16 yr old DD severe stomach pain

[MaitlandGirl]

Ok, so this is totally outing me for anyone whose already seen this on FB but I'm beyond caring.

Last Monday DD (16) ended up in A&E with what we thought was appendicitis. Severe stomach pain 8/10 that reduced to 7/10 after Endone (oxycodone).

Ultrasound was clear - no problems with appendix, and everything else looked fine. Also not pregnant. Discharged with a diagnosis of early onset gastro.

In the past 11 days she's still had stomach pains at about a 6/10, is vomiting after every meal but keeping fluids down, no diahrea but has a low grade fever and feels sweaty all the time so the gastro diagnosis didn't seem correct.

Saw GP today - she's ordered a chest X-ray to see if it's walking pneumonia (as the pain is now not just across her belly button but up under her ribs) and repeat bloods / urine.

She's not complaining of a cough and says it doesn't hurt to breathe so it doesn't look like it's pneumonia either.

Does this sound familiar to anyone? Obviously I'm not after a internet diagnosis but we're so confused and the GP didn't seem to really have any firm ideas either (not that I blame her as it's all so weird).

Could she have peritonitis? Burst bowel ? Sounds very similar . My dad had it and was severely ill . Get her straightaway to hospital. My dad nearly dies and was on intensive care and needed a laparotomy . Her symptoms were same as your dd. Get to hospital asap

Dd not dad

Your poor Dd - you/she must have been terrified.

I'm almost certain that's not the case with mine, she's not sick enough in herself and the ultrasound showed no sign of a leaky gut or any inflammation.

It's just so confusing.

is she stressed? i remember when i was a teenager I developed terrible stomach pains and had ultrasounds etc nothing was ever found. now i look back on it i think it was a physical response to emotional stress. not that I can prove it ofc..

It could be stress - she developed a stutter and migraines 2 years ago through stress, the stutter is gone but the migraines are still a problem.

We've had a terrible year this year with several extended family members passing away (all back in the UK) and she's been hit really hard by them and she's in yr 11 (year 12 is the big year for exams here) so school is pretty full on.

She seems brighter today, I think the relief it's not gastro has made a big difference. She had norovirus 3 years ago and was very ill with it - she lost over half her body weight and 3/4 of her hair fell out :(

She had her chest X-ray today so hopefully that will show something. At this stage we don't really care what it is, we just want to know what's wrong.

I've taken my dd to emergency a few times with abdominal pain. In her case it was burst cysts, but they were picked up on ultrasound which your dd has already had. No treatment except for strong painkillers (and a trail of the pill which didn't help, partly as she too has migraines and so could only be on progesterone pills). The vomiting sounds very worrying, I hope they figure out the issue and fix it for her very soon.

Dd2 got sent to A&E a number of times one year with similar sounding pain. It was just stress, which sounds a relief but very difficult as there's very little when it is basically stress over being 10yo! It unfortunately did develop further into full blown anxiety.

Abdominal migraine?

Mittelschmerz?

Gall stones? Especially with pain under ribs

Could be an ovarian cyst, don't always show up on ultrasounds and can come and go.

Cysts are very common from the start of puberty onwards the just don't usually cause problems.

I was thinking gall stones too, but these would have been picked up in the ultrasound?

I wondered about gallstones too but the GP didn't think so as the ultrasound was clear, she also doesn't fit the stereotype for gallstones (5ft 8in tall and a size 6/8) with no family history.

Would she still get abdominal migraines if she takes Sandomigran? She's never had them before, they're always in her head.

The pain started on day 2 of her cycle so the gynae registrar she saw didn't think it could be anything to do with her ovaries, and there was no free fluid on the ultrasound.

Forgot to say her unrine sample on Friday was very cloudy but no symptoms of a UTI and kidneys were clear on the ultrasound.

She had her chest X-ray this morning so should get the results of that on Monday. I've got a feeling that will be clear though and it'll all come down to stress. I'd much rather it was a physical problem that could be treated but stress is looking more and more likely I think.

Any chance she could be pregnant? Thinking of an ectopic pregnancy.

Sounds daft but a friends dd went to a and e and she was severely impacted and constipated. Basically she was going every 2-3 days but it had all backed up.
You could try prunes and lots of fluids.
It doesn't explain the temperature though.

My best mate had 30odd gallstones and the ultrasound missed it, my husband has ulcerative colitis, so does his mother, plus SIL has Crohn's disease-none were picked up by ultrasound. Do not accept that as the only test for abdominal abnormalities. Keep pushing for more tests my dear. Best of luck, she'll be fine once she gets a more useful diagnosis.

My daughter has a multi system inflammatory disease which gives her severe stomach pain, amongst others. Faecal tests showed inflammation, ultrasound and MRIs were clear. It took an endo/colonoscopy and the biopsy results to show up the sites of inflammation.

Hers is a bit different as it's a chronic illness with acute flares, but don't be fobbed off. Hope you get answers soon. x

When I was 18 my friend had same symptoms. After many repeat visits to GP and A&E she was finally diagnosed with gall stones and eventually had her gall bladder removed. GP and A&E kept ignoring her mum when she suggested gall stones as they said she was "too young" to have them, yet she did.

Be persistent and I hope your DD gets a diagnosis and starts to feel better quickly.

My dd had her first ovarian cyst during ovulation, and that's when they normally hurt the worst, but she's also had a couple during her period. Sometimes there isn't much to see as they have already burst by the time you hit A&E. However the other symptoms don't seem right so as others have said I think you need to continue to push for more tests.

We had a call from the GP saying she had the test results in and wanted to see us, so something showed on her throat swab or urine sample. Got an appointment tomorrow so should know what's going on fairly soon.

DD went back to school on Monday (after 2 weeks off) and was sent home within a couple of hours as she looked awful! I only sent her in as we'd been getting hassle from the school, looks as if she'll be off for at least another week :(

Sounds very similar to my daughter when she had a kidney infection. Water was clear and couldn't see anything on scans/ultrasounds on kidneys but that was final diagnosis. She was off school for 3 weeks in total and couldn't manage full days for a while.

So she has the flu, an upper respiratory infection AND a gut infection!

Huge relief that it's not stress as at least this can be treated.

Goodness. No wonder her symptoms were confusing. Not one but three infections going on. Not surprising she was feeling so awful. Hope she responds to treatment very quickly.

Poor girl, she must be feeling so rotten with all that going on. Hope she's on the mend soon

The upside is it's only Influenza type B, so not as serious as it could be. The downside is I forgot to rearrange her flu jab so she's blaming me!!

A hormonal, unwell 16 year old can really hold a grudge!!