Teen DD stomach issues - please help!

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Hi,
will try and keep this brief but want to include info!

Since DD hit puberty-ish she has had stomach issues. Diarrhoea, vomiting, pain etc. Started off with v. bad diarrhoea after eating, griping pains, was very embarrassing for her as she found it hard to explain to friends etc, also she nearly had an accident on a bus once which very nearly resulted in total disaster. (eek). Couple of years go by, told by Doc she is probably suffering from IBS and prescribed Mebeverine which does very little, she never remembered to take it and when she did she said it gave her tummy ache etc. So she stopped taking.

She also had pain in her upper left hand side which she said was like being "poked in the rib", I was worried that it was something to do with her pancreas or something so back to GP who said probably unrelated to stomach issues and said use Ibuprofen gel as might just be muscle pain (she dances and horse rides and is v active). Pain comes and goes intermittently. Last year she started with pains in her upper stomach area from bellybutton up after eating, it came on very suddenly, she started being sick but she said it was like she was forcing it up to make her stomach feel better, not like she felt actually nauseous, it was from the pain IYSWIM. She felt ill in general, fainted and hit her head and was out cold for 2 mins. Other family members had stomach bugs around this time so I think it was a bug. I have to say I feel terrible now but I didn't take her to A&E as she refused think she felt embarrassed, checked her constantly through the next couple of days and she carried on having the pains, she cried and said "there's something really wrong with my stomach".

She also started vomiting violently after certain things - Oasis drinks, Diet Pepsi, certain energy drinks, a certain curry sauce and gravy sauce from takeaways, those are the only things I can directly think of but there are a few more will have to ask her. She kept a food diary which showed no correlation, doc asked if she might be a) stressed or b) pregnant, neither are relevant, he said she seemed a healthy weight (she's around 5ft4 and 8stone9 although she's lost about 1.5 stones in the past 18 months, she hasn't tried but maybe she's just growing up etc). He sent her for bloods which showed she's anaemic, he said he suspected Coeliac, more detailed bloods were done and he sent her for an ultrasound on her stomach but we never got a call from the docs etc about the results and she said she didn't want to go back and moan because obviously nothing is actually wrong with her it's just how she is.

I think she has a food intolerance. But she also has things like sore mouth a lot of the time (around inside of her lips, bleeding gums sometimes, ulcers sometimes), strange thing where she has to burp a lot and feels "pressure" in her stomach, plus the random vomiting and feelings of extreme nausea. Her tummy can have a good week and then she has the runs for a few days etc.

However surely if anything was wrong this would have been picked up on?? She has been on the pill but come off and she says not much difference in her symptoms.

If you are still reading, Have a a piece of this is epic, sorry. But any thoughts are appreciated.

Could she be intolerant to certain sugars and sweetners. My son has and intolerance to certain sugars and artificial sweetners especially Aspartame. It appears in more foods than u would imagine. He gets as he saysa dodgy belly and pains. when he has artificial sweetners. Though his main factor is hyper activity. Since a strict controlled diet he's fine.

It's awful when u have a poorly child and u can't seem to get to the route of the problem.

My DH has a lot of those symptoms if he has something with gluten in - he is coeliac. Chase up the results from the coeliac test to rule it out, or you can do a home test kit.

call for the results.
if not coeliac she could be getting v constipated - (diarrhoea can be sign of consitpation too ) try yogurt probiotic drink daily for few weeks

Call the drs they may have forgotten to call you back or assumed you would call. Coeliac was my first thought too.

There used to be a bloke at work with all of these symptoms, he was very open about it and you could see he was in pain sometimes. I hope your DD finds something that can help her. It must be frightening for her.

Gah, forgot to say the bloke had ceoliac disorder...

Sounds like coeliac or crohn's? It would be ridiculous not to go back to the doctor - she is clearly ill. Is she afraid of what the diagnosis might be?

Hi everyone and thanks so much for your input. I think she feels like she's not being taken seriously, as when she saw a female GP she said "maybe you're just a bit stressed and you need to relax when you feel sick" and so she felt like she was exaggerating her symptoms and that she really isn't ill so to keep pushing it is hard for her, especially as the bloods and ultrasound were months ago now (sorry wasn't clear in post) and she is adamant that if there was something wrong they would have been in touch. Doesn't help that we did call a week or so after first round of bloods (she had a few) and the receptionist said "oh erm I can read them to you over the phone if you want" and proceeded to garble her way through the various things some of which she couldn't even pronounce - think "erm, liver function, whatever that means, says it's normal anyway". Was a bit but they are so fab with my diabetic dh and never put a foot wrong with him so not sure if a mix up or just that particular woman.

I do have a pressing question (two actually) - if she is coeliac then do symptoms get worse after eating gluten-y things or are they consistently bad? Because bread and pasta aren't normally known to trigger her off. Also can UTI's be a symptom because DD also suffers from mild backachey, strong wee sort of episodes from time to time and normally large amounts of water can fix it.
Also the disease Behcets (and sorry for TMI) - it says ulcers on genitals are a main symptom and dd swears that no, she has no such thing HOWEVER she does sometimes get what she describes as spots that don't have a head "down there" but she thinks they're ingrown hairs. Sorry DD for sharing but driving me mad all this!

OH and also just remembered - she had a violent virus-like rash all over her arms and hands in March, for about a week then it just went, aches and pains along with it although she was in a big dance competition and had to rehearse but felt on-and-off bad. Could be related or not, I don't know. She hasn't had it since.

I'm no expert but what about crohns or ulcerative colitis?

What are her periods/cycle like, heavy or painful?

Hope you get some answers soo. have you tried changing GP?

DH is much worse after eating something gluteny but could your daughter be jetting something a bit less obviously gluten? It's sometimes in very unexpected things.

I am watching this with interest OP as my DD has very similar symptoms. We too initially came up against doctors virtually accusing her of making it up, but we have persevered and she has had lots of tests and scans. Nothing has shown up and we are left with a diagnosis of IBS (so basically they don't know what it is). Buscopan helps, and we have realised she is lactose intolerant, and there are a few other things she can't eat, such as tomatoes.

She still gets flare ups though for no apparent reason, and her health generally is a bit poor, she catches everything going.

If the coeliac test is negative, I would push your GP very hard to be referred to a gastroenterologist for an endoscopy - camera down into the stomach. You never know, she may have H pylori and stomach ulcers.

Also, has the GP ever suggested gastritis and given you a trial of medicine to inhibit production of stomach acid? Another thing worth a try.

Your poor DD (and you!). Good luck.

I've had similar problems (not as bad though) since I was about 8 years old. I also, for years, had a diagnosis of IBS. The only thing that really helped was anti depressants! (Taken for depression of course, but I noticed the difference almost immediately). I have also noticed that it is worse when I am stressed. I don't think it's the cause, but makes things worse IYSIM, if I am not sleeping enough (with small kids) or getting too busy.

What intrigues me is the pain in the left side/ ribs, which I have too, exactly the same (it's a discomfort really, got it right now!). I mostly have to sleep on my left as it irritates me all night otherwise. I've had an endoscopy (years ago now) and it didn't show anything untoward. I hthink I read something ages ago on a Chinese medicine site about this pain on the left and being related to 'liver function' (in Chinese meds this is broader than your actual liver). I tried herbal medicine at one point but that didn't help either.

The other thing which helps me was a detox followed by cutting the wheat/ bread/ pasta long term. I would describe myself as intolerant rather than having an allergy as it tends to gradually build up if I have it every day in some form and then takes a while to go away if I cut it out. I did a diet recently where I cut almost all carbs, and just reduced to one, traditional carb meal a day (with ice, gluten free pasta, potato) and then had non carb for breakfast and evening. I used to eat something very light in the evening like soup or a green smoothie and found my sleep was improved and I felt better the next day (I also lost weight). It is a pain to stick to when I am also taking care of 3 little kids, so I've not managed, sadly, to remain focussed enough on it. But I really did feel better. I was also at that time eating a lot of raw foods, which seemed to be better for me too, even though they can feel harder to digest in the short term. Carrots and houmous, lots of olives in salads etc. I find pineapple and apples really help if I eat them regularly.

It's trial and error, but I do hope she finds some relief. And do chase the docs. They are notoriously bad on things which are difficult to pinpoint and maybe look at some alternative medicines.

Oh, I forgot also cutting out refined sugar makes a huge difference.

It may be worth trying these for a month or so and seeing if it helps.

Chinese Liver

This is a quote from the wikipedia article:
Dysfunction of the Liver typically presents as irritability, anger, headaches, dysmenorrhea, belches, bitter taste in the mouth, distension, pain under the costal arches, pain in the upper abdomen, tremors/numbness/stiffness of the limbs, blurry vision, or jaundice.

costal arch
n.
The portion of the lower opening of the chest formed by the cartilages of the seventh to tenth ribs.

That sounds about right for the pain. The Chinese reckon that Western medicine only treat the liver when it's in a really bad way, but there are a lot of more minor symptoms that can indicate a problem with it. Since the liver is the organ which removes toxins from the body, it makes sense that when I am putting less toxins in (sugar, wheat, additives etc.) it functions better and the pain goes.

The burping and stomach pressure could be acid reflux. I have this and IBS and what helped me was to identify my trigger foods and avoid them. In my case it's fruit including tomatoes, really spicy foods and milk. Fizzy drinks and certain sweets also make it flare. In my case the overstimulation of my vagus (?) nerve because of gastric distress led to spells of dizziness and fainting with vasovagal syncope. I had also some damage to my upper intestine by my stomach because of overproduction of acid, which was very painful.

I had a very good gastroenterologist who did lots of tests as well as the up and down cameras. I changed my diet and am a completely different person. I hope if is as simple as this for your DD, gastric problems are horrible.

Just to add,, when I ate something particularly irritating to my stomach I just couldn't hold it down, the pressure and distress was so bad it had to come back up.

Mine was triggered by a bout of poor health and then norovirus/gastritis.

Gallstones?