DD5.5 crying with tiredness for weeks - what blood tests to ask for

[margoandjerry]

My DD 5.5 has been very tired for a few weeks now. She's sleeping at least 12 hours a night (which is her usual pattern) but is really exhausted and crying by 11am saying she's so tired. She's also very pale and has dark circles under her eyes. I thought she'd get better over the holidays because we are not doing much but if anything she's getting worse.

I am going to take her to the dr - any thought on what I should push for?

The only other thing she complains of is aching legs/joints.

Obviously I'm worrying about this - all thoughts appreciated.

iron, But there are lots and lots,

Is she weeing a lot? Dark urine? How is her poo?

Poor kid

thanks for replying. Not weeing a lot. As for poo - now I come to think about it, I don't know! She hasn't mentioned anything about it but I just asked her and she says she hasn't been today. What should I look out for?

I will mention the iron thing. We have a decent diet but I was anaemic last year so I know it's not necessarily about that.

She has a vit D supplement and fish oil.

Might be hypermobility.

Very dark and Tarry!

Could be lots of things

has she put on any weight? How's her temper? Is she waking a lot at night?

sleeps like a log, not put on any weight (apart from this week for reasons of pizza and chocolate!), temper is fine except that this tiredness is weighing her down.

Poo is not dark and tarry.

Thanks for all the things too look for. It's really useful. To ask a stupid quesstion, what is hypermobility? Am assuming it's to do with joints but what distinguishes hypermobile from the rest?

Taking the DCs to bed now but will check in again later.

www.nhs.uk/Conditions/Joint-hypermobility/Pages/Symptoms.aspx

She needs a full blood count. But, with those symptoms a GP should routinely do that anyway. Full blood count checks for haemoglobin, the oxygen carrying part of the blood. This is what is low when you are anaemic. It checks for white blood cells, that fight infection. This can be high/low depending on what's wrong and what would usually diagnose something like leukaemia. Full blood count also measure platelets which are the clotting cells.
A GP would probably request Urea and Electrolytes (U's and E's) which shows kidney function and Liver function test (LFT's) which is obviously liver. Abnormalities with both organs cause tiredness.
In this kind of situation bloods should be taken to exclude serious illness, then a full history and examination to see what's going on.
It's easy to worry about it being something serious but chances are it is something simple and resolves easily.

Connective tissue proteins such as collagen give the body its intrinsic toughness. When they are differently formed, the results are mainly felt in the "moving parts" - the joints, muscles, tendons, ligaments - which are laxer and more fragile than is the case for most people. The result is joint laxity with hypermobility and with it comes vulnerability to the effects of injury.

The Hypermobility Syndrome is said to exist when symptoms are produced, a state of affairs that may affect only a minority of hypermobile people. It is probably more correct to refer to Hypermobility Syndromes (in the plural) as a family of related genetically-based conditions which differ not only in the particular protein affected, but also in the degree of difference of formation. Thus at one end of the spectrum are the diseases with the potentially serious complications such as Marfan Syndrome or Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome Vascular Type (formally EDS IV). At the other end are what is now called on good evidence Benign Joint Hypermobility Syndrome (BJHS) and Ehlers-Danlos Hypermobile Type (formerly EDS III), which may be one and the same. These may cause troublesome and persistent problems, but do not affect the vital organs and thus do not pose a serious threat to life

While dark bluish circles under the eyes can be hereditary, they can also have other causes, including allergies. In fact, they?re often referred to as "allergic shiners."

That's because when the nose is congested ? which commonly happens with allergies ? the surrounding veins become restricted, slowing the blood flow. As a result, the veins under the eyes can swell and look darker, particularly among people with light skin. Chronic sinus infections and colds ? in fact, anything that causes nasal inflammation ? can also cause these dark circles.

Other telltale signs of an allergy include dry, red, itchy skin; wheezing; coughing; red or watery eyes; sniffling; rubbing the nose; and sneezing.

Coeliac disease is a possibility. Get tested for that too - symptoms often atypical and tiredness is major factor for our DD who is going for biopsy soon after positive blood test. Symptoms in her are fatigue, slow growth/weight loss and constipation.

Most likely she's had a viral thing combined with rapid growth and she's knackered but will get over it in her own time. However you're absolutely right to get it checked. Just go to the GP and explain she's not herself - they should do a full set of bloods including FBC, U&Es and LFTs as already mentioned. You shouldn't need to push for anything except to be clear that you feel blood tests are warrented. I remember my sister having a post viral thing for three months or so at a similar age. We would go out for walks and she had to be carried home by dad.

thanks so much for all the ideas. I will press for the full panel of tests you have all suggested (making notes). The only problem is my GP is not helpful so I might have a fight on my hands to get all this done but I know she's not right. She did have a viral thing in December and January but seemed to get well again. If anything I'd say her growth has slowed a bit this year which is normal I suppose but last year she was tallest in the class and this year seems very average. Anyway, blood tests are my next step.

You could also ask for a urine test and vitamin d test. Also get the results printed out with reference ranges and see if any are borderline eg ferritin

You could also ask for a urine test and vitamin d test. Also get the results printed out with reference ranges and see if any are borderline eg ferritin

No advice beyond the great advice ^ but one thing i can suggest?

Change GP.

I did and it was a brilliant move, our new ones have more doctors so more slots, and there have been times I have rung in a panic and they have seen us even at closing (DD has a cheqered medical history) as well as always being friendly and never giving me the PFB look.

I second the idea to change your GP but until then be a little forceful.
Remember he is not your friend he is there to provide a service.
From the history you have told us it is completely reasonable to have some investigations done.
In GPs' defence it is incredibly difficult to decide how much importance certain symptoms have.
For example , a woman over 50 presents with mild abdominal pain, indigestion and says her abdomen is swollen. The woman is otherwise well. The GP might see 3 ladies like this a week. How does he decide who has irritable bowel syndrome (probably 99%) and who might have Ovarian Cancer. At the same time he is being told to cut back on investigations by the practice manager.
What you can do as a mother is be very honest with the GP. Tell him you would like to exclude conditions like leukaemia or kidney failure. Tell him you realise it's very unlikely but those conditions need to be caught early and you would rather rule them out. Tell him a doctor friend of yours told you this (fingers crossed behind your back!).
You never know he might initiate it all anyway.
Good luck and sorry for the long post.

thanks for all the comments and suggestions. GP was good in the end and sent her for lots of blood tests whicch have just come back. Everything looks fine apart from slightly low white blood cell count. Obviously am immediately worried about this although I understand some people can have this anyway and it's just how they are. We are going in tomorrow to see the dr but the receptionist was adamant that there is nothing to worry about. I asked if I could speak to the dr before then and she said no because it's not "something to worry about". She said if it was serious he would have called me.

Ugh. Am worried. Anyone got any experience here?