Why can’t the doctors help with this?

[Buffalostance89]

Dd, almost 4, has been having tummy ache on and off since October. Wasn’t very regularly at first, but has become worse the last month or so.
She now has tummy ache after everything she eats, regardless of what it is, there’s no pattern to the food. She has excess gas, poos fairly regularly but says it’s hard to loo sometimes. I’ve used gentle laxatives, gas drops…she’s had a stomach scan, poo analysis and urine analysis-all clear.
It’s getting to the point where she’s worried to eat now and is hungry 🥲
Her behaviour is becoming affected and she jumps around, is hyper, bites cushions etc, so obviously in pain.
I have another appointment on Monday where I’m going to go nuts if they fob me off with saying stomach aches are normal at this age etc and tests are clear.
Has anyone had similar to this, so awful to see her like this, getting desperate now 🙏

DD2 was exactly like this. She had so many tests. turned out to be chronic constipation made worse with abdominal migraines brought on by anxiety.

Does she eat red meat ?

Is she hypermobile? Possible Ehlers Danlos? Had similar with dd when that age was referred to paediatrician and told this. Symptoms resolved as she grew.

You’ve had loads of suggestions to try elimination diets and to cut out dairy and wheat; you’ve also had recommendations to ask for coeliac screening and to consider lactose intolerance.
Can I please (as a former children’s nurse) just say, don’t try altering her diet or eliminating whole food groups until after you’ve discussed these tests as you could well get false results - especially for coeliacs if you cut out gluten! The tests should be done under ‘normal’ eating/drinking/diet situation and then, with guidance after results, relevant elimination diets can be tried as it can take up to 6 weeks to totally eradicate the effects of an allergen from the digestive system after stopping eating it.

Tests first:
Coeliac (& eyes could be linked- coeliac is often connected to thyroid issues and sufferers can get ‘thyroid eyes’ , a bulgy look and can be uncomfortable.)
Crohns-inflammation as others have said.
Constipation- would they do a scan if you went to ED? Ask for something stronger as pp say, it does sound a lot like chronic constipation, and having had her on something standard since Monday wouldn’t cut it at all.
Then total elimination diet/ staged elimination diet. The friends doing these to test for what was affecting their bf babies said they were supposed to eliminate totally for 3 weeks before being able to know.
Hope you get somewhere! Shame on your doctor.

I was going to say check for crohns or colitis too [ inflammatory bowel disease ].

Ask for a calprotectin test [ stool sample ]. This checks for inflammation which a normal stool sample doesn't.

My son has crohns, and his initial symptoms were constipation. Took me two years and many doctor visits to get a diagnoses.

Some good thoughts here, but also insist on a referral to paediatric gastro.

@timeisnotaline She had a tummy scan and all clear, would this pick up constipation?

@Onthedunes What’s SIBO? Why would food not be digested properly?

Did she have a ct scan? That would pick it up in most cases, ultrasounds can also. I don’t know enough more about the technical side to have more details.

SIBO

stands for small intestinal baterial overgrowth, resulting in many symptoms including pain, bloatong, constipation, diarrhea, uncomfortable feeling after eating, weight loss, many symptoms.

I think people may be more suseptable after a course of anti biotics.

She had a tummy scan and all clear, would this pick up constipation

I think when I had constipation it was picked up on x ray. They could also be looking for obstuctions.
There is also something called CIP which causes paralysis of the muscles of the gastrintestinal tract.
Gastroparesis is paralysis of the stomach.

There are so many things that could be wrong it's impossible without her being properly investigated. She must be refered to a gastro team.

Has she any other symptoms, tiredness, weight loss etc.

@onthedunes Its mainly her behaviour, so hard to cope with, but not sure if that is just because of the pain, she can also get tired sometimes too.
Very watery gas last couple of days, lots of poos today but still with stomach pain

Does anyone know what I can give her to help the pain? Been giving hot water bottles and paracetamol medicine, doesn’t help and reluctant to keep giving it.

Have a gastro paediatric appointment Monday afternoon, I want it all checked out and sorted!!

[quote Buffalostance89]@chisanunian Trumping-maybe a Northern thing 🤣[/quote]
Southern thing too.

No wonder you're upset having this since October, poor little mite.

I would say if it gets any worse to take her to A & E.

Natural products for pain relief such as peppermint to reduce gas, make sure to not give her food which create more gas such as onions, beans, lentils, brocoli, sodas, there are many more.

Has she missed much school/nursery with her stomach ?

So glad you’ve got an appointment on Monday. It’s awful feeling so helpless. Really hope they work out what’s causing it quickly. I agree with the PP not to change her diet till all tests have been done.

I'm sorry this sounds awful.

I had to follow a low fodmap diet for IBS, I'm not suggesting this as it's complicated and needs to be over seen by a registered fodmap trained dietician.

During that period I had to log diet and symptoms and used an app called my symptoms (orange with a white triangle icon.) it's really useful for pulling data and making connections you wouldn't see. I realised loads of things I'd never noticed, like a certain food triggers dehydration and head aches. I would try sticking to simple whole food meals and tracking symptoms to see if you can find any correlation to present to your GP. Or push to see a dietician just avoid any phoney high st snake oil type intolerance tests as they're a con.

Thanks for the help everyone, really hoping for some answers with this on Monday 🙏 now to just get through the weekend

How has she been tonight op ?

Would she sip chicken broth. Only bone broths are brilliant for the stomach.

Hi all,

Still much the same, more pooing which brings relief a little, but still pain after eating

A mumsnetter has messaged me privately saying that it sounds like Dd could possible have autism/Adhd. Does anyone else think that? Since the stomach problems, she jumps around a lot, shouts & screams out and can get frustrated and bite.
I’ve been putting it down to her being in pain? Does it sound like more? Just so worried about everything to do with her at the moment

It may be an idea to video her whilst she is having one of these attacks to reiterate to doctors how this pain is affecting her.

This must be very distressing to you, you must stress that you want some answers when you see them tommorow.

Will try to video her

Good luck with the appointment today @Buffalostance89 I hope paediatrician will find out what is causing symptoms

Hi all,

Just an update on the appointment today. Specialist asked lots of questions, checked tummy, weight etc etc.
Basically has said to cut out milk, not all dairy as she said it contains tiny amounts of lactose in cheese, yoghurt etc. Also to cut out bananas, cereals, rice, carrots & biscuits. To drink more water and to try a poo after every meal. She prescribed child laxatives and didn’t like/agree with the ones the chemist gave me. She’s also given me treatment for parasites (worms etc 🤮) even though DD’s poo analysis for this came back negative, she said in nearly all results she’s seen it’s negative in children but often isn’t 🤷🏻‍♀️She said these tablets have no adverse effects/do no harm, so it’s worth trying.
She said she doesn’t know for a fact if it’s constipation as it can be so many things and all need to be tried step by step. My main issue was with the pain but she said she couldn’t give anything and to carry on with paracetamol medicine (which doesn’t seem to help Dd at all) she said the behaviour I described when Dd has eaten/has tummy ache is normal in reaction to the pain and it’s hard for all of us.
She didn’t give me a time scale with this, so I’m unsure how long to do it for to see if we’ll get results 🤷🏻‍♀️She just gave her private number and said to call with any issues.
Also saw that Dd has geographical tongue but says it’s not really anything to worry about but can indicate allergies in some children.
Any thoughts? X

I’m wondering why she didn’t discuss bread, celiac disease etc? I’m now reading of a possible link between celiac disease & geographic tongue.