To go private with general symptoms

[Starlight86]

Posting here for more traffic.

My DD is 8 years old, generally very healthy and active with no major issues.

She loves school, does sports twice a week and is a generally very happy child, shes my oldest child out of 4.

What concerns me is she always feels sick, sometimes (but not often) she is sick, and she frequently has diarrhea.

In the past 6 months she has suffered with bouts of stomach pain in which one of them ended up in a&e but no cause found.

There is no pattern to the sickness but it will be at least once a month lasting several days. The diarrhea is alot more frequent but again i cant seem to pinpoint whats causing it and will last for days.

Although she is never desperately unwell i am noticing it quite a bit now and wonder if she has an intolerance to something or irritable bowel.

Its not alot to go own, and we have private cover so im happy to take her there but wonder if they wont know where to start due to the lack of symptoms and patterns.

Anyone any ideas or similar experiences.

You could go private first.. but have you actually gone to your GP for any advice/investigations/tests? If this has been going on for 6 months that sounds like a very long time. My GP is also pretty up front about whether they can help, or whether to go private if the waiting lists are very long. They may be able to suggest where to go and what to do. I wouldn't leave it any longer though.

@Grimbelina

You could go private first.. but have you actually gone to your GP for any advice/investigations/tests? If this has been going on for 6 months that sounds like a very long time. My GP is also pretty up front about whether they can help, or whether to go private if the waiting lists are very long. They may be able to suggest where to go and what to do. I wouldn't leave it any longer though.

No we havent really. This has being going on probably for a few years (the nausea and diarrhea) which does absolutely seem now that im saying it that we have left it but shes never desperately unwell with it but i am becoming more aware now.

The stomach pains have happened roughly 3 times in 6 months lasting from a few hours to half an hour.

I'd guess food intolerance. Before you go anywhere I'd do a really detailed food dairy including any symptoms and see if you spot any patterns. I'd also read up on the FODMAPS information. The big causes of IBS IMO are onion, garlic and other fructans (which include wheat), gluten (wheat mainly) and dairy so these are what I'd be really looking out for at first. I'd also try to avoid processed foods as much as possible to make it easier to pinpoint as processed foods are more likely to have combinations.

Food intolerance can be quite tricky to test for as well, easier with an allergy. So I would try working it out yourself. The other thing to remember is that the effect is often cumulative and may be different for different foods.

Funnily enough you say onion, ive noticed that if she ever eats onion this causes a flare up.

Sorry dont mean to drip feed its just i forgot until you mentioned it.

I specifically know onion as shes eaten it then had diarrhea and told me she can see all the onion (sorry TMI)

You just need to careful if you try any exclusion diets before seeing your GP as any tests they might need to do may not be accurate if the food item was excluded for a while before testing.