Desperately need some advice: daughter so unwell

[VirusSchmirus]

I'm really hoping someone can help or at least provide reassurance.

My DD11 is now at week 3 of having severe stomach pains, so much so she cannot walk without help or sit upright. She is eating and drinking relatively OK.

The pain means she has pain relief every 4 hours, paracetamol and ibuprofen on rotation. She is asking for pain relief an hour after the last dose. It does very little to make her comfortable. I have tried to entice her to do things - and even the bribe of visiting her favourite shop and buying a treat (which would involve very little walking, just from the car park) resulted in her crying "I can't, I can't walk with the pain". At night when she eventually manages to sleep she cries or whimpers in her sleep. We're awake continually due to the pain.

She has had 2 ultrasound scans (no appendicitis or anything sinister) - they say her lymph glands in her stomach are inflamed (but only 1). Been told its mesenteric adenitis.

Have had private GP assess her. The bar seems low - if she can eat, drink and poo then she is deemed "clinically well". Saw another GP last night after she suffered a day of diarrhoea (new symptom). I ended up crying - which probably wasn't helpful - after we just went around in circles. Scan is clear, bloods are relatively clear (low markers but expected with a virus), urine test clear. Tilted head from GP yesterday "what would you like me to say or do".

My gorgeous daughter, who is usually so full of energy and laughter and endless bloody questions, is silent, and I can see her getting thinner and thinner, and more miserable. I feel like I'm one of those mothers who is making things up as I just can't seem to get answers (main question - when will she start to just feel better - not even get well, just a tiny bit better?). No one seems able to answer.

What can I do? Is mesenteric adenitis really like this - no improvement at all for 3 weeks?

AIBU: its just a virus, suck it up
YANBU: that's bonkers, go kick some clinical ass

This is absolutely fucking bonkers and is terrible advice. No-one should be fasting for five days at a time.

My ds who is 19 has been in & out of A & E for the last 6 weeks with crippling stomach pains, he alternates between diarrhoea & constipation. He has had scans & a colonoscopy which were all clear & has a diagnosis of ibs. Do you think that could be it? His pain was so bad he had to have morphine. If you are worried & have to go back to the hospital, make sure you insist on them prescribing some good adequate pain relief.

This isn't good advice. No one should fast this long let alone a child.

If a child has been ill for 2+ or 3 weeks, and it’s acute sudden and very painful, and hospital has performed scans and diagnosed mesenteric adonitis, I have no idea why anyone would suggest Ibs etc.

Surely it’s a case of wait out the symptoms as if it were mesenteric.. (like the doctors who gave the diagnosis said) and then review in a couple of weeks time?

OP you should also be providing the max pain relief they have told you including the ibuprofen. Plus feed her whatever she will eat or drink to keep her general underlying health and strength up, even if that’s eg mars bars and milkshakes.

Lol at all the over -confident advice on here - a little knowledge can be a dangerous thing.

I think you’re being kind with “a little knowledge”

unfortunately the op seems very open to ignoring the medics that have actually seen and examined her daughter, and going with anonymous AIBU posters

Any chance that she vapes? It's known to cause stomach issues.

Apologies, I wanted to write she will build up a resistance to it, but couldn't remember the word.
But they do kind of mean the same thing so thought it worked.

I know what you meant but the fact is still the same - you don't build a tolerance for either drug. They just don't work like that, unlike opioids which you can very much build a tolerance for.

Yeah you can, what literature have you read that has told you, you cant?
I've read forums that say this but I've not read studies that prove your point, the only study that ever gets referenced is that it is not addictive like opioids, which personally I find annoying because whenever companies but caveats on something it's because they're hiding something ( which is, it is addictive but Iike the same way coffees addictive but thankful isnt as addictive or harmful as other drugs)

Long term use of any drug that is targeted will have an impact, how else could it work?
A drug can damaged the receptors in the body that the drug molecules are effecting, and so over a long period of time it can damage the receptors, so a greater amount of the drug needs to be taken in order to produce the same effects.
But even pushin all that to the side, it can damage your liver, and we only get one of those so why both taking something that isn't actually working and only offering the possibility of negative affects?
But if it helps I happily conceded the risk of building a tolerance is very low...but it is still possible😏😁

Absolutely do not do this.

Not sure if this has already been mentioned, but I would test her for food allergies/ intolerances asap. Get a doctor referal

🙄😵some of the rubbish on here! OP please sift out sensible comment from generalised nonsense.

Hi OP,

Just wanted to say, as a teen I had a condition with similar symptoms, ended up having to take a few months off school. It was no fun but I got through it, and on the plus side spent a load of quality time with my nan and gained an encyclopaedic knowledge of daytime TV.

It was just one of those things, no cure just ride it out, I took painkillers when it got really bad and I came out the other side with no long term physical or psychological effects. And I got out of PE for a further 3 months! Hope it passes soon for your DD.

As a side note, if she starts getting red spots on her legs too ask your Dr about Henoch Schonlein Purpura 👍

Agree you don't become tolerant to paracetamol or Ibuprofen.

Hi, I had this recently with my 10 year old son! Mesenteric adenitis was the diagnosis the doctors finally reached for us and we were warned that this can drag on for around 4 weeks! They told me if his symptoms got significantly worse or changed or lasted longer than 4 weeks to return but honestly it was almost 4 weeks to the day and he started to recover! The doctor at the hospital told us to give him buscopan, which did seem to help a little and we were rotating ice packs which was the only thing that seemed to give him any real relief. No idea if this is helpful to you but I do sympathise with you, it was horrific watching him in so much pain and not being able to fix it and like you we were up all night as he was crying in his sleep and waking up often due to the pain! I really hope your daughter feels better soon x

Op I hope your daughter is feeling better ❤️