AIBU to wonder what on earth is wrong with my child?

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My 13yr old daughter is having an issue with sickness. It started at school before the Easter hols, on a Monday. I had to collect her as she had been sick. 2 weeks of Easter hols & she was fine. Then school rang cos she felt very sick a week later on a Monday . 2 weeks later she had to come home again because she was sick, on a Monday. Then it was half term, she was at her dad's & was sick on the Tuesday. I spoke to the gp after that, who said it sounded hormonal or/& anxiety. She suggested changes to diet & changes to how she takes her meds.

She went on the pill in Feb because of very heavy periods & pains.
Monday of last week she was sick 2x at school.

I took her to the nurse who examined her & found nothing amiss. She did ask for urine sample & bloods checked just to make sure.

Now it's Monday again, & I've had to collect her from school for being sick again.
She says it's like motion sickness as it's much worse when she has to move.

I know it sounds like a school anxiety problem being every Monday (apart from the Tues in the hols) but she says she's happy at school, & does appear to be.

If it was a side effect of the pill would it only happen on Mondays? GP did not suggest stopping it.

I'm wondering if she's now anxious about being sick in school on a Monday & that is making her sick. She really wanted to be there for this afternoons lesson though.

I will be seeing the gp again - when I can get an appointment.
But wondered if anyone has experienced similar?

Not that’s effective, in my experience.

Pregnant?

Pill sideffects?

Labarynthitis - dizzy and sick

Blood pressure

Migraine

Have her tested for POTS, can be triggered at this age and also the hpv vaccine can sometimes set it off. My DD has it and it sounds just like her. In the mean time add salt to her food, and get her to drink a Gatorade a day

Coeliac disease.

Estrogen has always given me nausea - I cannot take contraceptives with it.

Mine had something similar but wasn’t on the pill. Look at migraine, and visual stress. Mine has prism lenses that help with this. Some supplements have helped -magnesium, eg. Mine was under the care of a children’s hospital for a long time, but with no great help. Does reading make it worse? If so, look at coloured overlays for books or screens. This helps my DD.

I think this too- I know a girl who is sick before school every day. Psychological reasons.

I also have POTS and used to experience unspecified, general nausea and malaise for no apparent reason.

We had weekly Monday morning sickness with my ds. My DH wondered if it was linked to popcorn because ds would eat a lot of it over the weekend. He stopped eating it and the sickness stopped. Very random but on googling it, it's quite common. Just an idea 😊

Make sure she is taking the pill on a full stomach - honestly, the nausea of taking it on empty stomach is crippling! I always take it at night after my main meal and feel fine, but other times it has me gagging all day! Does she take it morning or night?

I'd also say a little protein/probiotic drink in the mornign is just not enough. Maybe speak to her about having a proper breakfast - something with some protein and iron would be good for her.

Get them to check her ferritin levels

The pill made me feel sick when I was a teen, I would take her off it and look at other solutions for the heavy periods (transamic acid)?

If you find it is the pill try asking your doctor about tranexamic acid. You can get a brand of it over the counter at boots for controlling heavy monthly bleeding. Also worth getting referred to a gyne to ask about the causes of the bleeding.

It took many years to realise the pill made me extremely anxious - last time to point I was struggling to leave the house. GP always instead it's not related . They also never investigated why I was having such heavy periods.

I'd try keep a symptom diary - food/sleep see if there are any identifiable triggers and as she has glasses I'd get them checked as well just in case.

Might it be worth taking her to the optician? Puberty can affect your eyesight, so she could need different glasses, especially since she didn't wear them for a time and now is again.

We had a room at school with a very strange smell. We had one afternoon a week in there and I always came out with a migraine type headache and was sometimes sick. Obviously it was the same day every week.

At 13 years of age it's far too young IMHO for a girl to be put on the contraceptive pill. Perhaps there are medical reasons for her heavy painful periods and not just her age?
As someone who suffered from heavy and painful periods in the past myself, I'm inclined to reccomend you ask your GP for a referral to a gynae consultant at the local hospital, to see if your daughter's problems are anything other than medically routine.

What do people think is going to happen if a teenager takes the pill? I took it from 14 onwards and nothing terrible happened. It helped me with the pain and pmdd!

Oh get in the bin with this comment!!

At 13 years of age it's far too young IMHO for a girl to be put on the contraceptive pill. Perhaps there are medical reasons for her heavy painful periods and not just her age?

And one of the treatments for those medical reasons is the pill. It's not just a contraceptive.

Why do you think she is too young?

Whereupon the gynae will follow NICE guidelines and offer the Pill.

Apologies for a slight derail OP. Am annoyed that some suggest the pill is unnecessary.

My 16 yo is about to start the pill. She can’t walk for several days of her period, due to pain. I had similar- I would regularly pass out from the pain (with painkillers), vomit, and be unable to walk.

Although most find periods a minor inconvenience, for some of us they have a big negative impact.

Best wishes to your DD, OP. Hope she feels better soon, and that it turns out to be simple to sort.

YOU may be able to managed your periods with painkillers, but not everyone can. Tell me, how am I supposed to manage my irregular, heavy periods with painkillers when I have vomitted and lost consciousness due to the pain? The pill, and then the Milena coil, changed my life.

Agree with pps, possibly taking the pill on an empty stomach in the morning plus getting up early on Monday after weekend lie ins is just tipping her body over the edge?
Worth looking at what lessons she has Mondays too and thinking about screen use, lighting, ventilation in rooms - any of these could trigger a migraine. I'm a teacher and I've had to ask not to be timetabled in a certain room in the school because the lighting in there gives me migraines and I was being sick after every lesson I taught in there.

Some people don't like the suggestion of taking child off the pill but surely it makes sense. If only to rule it out. I had very heavy and painful (throwing up, very loose bowels, cold sweats, extreme weakness to the point of not being able to move, the works) periods. All I used were pain killers and learning to seek a private space when symptoms started so I wasn't left vulnerable. IMO, the pill is too strong a remedy for a child's body and wouldn't offer it to mine.