DD has constant weird feeling in stomach

[Nathalie1975]

DD(9) has had various nervous tics since she was 4 (eye blinking, mouth or neck twitching...). About a year ago she started regularly poking herself very hard in the stomach with 2 fingers. It wasn't too bad at school but sometimes very bad in the evening to the point that she ended up in tears a few times because she was actually hurting herself. When I tried to get her to stop poking she said she couldn't help it because she felt she had to do it. I asked if her stomach felt painful or tickly and she said no, it just felt weird and she had to poke hard for relief. So I assumed it was another tic and it would fade in time like the others. Fast forward a year and she is still bothered by it. It is not as obvious as before because she has found a way to deal with it internally without poking herself, but it is bothering her a lot and she is regularly in tears about it. It is worse at night when she goes to bed. I also think it gets a lot better during the holidays.
I am now wondering if I was wrong to dismiss it as a tic so I am going to try to get a GP appointment but in the meantime I would be interested to hear if anyone's DCs experienced the same symptoms? Could it be anxiety related?
Thank you.

We had this with Ds. Not the poking. But he would press on it and get very tearful.

Also for worse at night and better in the holidays. It turned out to be anxiety and stress. He is ND and just couldn’t Make the link and say ‘I feel nervous’ or stressed. He could only describe the physical feeling. I would hug him, quite firmly and it helped him. A weighted blanket at night also helped it at night. We also did breathing techniques which helped a bit.

He really wasn’t enjoying primary. He found it really stressful and it was impacting him more and more often. We could manage it but not entirely. He started at secondary school, this September, and we had it on the first 2 days. But not since. The school is great and he now loves it and no more of the weird feeling in his stomach.

Can't help with the other symptoms but my dd had alot of anxiety following a shocking trauma and I took her to children's yoga. It really showed her how to harness her breath and muscles. It seemed to help. I've never been able to concentrate long enough to do yoga myself but I find headspace app really helpful. There is a kids version with v short excercies. Martial arts classes can be helpful for anxiety tension in the body. Does your DD have any diagnosis or is it tics.

Thank you for the replies.
The thing is, she does not seem stressed or anxious at all. She absolutely loves school and has some good friends. She is a very happy child in general. That's why I never thought it could be anxiety related.
She does not have any diagnosis. I talked to the GP when the tics started at 4 years old and he said it was nothing to worry about so since then I have just explained to her they are just nervous tics and they come and go and not to worry about it. And until now all the tics she has had have only lasted a few months. But this stomach thing is not going away.
I will take her to the GP but my guess is that they won't really be able to help. She takes magnesium in the evening but I don't think that's helping much.

Maybe she has the feeling of soreness in her stomach due to tense muscles, if she has nervous tics the stomach feeling might be related. Perhaps she finds some things hard to process, wonder if tics coincided with new situation, nursery, another child etc or any other change. Does she attend any activities or go swimming, might be worth a try to see if it could help. Do you notice what's happening directly before/after a tic...

Her stomach is not sore, the best she can describe it is that it feels weird.
When she has tics they are worse in the evening at home. I think she is able to suppress them at school as the teachers have never noticed them. Then when she is back in a safe environment at home they come out. That's normal from what I read. The tics also get better in holidays so I think they are related to anxiety/tiredness.
She does do many sport activities.
Thank you for the advice, I will look at calming/relaxing techniques.

If she's having nervous tics then I'd guess the clue is in the title - nervous = anxious. I agree with others that the tummy feeling also is anxiety, I expect it's sort of like butterflies. It may be that feeling low level anxiety is so normal for her that she's not even really aware of it and seems generally fine.

My son was the same and was later diagnosed with ASD. May be worth baring in mind as it only became apparent really as he got closer to secondary age - especially if she is as good at masking as it sounds.