What to do with poor DD - at my wits end

[Lookthereisarobin]

Sorry, this might be a long one but I really need some advice from others who may have been there.

DD is 12, female, has had her period for about a year (in case that is relevant). About 1.5 months ago she started to feel really sick at breakfast time, couldn't eat any breakfast before school, but seemed fine with other meals. This progressed onto dinner times as well, with a couple of instances of her being sick aftet eating her dinner. But now, she gets halfway through her dinner and feels too sick to eat any more of it.We have been to the Dr, who did a full blood count (normal) and who prescribed omeprazole saying that it could have been a bug which has lingered and inflamed the stomach lining. He also weighed DD and asked us to go back in 2 weeks. There was a slight improvement, we went back in 2 weeks and DD had lost a small amount of weight. Dr decided to give it 3 more weeks and see how DD was doing, so we are on that stretch now.

However, DD is still struggling. At dinner tonight (roast, one of her favourite meals), she got halfway through and couldn't finish as she felt too sick.Lunchtimes, she can eat no problem. If I gave her something mid morning or mid afternoon, no problem.I really don't think it's an eating disorder as she isn't worried about her weight and will put away sweets and crisps during movie nights with her friends like there's no tomorrow.She is a bit of an anxious child, she has a lot of drama in her friendship group at school which I know gets to her. We've talked about MH and she is very open, knows she can talk to me and has confided in the past when feeling low.

So my question is, has anyone else been through similar?? Is it anxiety? Is it something that I need to push with the Dr for more tests? I really don't know, I just want her to be able to eat normally the poor thing.

Any help/advice would be hugely appreciated

DD had this, GP suggested avoiding gluten and if that didn't work, then dairy. The sickness was invariably after meals, but there seemed to be no triggering ingredient. She'd had various medication. Anyway, long story short, she strictly cut-out gluten and it's made the world of difference. She has tested negative for coeliacs even though she's had other relevant symptoms.

If it's intermittent (some meals fine, others not) I'd honestly just let her eat when she can and stop when she needs to and not draw any attention to it whatsoever.
Anything else will probably make it worse.

Viscous cycle when you don’t eat much due to anxiety which then makes you feel sick….. which then causes you to eat less, which then causes low blood sugar/anxiety and then the cycle continues. I used to work in first aid at a secondary school and loads of girls felt
sick eating because of the above. I would say the issue is anxiety first and foremost.

Good luck!!

I used to get very anxious if I was given a big plate of food and felt people were looking at me. Once it becomes a "thing" it's worse. Maybe serve her a very small plate and say if she wants more she can help herself. Or do all dinners buffet style, put it out in the middle of the table and people can pick and choose what they want. Or eat in front of the tele. Anything to take the pressure off basically. Hope it resolves soon x

My dd (now 20) regularly vomits in the morning when going through a bad patch with her anxiety. It has other physical symptoms too like a racing heart (she has a fit bit and resting heart rate can go to 120 when anxious). So it could well be anxiety causing your dd's vomiting

Giardiasis? Protazoan infection that causes intermittent nausea and sometimes loose stools. Difficult to diagnose but treated with metronidazole. Can be caused by ingestion of contaminated water or from salad, fruit, veg that has been washed in contaminated water, or not washed at all.

She is menstruating; Nausea & bloating are the most common symptoms of early pregnancy, and unfortunately being “into boys” isn’t a prerequisite for pregnancy. It needs ruling out & I’m surprised your GP didn’t suggest a test.

@pyjamarama she isn't bloated. She has never had sex. She isn't pregnant. But thank you for taking the time to comment.

Could be a range of things, first of all I hope your daughter is okay and you find what's causing this and some solution for it,

My thoughts

eating disorder? It could potentially be this, eating disorders are so complex your daughter could struggle with meal times and binge eat on sweets, often people have a hard time opening up, not saying this is the case just maybe something to consider/keep an eye out for

anxiety, it could be she is anxious, I have anxiety and feel sick with food when I'm feeling anxious, is something bothering her like school, social media ect?

intolerance, you can pay for a private intolerance test to see if this opens up any avenues to further investigate,

silent reflux coild also be causing this, does she have heart burn ir anything? Read up on silent reflux though symptoms can present with or without heart burn

I would definitely push at the dr's to explore this more xx

Look into coeliacs disease. Its terribly underdiagnosed. Coeliacs UK website has a questionnaire to do and of you amswer yes to enough questions show it to your GP.

Thank you so much everyone for taking the time to comment, it has really helped and I have several avenues to explore now.

Thank you also for your support and kind words, I really appreciate every comment.

Could maybe also be menstrual? PCOS or maybe even a stomach ulcer

I had this when I was about 13/14. It was anxiety and then went into ARFID when I was restricting how much/what type of food I ate through fear of being sick.

I only actually found out it was anxiety when I had a random really bad panic attack in a bus station about 6 months after I’d started with the sickness and nausea. Absolutely fine at lunchtime too!

i had CBT and although I still am struggling with ARFID it isn’t affecting how much I eat, it’s just fear foods. We discovered that there was no significant events that triggered it, just a multitude of things such as falling outs at school, the stuff I heard on tv etc at the time, other teenage pressures. It was quite a journey of finding the solution but once I’d had the panic attack and spoken to a counsellor it did stop, I still had the anxiety but it manifested itself in a way where I could recognise the anxiety and rationalise it.

Hopefully you get some answers and support soon. It’s bloody awful to live with x

havne't read all of this but I was diagnosed with delayed gastric emptying in hospital (there was stuff in my stomach 12 hrs after having eaten it) and it sounds a bit like this.

Could be anxiety. I get nausea and diarrhea in the morning when I'm really anxious or depressed. Anti depressants like SSRIs help with this.

I'm also autistic and think that this is partly related - my nervous system does not quite work as it should.

But the fact that this is also in the evening makes me think she should also be checked out for other GI issues. I hope your DD gets better soon.

I had this during a stressful time when I was 19. My stomach seemed constricted and I was often sick if I ate more than a couple of mouthfuls even if I was starving. I can’t remember exactly what happened to improve things, there was a broken friendship and I didn’t have to see the person everyday anymore, but it stopped. I had lost a lot of weight and my stomach had shrunk, but I was normally hungry again - or more, for a week or so I woke up in the middle of the night needing a sandwich.
I had also had chronic thrush, and still have to be careful, have been taking daily probiotics for years. Is it worth trying Yakut or something?

My DD(16) started like this. I got understood as I used to feel sick at breakfast. Mine was gluten intolerance and lactose intolerance and my parents used to feed me cereal and milk. Hers was more of an IBS but now it’s an eating disorder so please keep an eye out. I’m lucky if I can get her to eat one meal a day.

Does she eat a full meal when she goes out?
it def sounds psychological so I would completely switch up the routine. Go out, eat in the car or on the go. Have a bigger lunch, snack after school and eat smaller and more often. Have grazing plates etc until cycle is broke and then introduce smaller meals adding a bit more each time.

Is there any family history of autoimmune e.g. asthma, eczema, coeliac etc ... Might point towards intolerance/allergy.

I definitely think you need to pursue both psychological and physical. And consider it might be a mixture. My eldest had a terrible relationship with food that came from his allergies. Had psychological support from hospital for this.

Good luck.

I have this. I'd be hesitant to say anxiety unless it only happens for select days/meals. I cannot (and haven't been able to since my teens) eat breakfast. Supper is hit or miss. Midday I'm okay usually. I feel nauseous and like my stomach is on fire. In my case we think it's an overproduction of acid as they started me on acid reducers and I showed a lot of improvement but as I've been trying to conceive two years now I can't take them so I just suffer. They've checked everything via ultrasound, diet changes, allergy testing and a camera.