Vomiting almost weekly

[iamhopeful]

Our 7 year old has had now 5 episodes of vomiting since Christmas three in the last three weeks, three of the times it has been the morning after visiting my parents. We have tried calling the gp and are struggling to get an appointment but have no idea whether it’s just recurrent bugs or what.

I know I’ll have to try the gp again but seeing as we haven’t been anywhere other than my parents house, as it’s only a week since his last bug and he’s had an awful cold in the meantime, does anyone have any experience of anything like this?
Thank you from a desperately sleep deprived mum

Could it be something your parents cook - an unusual allergy that hasn't come up before?

Thanks, we have considered that but it has always been good well cooked that he is used to, yesterday was a roast with apple crumble so nothing too risky. It’s all a bit of a frustrating mystery, he says he feels fine now he is up

Could it be an indigestion type thing? Does he eat later when at your parents maybe? More excited and jumping about?

Does he throw up once or twice or more than that and how long do the episodes last?

I used to have cyclical vomiting as a child - I’d be well in myself but throw up lots of times in one day and then was fine the next day, apart from tired and had aching stomach muscles. Not sure what brought these episodes on but I think it’s related to migraine (although I’ve never had one) .

I have absolutely no advice but we are in the same boat. Nearly ever week since Christmas my ds age 8 has been sick, normally in the night. He’s dairy free due to a Cows Milk Protein Intolerance, but the one time I actually managed to speak to a Gp on the phone I was told it’s reflux- gaviscon should help. It isn’t helping. He was up last night feeling unwell and has just this minute taken himself back to bed, now with a fever. I was just talking to DH and we have agreed to start tracking anything we can to get to the bottom of it, but I’m being fobbed off by the doctors as an ‘anxious mum’ because I suggested it could have been due to the meds he’s trailing for ADHD, as the correlation between him starting the meds and the vomiting is stark.. exhausting 🙄

Im aware this is not much use really- but we are in the same boat, so perhaps some solidarity?! If there is more and more of us then maybe we can get to the bottom of it..

Bubbless31 thank you for sharing, I share your exhaustion and feeling like the GP’s (who are swamped) don’t take it seriously.

His sister has reflux issues post covid and it is quite different to her symptoms. He is normally sick once or twice within an hour max then settles and feels more normal, just wiped out from it all for a day or two. He has headaches some mornings but not every time he is sick.

in terms of the time of day he ate, it is normally a main lunch meal and we made sure he didn’t over eat yesterday to try and ensure that wasn’t contributing, although this has now happened numerous times both after visiting my parents and not I just wish we could work out what’s causing it.

thanks for all your messages, it certainly helps to relieve the helplessness

Vomiting 5 times in 3 months doesn't seem to be a significant problem.

Some children are more prone to vomiting than others - it depends on the 'strength' of their oesophageal sphincter.

It could be linked to various inflammation due to illnesses - in the gastrointestinal tract, throat or lungs, especially if producing and swallowing mucous at night.

Is he getting adult molars at the moment? That can cause quite a lot of inflammation/excess saliva.

It could be due to stress, or abdominal migraine. Does he get overexcited at your parents? Does he enjoy going there? Does it affect his eating/sleep patterns? Is it linked to travelling/ car sickness?

It could be down to overeating/slow gut transit/intolerances.

Is it affecting his growth? His teeth? Attendance at school? Development?

If it's not affecting any of these, can you adopt a 'wait and see' approach - continuing with food diaries/looking for triggers.

That way if you do need to seek medical help, you have a good amount of information/links to help them.

@iamhopeful Hi I’m just wondering if you have an update on your son? I’m experiencing similar with my son. 3 times since Christmas and have been logging it. He’s not a child who ever vomits, I think he’s had 2 ‘bugs’ in his life. He’s 7. Thanks in advance

I’m not the OP but had experience with this with my son when he was younger. He developed what we were pretty sure was cyclical vomiting syndrome when he was about 7 or 8. Before that he’d had the usual tummy bugs that other kids caught and the odd random vom but nothing of note.

Suddenly he was throwing up every 1-4 weeks out of nowhere, usually a couple of hours after going to bed. It would be one mega hurl with lots of retching then he’d go back to bed, sleep all night and feel fine in the morning. it was so difficult to manage as obviously every time he threw up he’d have to be off school for 48 hours. The doctor suggested cyclic vomiting syndrome and we had to keep an eye out for triggers. Things that didn’t help him were getting hot during the day, eating anything fried or rich after 4pm and being really tired, but occasionally there was no trigger. He eventually grew out of it when he was 10-11 although is 14 now and has still had the very occasional episode of it if he’s had one of the triggers but only maybe once or twice a year.

Hi @MrsJones3 I was up with him last night, croup had woken him and he was struggling to sleep and saw your message.

We have no resolution, he has woken twice in the last three weeks with a racing heart and then was sick. This morning he then asked immediately for breakfast as he fet
better.

we were told to email the consultant’s secretary if we had a recurrence so I will get onto that this weekend.

We can’t get a good reading on his heart rate as it goes up immediately before being sick but hopefully they might be able to see what else they can do.

It is reassuring to know that others are in a similar boat.

Hello! Any update with this? Also is it in the morning most often? I think my 2.5yr old has ketonic hypoglycaemia - wakes up hungry straight away; sometimes shaky/vomits (mostly when ill) then back to normal once had some sugar! I hate the worry of it all so hard to know what it is :(

Thank you, Myridiculousstomach. Your post is the first time in 3 years I have ever heard of another child with similar symptoms to mine. I can’t explain how that feels. Did you try any treatments for cyclic vomiting? I haven’t been fully convinced that my son has CV since he usually only vomits once then goes back to bed, so I’ve been hesitant to try any medications for it. But the doctors have offered cyproheptadine, sumatriptan, and amitriptyline.

Have you thought of ketonic hypoglycaemia? Is vomitting the only symptom? I posted my daughters symptoms above and it seems she has KH

I know this is an old thread but were any of you able to figure it out?? My 2.5 year old has this going on.. been to different docs, ER TWICE , waiting for the GI. What was the diagnosis?? I would really appreciate if someone could just answer and give a proper diagnosis…it’s so exhausting mentally

For us, we still haven’t gotten any diagnosis other than cyclic vomiting syndrome. I think the ketonic hypoglycemia is worth looking at, especially for a toddler, but it doesn’t apply to us. All I can give for an update in our situation is that we had a terrible flare a couple of weeks ago (that I actually presumed was viral, but am now thinking of as a flare), and we decided to try a cleanlout with Miralax as well as starting cyproheptadine. And thankfully we have been vomit-free for about 5 nights. I am holding on to hope that he will grow out of this, but that doesn’t always ease the midnight carpet cleaning/ lack of sleep/ worry that accompanies these symptoms!

I’m so sorry, I didn’t see your question until just now. I’m sorry that things haven’t improved for you. We didn’t try any specific treatments, we just avoided the known triggers as much as we could, but there would still be the odd random episode. He’s 25 now and last had an episode in September after nearly a year of nothing (and it was definitely an episode and not a bug) - no trigger that time that we could think of. A friend’s daughter also developed the same at around 7 years old and struggled with it for a few years before it settled to once in a blue moon - she’s 19 now and it happens once or twice a year. They do seem to grow out of it in the main but it was a really difficult few years.

Just wanted to put here in case anyone is searching that repeated episodes of vomiting and nausea, particularly in the morning, can be a symptom of brain tumour. Yes it is rare but not a rare as you think. Brain tumour is not always cancer and often treatable especially in children, so never be afraid to ask the GP if they have considered this as a potential diagnosis. Repeated episodes of vomiting especially in the morning that carry on for some weeks and don't respond to omeprazole should be discussed by the GP with a paediatrician.

If there are accompanying symptoms like headache, vision changes, balance and coordination changes, irritability then don't mess around, don't be polite, shout for an urgent referral to hospital and an MRI.