Pale, tired, sore tummy, sore legs etc. if bloods were taken Fri afternoon would I have heard by now if serious

[bonusjonasus]

Son had blood tests on Friday afternoon after weeks of stomach complaints, occasional headaches, sore legs, no energy (he's 4!)
He wants to rest all the time, is ok in himself but doesn't want to walk anywhere, says his legs are sore, his tummy's sore and he's too tired. He looks pale with dark circles under eyes.

I've brushed it off for a while and finally pushed the gp for blood tests a few weeks ago which he's had done.

I'm so so worried. Bloods were ordered by gp and carried out at local children's hospital. My question is, if it was serious would the hospital have called already or could they still have just sent on to gp?

I do hope he's just a lazy kid. The wait for results is killing me.

He also says he has 'the itchies' all the time and can only describe this as it feeling like he has ants inside him :(

Anything very serious they would contact you. I work for a gp.

I went for blood tests and was sent to a&e next morning .. this was years ago and I think mid week too though. I’m sure they’d contact even on a weekend if it was serious though. You must be so worried, It’s so hard when they little because can’t really express how they feel, maybe he’s had a virus hes still getting over. Hope you get some answers and your son is feeling better soon .

@RuthW
So the hospital would contact over the weekend if need be?

@Lira715
Thank you for your kind words. I'm just so worried about him and running away with my own thoughts

Usually if blood tests come back as grossly abnormal the lab would contact the hospital department that took the bloods to inform them. They would then contact you. So the likelihood is there is nothing to worry about but you can always chase them tomorrow if you don’t hear anything 😊 hope you get to the bottom of things soon.

What were they testing for? My niece had almost identical symptoms and it turned out she had coeliac disease.

Could be coeliacs by sounds of it,the results take a while- few days. Look up coeliacs disease.

DS had some of these symptoms years ago, especially regular tummy aches. Blood tests at the time showed low lymphocytes and he used to catch everything going. This was pre-covid era, probably about 10 years ago? We were referred into the hospital, seen by a consultant who thought the tummy aches were maybe worms. He had a course of worming meds and the tummy aches seemed to resolve. They didn't do anything about the low lymphocytes and said just treat symptoms as they arise. I don't know what his lymphocyte levels are like now though (he still catches things quite a lot).
With those symptoms in current times I would also be wanting to ask about long covid as one possibility though (if he's had a covid infection, although kids don't always show symptoms - you can still get long covid after an asymptomatic infection). There's a symptom list here if it's helpful to look through before you ask, they don't get every single symptom but a few that you mentioned are listed.

Of course it could be any number of other things too so see what tests they suggest and take it from there.
I would chase the GP for results tomorrow if you can.
Really hope you get some answers and he's ok
https://www.longcovidkids.org/long-covid-kids-symptom-gallery

Same experience with me as it was with @fartfacenotfatface - my DD was super poorly and I was convinced it was leukaemia. Same symptoms as OP describes. It was coeliac disease. Did they test for TTGA levels, do you know @bonusjonasus? hope the results come back quickly and all is well x

My hospital sends blood results directly to GP. They said it usually takes no more than a day, but GP can often take longer to review. For the coeliac test, it took a week.

i can access DD’s medical records online so could see the results for myself which was very helpful. I hope your DS is ok

I was also going to say have they tested for coeliac? The symptoms are very suggestive of it down to the dark circles.

Yes they've tested for coeliac too. Which is not good but obviously a damn site better than whatever else is going round in my head.

Thanks everyone.

He was tested for coeliac a couple of years ago tho which was negative. He was tested due to tummy issues and being small.

Was it just the once he was tested @bonusjonasus? My Dd was identical - really small (aged 7 but wearing size 5 clothes), lethargic, headachey, awful stomach aches and poops, generalised pains and so pale. We only discovered it was coeliac after a big actually triggered it (I believe it can lay dormant as is the case for my Ds - his blood test was neither here nor there with an answer for coeliac so he had a OGD). I would always ask to have it tested again to check his levels, just for peace of mind.

Hope you have an answer soon. I do recall as well, with both DC’s blood work, the results were sent directly back to the Gp as they were the ones that requested them, so probably worth contacting your GP to see if the results are back yet

Hi @bonusjonasus they’ll contact you extremely quickly if they suspect Leukaemia. Our call was within hours very late at night.
Hope you get some useful answers for your DS - our GP also suspected Coeliac in our case due to a family history to echo previous posters suggesting this.

If he has persistent tummy issues they should do a stool test had this been done?

I agree, have they tested for inflammatory bowel conditions? A stool test called calprotectin is usually first thing done.

My DD was pale, thin, no energy, dark circles, breathless and warm (always 37.5, not quite a fever, then spiked 39 for 24 hours every couple of weeks). Diarrhea and sore legs (apparently the sore legs in ibd is linked to low iron, esp if sore at night). Like you I was convinced she had leukaemia; however bloods ruled that out.

Long story short, it was Crohn's disease. She is now in remission and growing well, she has colour in her cheeks again and other than residual fatigue and occasional aches, is a normal kid who just takes medicine every day.

I had exactly this a few months back. It's coeliac, she's only turned 2 a week ago.