Please help: Stomach cramps getting increasingly worse in 7 year old

[WrongSideOfTheCoin]

My DD has been getting regularly stomach cramps. It started probably last year but then she used to get one episode only every few months. After summer this year it was first a few times every week and now it's several times a day. Sometimes she's buckled over in pain and it can last ages. Ibuprofen seems to help. She says that she always has a low level of pain but now only tells us when it's really severe. It happens in school as well.

The GP has prescribed an antacid but that hasn't made a difference so now they are recommending an elimination diet to check first for a dairy intolerance and then gluten. She's been off dairy for a few days now but that hasn't helped. I doubt it's gluten. She was tested recently for.a gluten intolerance and it came back negative.

We will still cut it out (after the dairy trial) but I'm concerned it's something more acute that needs treatment now. Considering that we can control the really severe episodes with ibuprofen it doesn't seem to be a case for A n E either but I'm worried that if it's something more serious we will miss it by making small changes to her diet.

The GP has also mentioned abdominal migraines and has said that in kids abdominal pain without known cause is quite common. Most probably it's just something like that but just worried about the possibility of it being something else. Especially since it's becoming worse.

Has anybody come across this? What did it turn out to be? If your child had abdominal migraines when did they grow out of it?

Don't give ibuprofen with any stomach issues - it can make things much worse.

Have they tested her for helicobacter pylori? My daughter had stomach problems for years and it built up until she was in acute pain that would get so bad she would wake up from the pain. They finally tested her for this and it came back positive. The poor thing had had it for a very long time! It took two rounds of antibiotics to clear it then she was left with a stomach acid problem which has also just started to subside, a few years after getting rid of the infection.

Also second not to give her ibuprofen. Paracetamol only if stomach issues.

The GP recommended nurofen. And paracetamol doesn't seem that effective.

The gp has also asked for a stool sample. She said it's to look for worms. Would helico Bacter pylori show up in that?

Had this with DD at a similar age, pain was severe enough to keep her awake at night sometimes and we had a couple of trips to A&E querying appendicitis.
It turned out to be constipation and a few weeks of Junior Movicol sorted her out. I'd never have guessed this as she was having fairly regular bowel movements, but clearly there was a blockage somewhere.
Hope yours is sorted soon, I can remember how stressful it was.

She does say that her stool is hard at times and she doesn't drink a lot of water. Can we get movicol over the counter?

We thought about appendicitis but the gp ruled it out.

Thanks everyone for sharing your stories. The GP did say it's very common and most likely harmless but it's very difficult not to worry about it being something more serious because she's in so much pain so often. Dh keeps saying we need to ask for an ultrasound or some sort of imaging scan to look for ulcers or tumours.

DD and DS2 find Nurofen works better for their abdominal pain too. Has she had an abdominal ultrasound or x-ray? All mine have bad constipation which wasn't felt by the doctor on palpating the stomach and really needs to be ruled out with an x-ray. An ultrasound's needed to rule out mesenteric adenitis, inflamed lymph nodes in the bowel. It's fairly common at this age, not dangerous, but can be very painful. My DDs as seen on ultrasound lasted a lot longer than the time frames I found online. DDs GP trialed her with medication to rule out abdominal migraines as theirs no way to test for them.

Yes it's over the counter, there's also Osmolax, but it's really better to be treated by her doctor so they can advise how much and for how long. GP put DD on a high dose for 5 days then dropped down to a maintenance dose. Since the pains been going on for a long time if it's constipation it may have to be treated for a long time to allow the bowel to return to its normal size. Our GP said DD would need to be treated for a year, but it still gets bad if she goes off movicol 18 months later. I have IBS and am basically on it for life, so DD might end up being the same.

No. The GP didn't suggest an ultrasound or any other type of imaging. Would it be justifiable to go back to the GP to request to do one? I'm worried that the elimination tests could take months and whatever is troubling her could get worse in that time or that she'll be in pain for months.

DD is already such a poor eater and has always struggled with weight gain (which is why we tested previously for gluten n). Now she is becoming more reluctant to eat in case in case it triggers a stomach pain and sometimes the pain starts while eating so she has to stop.

That does sound a lot like constipation. Our GP said that the pain happens when eating because the body tries to make space for the new food by pushing everything else further through the bowel.

In hindsight having been through this for a couple of years I'd be pushing for both an x-ray and an ultrasound. Given what you've said here though at least an x-ray. DD had mesenteric adenitis diagnosed by ultrasound first and when that finally resolved (ultrasound showed it had gone away) and she was still getting lots of pain, I was pretty sure from my own experience as a child that she was constipated but 3 different doctor said no because they couldn't feel it palpating her abdomen. My GP was on mat leave then, when she got back I took DD to see her and asked for an x-ray. DDs constipation was so bad she rang me as soon as she got the results to tell me to start treatment. The 3 doctors we saw including one when DD was admitted to ED unable to eat or keep food down and crying from pain all said there was no way she was constipated and they were all very wrong. I've found doctors can be really dismissive of 'just' pain. Your DDs in pain regularly that shouldn't be considered ok or normal, at least not until everything is ruled out.

I think you should push for more tests. My eldest did have stomach migraines but not to the extent you're talking about. My family also had a history of migraines. Chocolate turned out to be his trigger. He did eventually get the more classic headache but he grew out of these as he got older.

My DD was like this when she had milk. She was ok when we switched to lactose free milk.

You can ask for more tests, but also make sure you sort the basics out. Water must be drunk in good quantities and try to improve fibre intake. A hot water bottle helps with pain.

Abdominal migraines are very common.

Definitely push for the scans. I’ve had years of gut trouble and things are a nightmare; you don’t want to let it continue. It does sound like a constipation-based problem and if so ibuprofen will make it worse

DD had this in Yr2. We never found a physical reason for it but nor did we have x-rays or ultrasound. I think it was largely psychological in DD's case. She went from having had really kind, gentle teachers in Reception & Yr1 and being quite the teacher's pet in Yr1 to a much stricter teacher who shouted quite a lot which DD disliked. Then there were friendship issues rumbling throughout the year which resulted in DD being bullied for a bit in the spring term and that was miserable for her. It was actually keeping a diary of when DD had stomach pain that identified a pattern which enabled us to identify the bullying. It wasn't all related to that as she had random attacks in the school holidays too but she did just grow out of it.

Has Crohn’s or Colitis been mentioned? Especially with her struggling to gain weight.

i was diagnosed with Crohn’s at 18 but had symptoms of abdominal pain from quite young. It continually got fobbed off until I started bleeding heavily at 16 and even then it took another few years to get a proper diagnosis. By that point, my insides were shot and I needed major surgery to remove my large intestine.

They can do bloods for inflammatory markers and a stool sample would give them an indication. An MRI or camera (they have little ones you swallow now) that can take images of what’s going on inside.

Good luck and keep pushing! You’re doing the right thing.

Oh your poor girl. It must be so hard for you to see this, and feel so helpless too. I hope the GP can find a solution.

I came on here to mention the Ibruprofen thing too. I was prescribed it earlier this year after a back injury and it gave me gastritis. I needed an endoscopy to confirm that’s what was causing the awful, gnawing pain in my stomach. It seems to have improved a lot now but it’s taken months and I will never take Ibruprofen again. I wouldn’t want your daughter to get that on top of her cramps.

Paediatric movicol is prescription only.

My son had similar symptoms on and off across about 3 years from the age of 8. He’s now 12 and it’s very occasional and more mild.

Over a few years of investigations, doctors usually ended up suggesting mesenteric adenitis, abdominal migraines and generally a “sensitive gut”. They worked on a basis of discounting other things: they took full blood counts on 2 or 3 occasions and said this was informative in ruling out Coeliac Disease and various serious but rare causes of stomach pain. At one point we kept a poo diary to monitor for constipation and at another point he had an ultrasound. None of these many tests identified the cause but they did rule out many things.

His triggers seemed to be illness and stress. He’d always get it after a cold and if he was worried about something he’d get it. To his huge disappointment he’d also often get it after a McDonalds or similar - I never figured out whether it was the sugar/fat/salt or a combination of those things. At worst, especially when it came on after a cold, it meant days and days off school because the pain was so bad. As well as the pain, he’d look very pale and lack his usual energy. The worst time it took about 3 or 4 weeks to pass.

The doctors suggested pain management with a combination of Calpol (not ibuprofen as it is not helpful for stomach issues) and Buscopan, which relaxes the stomach. Also things like warm baths with Epsom salts and plenty of rest.

it was really hard for all the family when he had it badly - very disruptive in terms of school / work. So I am sending lots of healing vibes your way, both for your daughter and for you.

My son was similar age when he started getting issues with his stomach. It took two years of back and forth to the GP to finally get a referral to the hospital. It turned out he had crohns disease. I would push for more tests.
Also, as mentioned, do not give Ibruprofen for stomach problems, it can make things a lot worse.

Definitely go back to the dr and explain the impact and ask for further tests. I hope she gets better soon.

My son was diagnosed with coeliac disease age six, GP noticed on his growth chart that his growth had flattened, negative for coeliac antibodies, but positive genetic test and I have coeliac disease. He had tummy pains that went away a month after going gluten free and he started to put weight on.

If your dd has hard stool, doesn't drink enough water frequently through the day and doesn't eat much food then she's probably extremely constipated. Impacted stool causes really bad stomach cramps. Your dd probably doesn't have an eating disorder but it's common for a lot of anorexics to have cramps due to shrinking their stomach and being constipated.

Another vote for constipation as my son had exactly the same symptoms. I remember once driving him to a&e at 3am as he’d woken up screaming in pain and inconsolable only to turn back as the sitting up in the car had relieved all the pressure and he was now as happy as larry! I had no inkling it could be constipation as he was fairly regular but it had been slowly backing up. We paid to see a paediatrician privately as we were getting nowhere with the GP initially - they were suggesting over the counter remedies for indigestion and wind that were actually working against each other 🤦‍♀️ The consultant gave us Movicol and suggested we go in at a high dose straight away over the weekend to clear everything out. All sorted although I was pretty obsessed with monitoring how often he went to the toilet after that 🤣

Even if it’s not constipation, I think you need to be referred for further investigation.