Teen nausea - Any idea?

[ThreeBeanChilli]

My daughter, 15, feels nauseous pretty much every morning and then every few weeks gets to school vomits and comes home, often vomits again.

This happened again today - I've rung the doctor and will get "a call" in a weeks time. I assume I should ask for her to be seen and bloods done? (BTW is all doctoring done by phone now?!)

She can't keep missing school. She does lean towards anxiety but she really didn't want to miss school and kept messaging me saying she'd not ask to come home and see if she can manage. She left the sick room to go to her class and then had to run back to be sick again... Similarly last time was a school trip and she wants to go.

We have noticed lack of sleep seems tk be a trigger. When she tried a scout camp and hardly slept she was sick in the morning and had to come home. Similarly with a sleepover.

However she's slept the last few nights so it isn’t that.

Does anyone have any ideas?! Or anything I should say to the Dr.

We'd been letting it rumble in as it would be several weeks between and we assumed it was sleep/anxiety etc but I hadn't realised she always feels nauseous in the morning. (Not possible to be pregnant !)

Any ideas?! Thankyou.

We have had this with our son and we are investigating. Do think it’s anxiety based and we have the same…oftentimes before travelling, not sleeping well. Travel sickness pills seem to help with the nausea. I did take to doctors for check up but had to go private. We need to do some testing to rule out various things such as h pylori but doctor thinks acid reflux due to anxiety 🤷‍♀️. It is frustrating so I sympathise

Oh gosh we can't go private 😬.

She's adamant it isn't anxiety as she wants to be in school those days (she missed a music lesson which she loves) and she is getting a bit phobic of vomitting. She was in tears when I came home (husband picked her up).

I dont want it to get labelled as "anxiety" if it isn't. And if it is... where do we go from there?!

‘Not possible to be pregnant’ ….. I won’t pry , because they could be a number of reasons why that isn’t possible but I would only be basing that definite rule out on medical reasons…. And I say this very kindly x

DD had something similar triggered by tiredness and heat when she was younger - she then had a migraine headache and GP said they were connected. It was like a v mild form of cyclic vomiting. She still doesn't do well with insufficient sleep but it's more headache now.

Migraines? I have migraines without headaches. I throw up at the drop of a hat because I throw up so much from the migraines, so perhaps it’s perpetuating itself too.

(Lack of sleep is also a migraine trigger)

Are you sure it's not possible she is pregnant?

This is similar to what DD had: https://migrainetrust.org/understand-migraine/types-of-migraine/cyclical-vomiting-syndrome/

I would also question the not possible to be pregnant. I would have her go an HCG test as that’s the first thing the GP will do.

Preg

Is she on the pill? It took me an embarrassing amount of time before realising it was taking the pill on an empty stomach that was making me vomit on a regular basis.

Cyclical vomiting vote here too - esp if you are noticing a trigger (tiredness).

Abdominal migraine ?

Gastritis? Does gaviscon help at all?

Coming on to suggest migraine as well - my teen daughter suffered from seemingly "random" nausea and vomiting episodes we have since learned are linked to migraines. Migraine meds have made a big difference.

I had this as a teen. It was just tiredness and hunger in the morning (I was a bit underweight). Still happens sometimes as an adult. Does she have to leave school if she’s sick? I just put up with it really.

This happened with me, was grumbling appendix.

I went through a similar at uni , sickness was increasing and after few weeks i barely could eat - it turned out to be Helicobacter .

Abdominal migraines maybe? My migraines are lack of sleep triggered x

Intolerance e.g lactose or gerd are 2 that spring to mind from people I know

I used to have this when I was a child / teen. I felt sick all the time! After about 11 years, I was eventually diagnosed with coeliac disease. Might be worth asking the GP to include that blood test, just in case it's that.

Good luck xx

Following with interest.

my 17yo DD is taking amitryptiline (sp?) for migraine and has missed school/left school early for nausea. She genuinely looks very unwell.

she’s had blood tests to rule out thyroid, coeliac disease, and thankfully her iron levels are okay. She is underweight, and the GP weighed her and will monitor her when we go back. Does your DD have anything else - allergies, athsma, as these were considered as possible triggers.

My girl makes poor diet choices and I am trying to give her good calorific content with protein and veg, but she’s a very beige eater. She’s allergic to seeds and nuts which is an added challenge when trying to think of ‘good’ snacks. She’d live on Diet Coke and nuggets if she was let.

This was my main symptom of anxiety for years as a child/ teen

My DD had this too at the same age - every morning feeling sick. We went through a whole range of medical tests including lactose/fructose intolerance and a gastroscopy - they were looking for coeliac’s disease, gastritis etc. The tests came back clear apart from low iron.
A few months later she eventually admitted to having a severe vomiting phobia which was affecting her eating habits.

She saw a psychologist to get the phobia under control and magically the nausea symptoms have disappeared. I suspect it was all caused by anxiety but she would never admit it.

If all your DD’s medical checks come back clear then it may pay to investigate if anxiety is the cause.

I had this same thing from the ages of about 15-30. I had every test under the sun including endoscopies. They suggested it was probably abdominal migraines but looking back I’m still not sure what triggered it, maybe linked to anxiety or hormones. Being pregnant was the only thing that stopped it eventually and I’ve never had it since.