DD 6yo gets low and poorly

[Slightly]

Sorry the Subject is unspecific, but that is just the problem :(

My lovely DD2 is 6.8 and has never had great health, asthma as a baby, chicken pox, pnumonia and then mumps all around her 1st birthday. She's quite small and slight for her age too.

Last year she got really unwell, but we could not find out what it was. She lost a lot of weight, had big dark circles under her eyes, complained of 'tummy ache' constantly and was so tired all the time. She would hold it together for school but burst into tears of tirdness at the end of the day, and fall asleep in the car on the 5 min ride home.

We had private health ins. with DH work, and they tried so hard to find out the cause, did every test known to man, starting with lukemia and working down :( which was terrifying. The pediatrican agreed something was wrong, and was frastruated he couldn't find what is was.

Nothing came up positive, we ended up going to a nutritionist, we did the exclusion diets to no avail, and eventually, after a high cal/high fat diet she seemed to just 'pick up'. The conclusion was it was some sort of virus similar to Glandular Fever that laid her low and had a long recovery time.

Scroll forward through 18mths of good health and looking pretty robust (having moved to the US) and she's going downhill again :( I'm so worried, she is complaining of tummy ache, tired all the time, tearful going into school and looking skinny.

Any ideas? I'm going to put her back on the high cal/fat diet, but I'm worried.

Sorry this is so long. Thanks if you managed to get through it.

Could it be a psychological issue rather than a physical one? Is she happy at school etc, happy with your move to america?

I have thought that, but she seems really happy with everthing...

Last time she was just coming to the end of Reception Year, she'd had a great time, lovely friends ADORED her teacher, so I couldn't pick anything out. She's fairly vocal, so I'd be suprised if she was keeping stuff to herself.

We're a pretty close family and she has lots of opportunity to talk about stuff.

I sernt her to school today, against my better judgement cos she wanted to go, and she missed last friday because of a cold/tirdness. She'll be tired when she gets in so we'll have a cuddle on the sofa and I'll let her talk if she wants to.

Any suggestions for getttng her to open up? In case I AM missing something

Try cutting down on wheat, your comment re high fat suggests that she is not absorbing fats properly, one of symptoms of wheat/gluten intolerance. There are no tests to confirm, just the diet trial.

I'll try it again next week, thanks.

I second the gluten recommendation.

There is a test - but it's invasive - a biopsy of the colon combined with a blood test.

My DS had the blood test which showed raised markers for Coeliac Disease (gluten/wheat intolerance).

He was horribly unwell for months. His sores would take forever to heal, he had episodes of non-responsiveness on waking which were really frightening.

We went through the mill with regards a diagnosis - they first thought it was brain tumour (due to the morning thing) then settled on absence epilepsy. The paediatric neurologist wanted to put him on hectic anti-convulsant medication but I just had a gut feeling that the epilepsy wasn't the cause of the tiredness (and many of the symptoms you describe in your DD).

We decided to completely remove gluten/wheat from DS' diet. The change is quite astounding. No more morning issues, he heals well and gets over illnesses much better than he used to.

We noticed a marked difference within 10 days of starting the diet.

Try www.coeliac.org.uk for more information

I don't have any other suggestions, I'd try those mentioned above and if no improvement - hounding the Drs until they have done everything all over again.

Also, I would go to a herbalist, they are very good at finding things that 'regular' tests don't pick up, for example, they will pick up a problematic thyroid before it's problematic enough to show up on blood tests - and the herbal meds for it can make you feel much much better.

I hope you get it sorted soon and that it's something easily remedied x

Thanks so much both of you.

Am looking now at the www.coeliac.org.uk website, and organising food for the diet.

PadmeHum - How frightening for you but great news that you have sorted it out now. The morning symptoms you mentioned are interesting - as she is appalling in the morning, despite 12hrs (sometimes more) sleep, she is almost impossible to rouse.

ChippingIn Still getting to grips with the medical providers over here, but she has an appointment on Friday at the Drs. A herbalist is certainly an idea, I took her to a homeopath last time as I was at a loss at what to try next, but not tried a herbalist. Will have a look around the net to see what is here - thanks.

I'll let you know how it goes.