OKKAAY, all wise women - give me your advice, please...........

[SalVolatile]

on dd4. She is 5, nearly 6. She is 128cm tall and about 3.5 stones (I think). She is hypermobile in most joints. She appears to eat well with no fads. However, she also has the following
current headcold has lasted more than 4 or 5 weeks!
headaches
tummyaches
runny poo approx once a day alternating with more normal poo
'sad' feelings
tearful
itchy skin with vague rough dry feeling, not what you'd call excema
can be hyper
often exhausted
poor concentration
pale, circles under eyes but sleeps well
is allergic to ibuprofen
granny is coeliac
aunt has thyroid disease
uncle is diabetic type 1

I am at my wits end, but she is not 'right' and both dh and I are worried about her, but we are delaying going to GP as dd has pathological fear of needles (long story) and I can't see that much progress will be made without bloodtest unless she gets sicker. Would really appreciate advice and experience - am I just worrying about nothing?

oh Sal, sorry, can't help, but thinking of you and bumping.

Is this all in the last few weeks? There's a LOT of fluey type colds/coughs going around at the moment and it's lasting for ages. Ds's friend has had cold for weeks and feeling 'under the weather' generally, headachey etc. Looking at the symptoms it does look like she's got some sort of virus. Perhaps a trip to the doctor would put your mind at rest, you can explain the fear.

Hiya, no, this has been going on for 6-9 months at least, some bits longer. It's sort of crept up on us gradually iyswim

Onebat - A Decline? Surely not in one so young....

I would go to the doctor, it may not mean a blood test. Is she at school? Any problems there? Have they mentioned a lack of concentration/exhaustion?

could well be underactive thyroid, any weight change?

does she also have a bloated tummy and thinnish arms???

if so.....ceoliac??? (the tendancy for it can be passed along)

just joined mumsnet and thought I would joi your chat if thats ok, we had similar probs to this with our little boy (3yrs) and in the end hewas referred to a paed at hospital, had blood test for ceoliacs which all came back negative they also checked for crohns which was neg. He seems to have picked up now after months of always being pale and poorly looking. I Started giving him abidec vitamins and omega-3, not sure if that is to do with the imporovement.

Sal.

my DC1 sounded very similar to this - he is intolerant to dairy stuff. Can you get an appointment with a dietitian (via GP) - hence no needles, and remove dairy stuff [v.common allergen] from her diet for say 6 weeks to see if the skin and concentration etc improve? My ds was also anaemic as he was hardly absorbing anything because the gut was so inflamed; this all accounts for the hper / exhaustion and poor concentration. The quick-fix for that is iron [eg raisins] and vitamin c [eg ribena] which top them back up to 'ok' level fairly quickly.
sorry to post and run, but i'm off now
my email is on my profile if i can help any more, wishing you lots of luck with getting her sorted. GP defo needs some medical advice though.

Gigglewitch, that's great advice redietician - thanks - will ask the Gp for a referral, I hadn't thought of that. She loves dairy, so hadn't considered it, but coeliac grandma is lactose intolerant as well. Chunkychips - yes, school has been concerned at regular tummy aches in the afternoon (after school lunch) , sudden tearfulness and tiredness with poor concentration and have raised it with us. No suggestions though.

does she drink enough? Tummy aches at school can be caused by dehydration. Many children avoid school toilets so don't drink enough.

If she is the same in the school holidays and is well hydrated then you could try an exclusion diet as she's scared of needles. If you read up carefully and are good at checking labels 2 weeks would give you enough of a change to tell if its food related. Sainsburys do a good free from range.

An alternative to being dairy free is to add lactose tablets or drops to her diet. You could also think of adding fish oil if she doesn't eat fish but that can take 12 weeks to help.

Don't change diet long term without a dietician's advice but a couple of weeeks can give you evidence to see a dietican if your gp is reluctant.

gluten sensitivity? (search for that)
or The gluten file (another search term)

It CAN lead to celiac, diabetes, hypothyroidism, anaemia plus all the symptoms you listed (and more). You can sit back and wait for it to get worse long term or you can adjust diet away from wheat overload (gluten-free short term to see response and if it works, then gluten-light long term).

If you adjust the diet and prevent it from going autoimmune, the symptoms should improve and it will be like she has grown out of it all. But if it turns into autoimmune (celiac and so on), the condition will most likely be permanent (severe damage can be irreversible).

I would take to GP, my dd has coeliacs (not diagnosed), they tested her for diabetes and some other things as well which can all cause the same sort of symptons.
I used to describe my dd as Depressed (at 4yo), sleeping all the time, tantrums, incredibly skinny with a grey looking complexion and huge dark circles under her eyes. Constant runny poos, pale in colour. The minute we took her off gluten on the doctors advice she improved and within 4 weeks turned into a healthy child, I think it has been about 2 months now and she is piling on weight, growing so tall that she has been through 2 sizes of clothes and is generally full of beans and happy.
My dd did have a blood test for coeliacs which came back negative but many people on here will tell you as they told me this only means that no damage has been done and not that she doesn't have it, the only true way to find out is with diet.
Anyway sorry i am rambling, the GP will test for alsorts Diabetes certainly has very similar symptons, once all the other tests results had come back my GP advised to try gluten free while we waited for coeliacs result (takes about 3 weeks), when we returned to the doctors he actually said that he could tell she was a different child and not to pay too much attention to the test results.
Anyway I hope you get it sorted soon.

Hi, have son who had similar symptoms - also have coeliac relatives and has just been diagnosed as having E.G.I.D. - type into search engine and look at symptoms - just a thought! Remember tho there is a difference between gluten and wheat allergy and you can be one or both
Hope she's ok. I would take her to GP tho and remember I think the stats say 1 in 10 coeliac screens are a false negative!!