7 year old vomiting almost same date every month for the last 3 months

[Kidsanchaos]

My 7 year old daughter has been ill repeatedly over the last 3 months. I know this isn't normal anyway but I've just realised the dates are almost the same each month.
She first got sick 21st Dec 24 and vomited straight for 3 days, high temp fever wasn't eating barley drank. We had het up at a&e 24th Dec worried she was dehydrated. They said she wasn't dehydrated and it was a viral infection. Christmas was a wash out and her birthday which is between Christmas and new year. She took 12 days to start getting better.
We had postponed her party to 18th Jan which came and all went well she seemed back to full health.
Then 22 Jan she was floored again by the exact same thing. We were back up at hospital on the 23rd and I hadn't thought of it till one of the nurses recognised my daughter an I was like oh wow its literally exactly month since we were here. Again we were told she wasnt dehydrated, the rash was because of her temperature and it was viral. She had a whole week off school and barely ate anything again.

Seemed to be on the mend but then bam we've had the same happen again today/tonight. Today she's looked pale, she said she felt unwell, wouldn't eat her tea and went to sleep early (extremely unusual for her) she shouts me at midnight and she's vomited everywhere, continued to be sick for the next hour and has just gone back to sleep in bed with me just now.
I know this is not normal and I'll put an econsult in the morning for her but I just have no understanding of what's happening with her. When she got sick again in Jan I put it down to immunity being low after being poorly over Christmas and then going straight back into school. But this one I can not rationalise why. If it makes any difference she is on asd/adhd/dcd pathway. She has been worrying about a lot about different things this week but I really don't think this sickness is down to stress. It's projectile witches of eastwick levels, but it can't be another bug surely? Weak immunity still? But the fact the dates its started are almost identical is freaking me out.
Anyone have experience or advice I'd really appreciate it.

Do you treat your ddaughter/family to a takeaway, or a meal out, once a month, and does your dd always have the same thing eg. scampi, from the same place, whereas the rest of you have something different to eat?

If you do, can you connect this to one particular restaurant that you go to once a month, maybe they bought in a huge batch of (I will say scampi again for ease of eg) scampi, or they have a new member of staff who puts the food coming in into storage, and he is not storing the "scampi" at an appropriate temperature?

My only other thought is that maybe you have a special meal at home once a month, and something similar to the restaurant scenario happens at home instead? I hope you can come to the correct conclusion soon, as it does sound like it could be food poisoning.

Hi OP I am so sorry you are going through this. It can be exhausting and stressful as a parent to watch your child go through this. When you speak to a professional, perhaps they can look into cyclical vomiting syndrome? My DD suffered the same and it gave me huge anxiety wondering ‘when is it going to strike again?’ and left me with insomnia wondering if she will vomit at night again and if we will need to go to A&E.

We were lucky enough to see a paediatrician who then recommended we ask the GP for ondansetron in case it was cyclical vomiting syndrome which for DD was potentially stress induced (long car journeys, being left with grandparents who get stressed out watching her - things I didn’t realise could be connected). She also had a high temp and non-stop vomiting for hours during these episodes, so I was convinced it was a virus, but the dr thought otherwise and was 99% convinced it was stressed induced.

We haven’t had to use it yet, but its a great help talking through the options and getting to the bottom of it. I hope she recovers soon and it doesn’t happen again.

My first thought here was hormones, as it's a regilar cycle.

Look up cyclical vomiting disorder, that could be responsible. Could it be something happens which is either tiring, stressful or in some other way mentally it physically demanding which approximately go increases with the timing? Cyclical vomiting can be triggered by being exhausted, unsettled, stressed etc.
Girls are starting their periods younger and it could also be that she has some fluctuating hormone cycles present that she's sensitive to which are causing it but at 7 if definitely be concerned if she was hitting puberty. Both things you're gp should be able to refer you about.

I'd agree with all three above suggestions.

I'm AuDHD and suffer from reflux, migraines, sickness and a few other symptoms at the same points in my cycle every single month. It also happens to align with the moon cycle so I jokingly call it my moon sickness, but it's very hard to live with. I'm prescribed anti-emetics, PPI, painkillers, and migraine tablets to manage the symptoms separately.

Funnily enough, mine also started when I was 7-8 and after putting me on Gaviscon for a few months and that not helping, the pediatrician then called it stomach migraine. On reflection, I think it was the build-up of the stress as a then-undiagnosed AuDHD girl, as I didn't start my periods until I was 12 so I don't think it was hormonal back then. Ideally, I would've had a reduced timetable at school, as full-time was tortuous and I suffered burnout a couple of times until I realized this and got diagnosed.

I really don't think this sickness is down to stress. It definitely could be.

Start a detailed food/activity diary and plot for patterns.

Has anybody else caught a stomach bug in your household shortly before/after any of the times she was unwell? If not it looks like it isn’t a bug.

my son had cyclic vomiting syndrome and it started when he was about 7. It wasn’t exactly every month like your daughter, but he never went more than 2 months without an episode and sometimes there were only 2 weeks between episodes. I’m not sure that it’s that though as he would do an absolutely mega puke, then go to sleep, then feel absolutely fine in the morning and it looks like your daughter is staying ill for quite a while after each episode.

I would be looking into food patterns/allergy/intolerance and also considering migraines. Migraines can be linked to a hormone cycle to many women. I know she is young, but if she is ND there is higher correlation.

My daughter did this. It’s not exactly the same as my daughters was always the week before her period. We put her on the pill and it’s stopped. So could it perhaps be hormonal?

There is a hormone surge at 7. That's when it started for me, cyclical vomiting syndrome. If that's what it is for your daughter, it does sound very similar. It really ramped up as a teenager and well into having children for me. All the different hormones surges, stress and exhaustion. I'm mostly episode free now with careful management of sleep.

Back then the doctor has no clue and no way of diagnosing, so were not much help. My family were convinced I was hiding a secret pregnancy! which did not help my stress levels! Hopefully doctors have more understanding now.

Keeping a diary and doing a trial period of no stress (tricky i know) and great sleep might help to see if that's a way of managing it going forward. Not a great deal you can do about the hormones.

Like a pp I would of been much happier being home educated or reduced timetable. I found school the most exhausting stressful place going. But thrived at university and in the right work environment.

I am going to mention Crohn's disease, my DD got really ill with it at age 10 and whilst the large intestines are the most common spot for Crohn's, it can occur anywhere from mouth to anus. My DD has it from stomach down and the symptoms include throwing temperatures and random vomiting, stomach pain, loss of energy. DD has it through her intestines too so she also had constant diarrhea.

Does your DD get any mouth ulcers, swollen lips, anything like that?

I would be inclined to mention it to the doctor and ask if it could be possible. I think with 3 episodes that are very similar over 3 months it does sound like a gastroenterology referral would be sensible.

Could it be linked to future periods? Hormone related? I'd be asking the GP if its possible and what could be done to ease the symptoms.

DS1 suffered terribly with Cyclical Vomiting Syndrome when he was little. He started with it when he was about 3 until he was a teenager when it turned into migraine, which is common. It’s all part of the same family.

What your DD has sounds very similar tbh. Like her, he’d vomit epic amounts, up to 40 times a day for a week. It was absolutely awful. He’d also vomit blood that looked like coffee grounds and I’d get fobbed off as a neurotic mother when I wanted it investigated. We moved house, and was referred to a gastroenterologist who did an endoscopy. He found that DS1 had two ulcers in his stomach, too, which were bleeding when he was vomiting.

We were given Ondansetron to manage DS1’s vomiting episodes.

Thank you everyone for your replies. DD seems better today, tired but hasn't got the high temp she had with the previous 2 bouts and she is eating.
I've put in an econsult and waiting on response from GP.
I looked up the cyclical vomiting syndrome, it could be that but I guess we have to wait and see if it keeps on happening.
As far as I can tell it's not dietary related, she has a very limited diet which never changes and so far she's never had any reaction to the food she eats but of course this could have changed so I will mention to gp. Easy thing is I won't need to keep a food diary as I can list what she eats every day as its always the same.
She also has some bowel and continence issues which have been going on since she was 2 and I don't see any change there so not thinking it's connected but again can't rule it out so have mentioned this in the econsult.
I didn't know there was a hormonal surge at age 7 so this could possibly be a part to play. She does get stressed but we had a lovely day yesterday thats why I was thinking not stress related but of course stress doesn't just go away like that.
I wont know anything till she's seen by a doctor but I will make sure they look at every possibility. Hopefully it has just been a bad run and it doesn't happen again but I will be more vigilant this time next month if I see any of the signs again.
Thank you all again for the helpful suggestions x

We've had something similar a few years ago. We were told by the doctor that it's not unusual for the time of year, and each time they go back to school they're picking up a viral infection that's making them sick. We also ended up doing a very thorough cleaning routine just in case : change bedding each time; change toothbrush; thorough cleaning with disinfectant the toilet etc; change towels and clothes and wash with disinfectant.