My daughter (22 months) has been back and forth to the doctors a fair bit recently, with various, seemingly unrelated illnesses (e.g. upper respiratory infection, sickness and diarrhoea, etc.). However, I am starting to get the feeling something is 'not quite right' and hasn't been for the last 4 months or thereabouts. Particularly since the last illness resulted in very pale cream poo, which my childminder says can be indicative of liver problems. So I started digging into liver problems and found a few symptoms that fit my daughter quite well. She's obviously not seriously ill as no jaundice, etc., but DDs problem is that she has to be really, really ill before she acts ill. I've known her with a temperature of 40C, while suffering sickness and diarrhoea, still playing with her toys and jumping around.
Anyway, took her to Doctor's again last week, as she had diarrhoea and was still coughing (although she had only finished a previous course of antibiotics for this 10 days earlier). Took a stool sample along, which the Dr threw in the bin saying they wouldn't test it because it wasn't runny enough. Explained that it's not the first time she's had pale poo (about 6 times in last 8 months), but he seemed unconcerned about this. Left with more antibiotics (stronger ones) and told "not to worry, she seems fine". However, both her dad (I'm a lone parent) and I feel that something's not quite right, and my childminder agrees. So I have decided to phone my health visitor tomorrow and go from there.
My DDs symptoms are:
Poor appetite (though she's still on her growth curve)
Itchy skin (a potential sign of liver problems)
Occasional bad breath (another sign of liver problems)
Bouts of pale-coloured stools
Occasional moments where she looks like she's going to be sick but isn't
Night terrors (not every night, but most nights).
In case anyone wants to put this down to PFB syndrome, I also have a son, her twin brother, who is as robust as they come, and I am normally a very laidback parent who doesn't get panicky when my DC are ill.
That said, I am quite prepared to accept that maybe I am being a neurotic parent here. I would just like to feel that all my concerns have been listened to seriously, rather than dismissed (which is how I feel about this particular doctor). I have decided to discuss it with my health visitor, who is great, and start keeping a record of food/behaviour/symptoms, etc., so that I have something to refer to if she gets ill again. However, before demanding to see a Doctor again and having any tests run, I think I probably ought to let some time go by to see if the last lot of antibiotics (finished yesterday) achieve the desired results.
I'm after outside perspectives here. If this was your child, what would you do??
Sorry this is unbelievably long and I've waffled a bit.