14 year old - morning nausea and stomach aches

[AbbotSade1985]

Hi all.

Looking for others in a similar situation. Just before the summer, my 14 year old DD woke up one morning feeling really sick. It was the last day of term and was reslly hot, so we thought heat stroke. She got better through the day, but then it happened every morning for a week.

During the summer hols it went away, but Sept it returned. At least 2 or 3 times a week, she wakes up and isn't nauseous straight away, but it creeps up within about an hour. It's like she gets hungry and the acid build up makes her nauseous. She hates being sick so this has caused massive issues. She hasn't actually thrown up, but comes close. Mostly, when it happens, she does breathing exercises and feels better within 15 to 30 mins and goes to school. Sometimes there are stomach aches, but nothing severe. She also gets hiccups a lot, which comes and goes.

Saw a GP this evening, who seemed stumped and wanted to do lots of blood tests. My DD is quite anxious anyway and almost had a panic attack when hearing she has to have a blood test.

Just wondering if anyone has had similar. My DD loves school, but it can be stressful what with exams and all the friendship issues, so I'm not so sure. Could it be anxiety? Apart from this, she has lots of fun with her friends and is really active.

The school should be able to do an anxiety management course with her in the first instance. It’s not unusual these days sadly, kids are a wreck having to go into these places nowadays!

Definitely sounds like anxiety, but any outside chance she could be pregnant?

Is she eating something sensible first thing and keeping hydrated?

Migraines are often abdominal and more common in teenage girls - might be worth considering if it continues.

Sounds like anxiety, it’s a cortisol spike in the morning. Also helpful to make sure she doesn’t wake up with low blood sugar, would she eat a decent snack right before bed?

I spent most of my childhood vomiting, it wasn’t until I was an adult I realised it was due to anxiety, I would strongly recommend you try to get her some support

I vomited every morning as a teenager, in retrospect it was anxiety because i was in an abusive relationship. I imagine many different causes of anxiety could have the same effect but worth being aware that it might be something she can’t see or process clearly.

Pastoral support at school have been involved since year 7, but it was sporadic and they didnt deem her serious enough for anything more than a few sessions a term.

No pregnancy. She's also menstruating regularly.

She refuses to eat in the morning. As she wakes up, the nausea starts, so she doesn't get a chance to want to eat.

Interesting. She was told by the GP not to eat late, but I may see how it goes if she eats something just before bed.

Really sad to hear. How do you manage anxiety these days?

Oh no, sorry to hear that. I often question myself and wonder if I'm being too strict with her or too overbearing. I have my own anxieties, so im worried im the cause 😭

I vomited for 3 years straight every morning. I was 13 ish when it started. I'd awaken between 5am/6am, shove on mtv and lay there being progressively more unwell until I vomited any time between 8am and 11am and make my way to school late.
Went Dr's, was diagnosed back then with reflux, got omeprazole. I also went hospital and was tested for some bacteria via breath. London hospital so I'd assume quite experienced in the sense my drs ran gp clinic plus worked down the road in one of best hospitals.

I went vegan overnight for shits and giggles because I was 15 and it improved my reflux along with the pills.

If I'm to be rather honest, they didn't do much to figure out what exactly it was just ruled out bacteria and bad things and just left me to it. I was also bullied so it's quite probable it was triggered by anxiety of some sort. I do still get this sometimes but it's diet controlled so I'd consider looking into reflux and see if there's anything there that may have triggered or see if the eating regularly thing helps etc. How awful for her.
I also second eating even something small close ish to bed time, if I don't eat late or a bit of time before I sleep I will awake 5am with the beginning of reflux (I'm no longer anxious btw life is good apart from regular hiccups) so it seems its not just related to anxiety.

Dd had this and after lots of tests was found to be positive for Helicobacter. Had triple therapy and over the following weeks and months it resolved. Left her with hiccups/reflux and a sensitive gut. Ask for helicobacter test- just a stool sample.

Needs H.pylori stool test

I went through a phase like this when I was a bit older than your daughter. I was prescribed cyclizine to help the nausea. Blood tests showed elevated bilirubin so I was diagnosed with Gilbert's syndrome, which is a liver condition which quite a number of people live with, it can cause symptoms like you describe or it can be asymptomatic. For most people with Gilbert's, symptoms tend to flare up if you are run down/stressed or can be exacerbated by hormones.

I had this as a teenager and now recognise it to have been anxiety! I was badly bullied and undiagnosed neurodivergent which were two of the causes of my anxiety.

Mine had this, in the end i had to beg them to do a glucose tolerance test. She was having massive blood sugar lows overnight.

We did the Cornstarch to help with overnight low blood sugar, and it massively helped.

www.bcchildrens.ca/media/5761/download?inline

Could it be acid reflux? Potentially caused by hiatal hernia?
Gets worse from overnight due to lying down, and would explain the hiccups also… Maybe one to flag to the GP.
Hope you get answers soon x

Thank you for asking, it’s very rare that I actually vomit with anxiety now but I definitely still struggle with it! I have periods of it being better and worse but I truly wish I had been able to get support for it when I was younger rather than waiting until I was in my 30’s.

I had cyclical vomiting syndrome growing up might be worth a look if that resonates.

I feel a lot like this when my blood sugars are low, happens quite frequently, am diabetic so I would get her HbA1c checked as well.

Could it be crohns or colitis? I have crohns disease and i’m often sick.

My brother had something like this between the ages of about 15 and 17. No one could find any rhyme nor reason but it went away on its own

I used to have these sort of symptoms quite regularly. I now know was extremely bad anxiety, but no one told me it could be that and I didn’t know either. It was worse at certain times of the month, now predictably prior to getting a period so worse when hormonal.