swim frequently and he will often complain his tummy hurts when swimming which made me think maybe a strained muscle (?)

He's had a couple of instances of tummy pain and vomiting recently, maybe 2 or 3 in a couple of months

He's not a drama king/moaner etc- vomited at school and didn't tell anyone, never really makes a fuss, is one to tough out injuries usually

Not sure if he's just got a bug that he needs to get over, or if we should be more concerned and getting him seen. Sort of leaning towards getting him seen but unsure if it will just resolve on its own 🤔

Thank you, this is really helpful. I've written a short timeline of events and symptoms and a list of things I'd like GP to rule out for me. Will phone for an emergency appointment in the morning and not take no for answer. A&E does not seem the right place for him right now as he is settled, asleep and not in pain.

Appendicitis - my daughter presented this way too. It was what I thought of first of all reading the OP.

I give up. If my child was writhing around in pain (I'm using your words here, OP), I'd either step up a pain relief timetable, or seek urgent help if it didn't resolve.
What more signals do you need that your child needs to have an urgent medical assessment? Hopefully, it will be nothing to worry about (swollen lymph glands in the abdomen for instance), but at least you will have ruled that out.

Did you miss the bit where I said I'd be seeking an urgent GP review in the morning? Or where I've stated we've been giving pain relief? Taking him to A&E this evening, when he's completely settled and not in any pain, is highly unlikely to get him seen any faster than taking to GP first thing, and is only going to result in him being uncomfortable and getting no rest.

Grumbling appendix? Comes and goes but can be very painful?

At about 14/15 dd decided to become vegetarian. I bought her things with quorn in.

She started to be repeatedly unwell with stomach pain and severe vomiting. I thought it was normal virus, then pote.tially a bacterial infection. We did all the right things.

It turned out she is one-off a very small.percentage of people whose stomach contains and enzyme that renders them allergic to quorn. Riddle solves.

About a year later she started having funny turns in the night. Tummy aches, nausea, the headaches/migraine. We thought she was stressed due to GCSEs. We then discovered she was suffering from anxiety and depression and had been self harming for some time and this was another symptom.

You need to go to the GP/A&E OP to rule out critical stuff.

Another vote for appendix troubles OP.

I'm honestly gobsmacked that he was writhing around in pain, and pacing up and down unable to settle and you didn't instantly take him to a hospital.

Big difference between tummy ache and pain that causes you to writhe around - that is severe stomach pain, not any kind of an ache.

Same. Poor kid. 😞 Night FOUR??!

4 consecutive nights of "writhing in pain" at SIX years old and you haven't had him seen?

Wild, absolutely wild. Only on mumsnet.

I presume by 'writhing in pain' she means he tossed and turned a bit in bed rather than he'd been hit by the cruciatus curse

I'd go to the out of hours GP tonight and ask for a check. I feel you have been remiss not getting help before now.

I used to have similar symptoms to what you're describing, I had regular bladder infections.

Hopefully, as we haven’t heard from OP for a while, she’s got proper help for her child.

I really hope so! That poor boy has suffered enough.

Sorry to disappoint those of you hoping for a juicy update so you can berate me for being a shit mum, but as suspected it is a virus. He's been seen by the GP- we insisted on a full examination, urine test etc due to the weird symptoms and the only 'sinister' thing that couldn't be 100% ruled out is a grumbling appendix - we've been advised to carry on exactly as we are- medicating for pain, comforting and ride it out. We've been reassured that we've done exactly the right thing, GP was the right place to go but if pain becomes unmanageable (ie doesn't settle as I've described it doing on this thread) to seek emergency help, but basically expect it to pass within a week.

Thanks to all those with useful suggestions and experience, the thread was actually quite helpful, despite some of the more zealous posters thinking we are awful parents. Having had a lot of experience of lengthy A&E visits for various unpleasant reasons, it absolutely did not feel right to be dragging him out of bed in the middle of the night after he'd settled with a standard dose of calpol and a heat pack for what we believed for 3 days was a vomiting bug, followed by a further night of pain and then getting him seen in the morning. Admittedly a very weird presentation and I will be watching very carefully for any signs of appendicitis but am satisfied he's been properly examined and is essentially fine.

My diagnosis was right!

My brother had it for years. He went to a and e several times but they couldn't do anything.

Hopefully your ds won't have it for too long. It's really weird as it will probably just stop without the appendix going x

Yes, thank you. When the sore throat connection was mentioned it made a whole lot of sense tbh. I didn't mention that in my OP as seemed unconnected, but GP said today it's all part of the same thing.

Glad he’s ok OP!

This is referring to GP saying it's viral by the way...

Main thing is he's ok. You know your own child.