Abdominal pain in 5 year old - anyone with experience?

[LadyCluck]

5 yr old DD woke up yesterday morning and said her tummy was hurting.
The pain seemed to come in waves. Very little appetite as a result.
No diarrhoea, no vomiting, no temperature.
Not constipated.
She says she feels sick but this seems to be when the pain hits.

At 1am this morning she was almost bent double with the pain so I took her straight to A&E.
They did blood tests to rule out infection/ appendicitis but bloods came back clear. The doctor said if it was appendicitis he would expect her to be in constant pain, not having waves of pain.
We were sent home and told to keep up pain relief and if no improvement in the next two days to go back in.

Does anyone have experience of appendicitis where bloods came back negative? I’m at a loss as to what it could be and the doctor didn’t seem to have any ideas.
She’s comfortable sitting down cuddling a warm hot-water bottle. If she gets up to walk anywhere, the pain flares up.

Any ideas wonderful Mumsnet folk?

Mesenteric adenitis?

Are you sure it's not constipation. It sounds like what my daughter has been like in the past. We took her to A&E once because I thought it was appendicitis.

But she was actually quite constipated despite doing normal poos everyday. She had quite a lot of stuck poo which softer poo was moving around. She's been on movicol since and no more tummy aches.

Thank you - I’ll have a look into that.

I don’t believe so.
Shes managed to go twice yesterday.

When I ask her to point to where the pain is, she circles her whole abdominal area from just under her ribs down to her hips.

My daughter is 7 and we had something similar recently. The pain came in waves but was more pronounced everytime after she ate, accompanied by mild nausea. I thought she was constipated and gave her lactulose but it did not resolve her pain.

The first GP we saw said she was having digestive issues, maybe due to lactose intolerance. I cut out all dairy in her diet for 3 days but saw no improvement.

Finally saw her paediatrician who diagnosed her with Recurrent Abdominal Pain due to an imbalance in her gut flora. He prescribed her with debridat for the pain, and high dosage probiotics to improve her gut health. The doctor did say that if this first course of treatment does not work then we would have to send her for ultrasounds and stool testing.

She's been on the probiotics for about a week now and has improved so much. We are due for a follow up in another week's time and I hope she'll be fully well by then.

I hope you find out what's happening with your DD soon! It's so worrying when they're in pain and you don't know what's going on.

I'd say Mesenteric adenitis from the sounds of it my eldest had it not so long ago it was awful I hope she feels better soon we found nurofen worked really well in helping manage the pain x

Thank you - it’s horrible when they’re suffering. I’m glad your daughter has improved.
What were the probiotics out of interest?

May I ask if you know what triggered it and how long did it last?

@LadyCluck it's vivomixx. She's on 4 sachets daily for now.

Thanks @Appleblum

@LadyCluck she had Covid and was completely fine but then a couple weeks later got got this and the doctors said it was a reaction her body had to having a virus the glands in her abdomen had swelled which is what the condition is, it lasted about 5 days and was awful my dd used to just start screaming in pain until the 'wave' has passed and I just felt utterly helpless also I've just remembered she found a hot water bottle on her tummy helpful while the pain was there I hope your all doing ok

Thanks @Lovebeingamummy2

DD had a much better day yesterday but woke us up at 03:30 in pain, very restless and upset.
Back at A&E and waiting to see a doctor.

When mine had this hospital said a virus it did go away after a week. Very upsetting at the time

Doctors think it is Mesenteric Adenitis.

We’ve been advised to keep up with the pain relief so we’re alternating between calpol and ibuprofen with a hot water bottle on her tummy. When it’s at its worst, none of them seem to help and I’m at a loss as to what to do.

My son had something similar. Tummy pain that came in waves, I too took him to A&E and they didn’t find anything wrong with him. He was suffering for 2 weeks following a tummy bug. I bought probiotics for him and after 3 days he was right as rain. Maybe a coincidence but perhaps give probiotics a try?

This is really interesting. Dd2, also five, had tummy ache on and off for about two weeks.

Pressed send too soon! She always pointed to around her tummy button to where it hurt and said it wasn't all the time and when it did hurt distracted her from playing with friends. She hasn't said anything about it for a couple of weeks now.

We had this and was caused by tonsillitis (although DS didn't complain about his throat only his tummy) ! I'm assuming they'll have checked that as she's been seen. In our case it stopped after antibiotics.

I hope she's better soon.