Worried about dd

[aleC4]

My dd is 15.
For the past few months she has been having on and off bouts of nausea and sickness.
We put it down to her periods as it seemed to time right and she also has terrible cramps.
I took her to the dr 3 weeks ago and she put her on the pill. She then had a stomach bug for 3/4 days where she didn't eat and was throwing up.
She often has no appetite and doesn't really eat much. She has lost a bit of weight but is not skinny and doesn't look worryingly thin.
She is also often lethargic and sometimes falls asleep in the evening.
Since she started taking the pill, since the initial bug, she has been fine.
Last week she started with a pain in her lower back and frequent, painful weeing. I took her to the dr who dipped her wee and gave her antibiotics for a uti. She finished the three day course today.
However today she has had no appetite again and has had very little to eat - a small breakfast, no lunch and a small amount of Sunday dinner. Tonight she started feeling sick again and has just been sick twice.
I don't know what to think.
I feel like I should be doing something but then on the other hand I think it's not anything major. A lot of the time she's absolutely fine.
It's just that she's never been a sickly child and now she seems to feel sick often.
Any advice?

My dd is so similar, I could have written your post! The uti's are frequent unfortunately. Unfortunately the dr is only interested in treating immediate symptoms not joining the dots

Anaemia?

Thanks for all the replies/suggestions.
@gogohmm sorry your dd is going through the same.
I actually blame myself for the fact the dr isn't investigating because we've always been with a specific aim in mind - period problems, uti etc. I've never actually taken her and says this is the problem, these are the symptoms, it's been going on a while.
It's my own fault.
It's only now I've actually stopped to think what her health has been like over the last year that it's made me suddenly realise.

She shouldn’t be doing vigorous sports and long walks home if she’s lost a significant amount of weight. She’s likely Malnourished which will cause fatigue, headaches, dizziness, possibly increased susceptibility to infections. Do you know how much weight she’s lost? Poor intake will mean her stomach has shrunk and will cause nausea and bloating, fullness when eating etc. I think you need to get her to the gp ask for bloods, dietitian, keep a good diary to monitor for intolerances etc. I wouldn’t totally rule out an eating disorder

All pregnancy symptoms, you better get her tested and off the pill if she is

The thing is, a lot of the time she's absolutely fine.
Which is why I think it's taken a while for me to start to put a picture together.
She plays a very physical sport and can do a half an hour training followed by an hour match match and be still buzzing f afterwards. She plays at county level and never misses a session. If I ever honestly thought she wasn't up to training I wouldn't let her go.
I'm not sure how much weight she's lost but a clothes size at least. She's not skinny though, just slim, and if you saw her you would not think she looked unhealthy.

I am not ruling out anything but I honestly, truly do not think she has an eating disorder. I know it's easy to sway that as a parent but I really don't. She eats when she's hungry and sometimes her appetite is totally normal but other times she just doesn't feel hungry. I'm sure there's a physical reason for it.

@NGCO she's definitely not pregnant. They did a pregnancy test when she had her kidney infection 4 weeks ago and she hasn't been sexually active since then.

What about Crohn's disease?

Don't feel bad, it's natural to treat each symptom individually initially. Make a list of what has happened when (start keeping a diary of symptoms) and maybe ask for a double appointment to go through everything. Make it clear you think there is something underlying and that you want things checked, ask about autoimmune diseases. And make sure you know the family history of any (autoimmune) disease if they ask. It shouldn't happen but you do get treated better by the GPs if you are organised. If one GP doesn't listen make an appointment with another.

Thank you @JaninaDuszejko I have started a diary of symptoms.
I'm doing day by day but have started with an overview of the last few months and what has been going on in that time.
Hopefully if I have this a gp will at least agree to doing some tests.

OP I don't want to make you worry more but vomiting, lethargy and weight loss is a symptom of ovarian cancer, I have personal experience of this with a close friend and it is often misdiagnosed as a stomach related issue.

Utis at that age sometimes caused from wiping back to front instead of front to back so maybe worth mentioning that to her? Hope you get it sorted soon. Don't let the GP fob you off.

To be honest whatever the reason for the weight loss if it’s visible and her clothes are not fitting she’s quite possibly malnourished. It’s not about how heavy she is but about how much weight has been lost over a fairly short period of time. The fatigue and other symptoms are saying she’s not ok and you need to push for gp to monitor weight, bp, pulse, bloods etc and see if she’s physically fit to continue with the exercise. I presume they weighed her when she started the pill so should be able to work out how much she has lost. 15 year olds really shouldn’t be losing weight

Don’t feel guilty for not pushing for a referral before, in the old days when we had family doctors I think the GP would have joined all the dots and want to eliminate stuff - but I don’t think they have the time to read the whole history in 10 mins. I would be organised like Janina says and have a list of headline symptoms, e.g:

• weight loss (at least a dress size) without dieting
• fatigue (falling asleep early evening/not being able to do everything she did before)
• abdominal and lower back pain since before June
• nausea and vomiting since before June
• lack of appetite and feels full quickly
• treated for 2 or 3 UTIs and a kidney infection since June
• frequent headaches, migraines, head feels funny

As a pp says if they don’t take you seriously ask for a second opinion. Good luck, you are being a brilliant mum advocating for your DD.

sounds like me when I had a huge ovarian cyst!

Took dd to the gp this morning. She was fine on Friday but then felt sick from friday night, all day Saturday and Sunday. She's hardly eaten and then woke this morning with an awful headache.
The gp was lovely, she really listened to my worries and noted every symptom.
She weighed her, did bp, oxygen sats, temperature, looked in her eyes, felt her tummy and did tests for weakness in arms and legs.
She booked her in for blood tests later in the week and even prescribed some numbing cream to put on her arms when dd said she was worried about it.
She's managed a bit more food today and actually had a decent portion of dinner tonight. She feels better for it and her headache has gone.
I'm sure the headache is caused by not eating/drinking enough.
So no answers yet but hopefully we're on our way.

Well done for taking her. I’m so glad you felt the GP listened to you both and she’s having some blood tests done. That’s great news she had some dinner.

How is your daughter now?

I would ask the Dr about ovarian cancer, the symptoms are so generic it's hard to catch but I think worth ruling out!

Hope your daughter is doing okay OP x