Fuctional disorders of the stomach

[Evat]

My 12 year old has been suffering from ongoing stomach pain for over a year now. it seemed to start after she had a nasty viral infection and has been ongoing ever since - peaked last year and she was prescribed Gabopentin to deal with what was described to me as a type of nerve pain probably triggered by virus, this did help to get the symptoms under control but was not a cure. The Pain has generally worse at night time and we have periods of bad pain lots of crying and sitting on the toilet ( although not actually going to the toilet ) she looks truly awful when she has the pain ( very pale and drawn)and describes the pain as a belt tightening around her waist. She has recently had a colonoscopy and results were normal, symptoms continue although they are much better than they were. I have kept food diaries and struggle to see a pattern has anyone had similar experiences or have any thoughts or suggestions

I've got no help to offer I'm afraid - just some sympathy.
Your DD sounds like my 6yo DD, although your DDs symptoms sound much worse .
DD says she has had stomach ache for the last year, that it is there all the time. The GP thinks it is abdominal migraine and is very dismissive - but that doesn't fit the continual background pain.

I nagged for her to have a test for gluten allergy as it runs in the family - but it came back OK.

I'm not sure what to do next, or if I should just leave it be for a while and see if things improve on their own.

Meant to say that DD also looks awful when she complains about the worst pain - dark marks under eyes, sallow skin, withdrawn and very inward looking. I feel awful I can't help.

The GP suggested giving her painkillers - but I can't do that everyday, only on the really bad ones.

when you say stomach pain, do you mean stomach (as in the bit the food goes into) or abdomen (as in the intestines)? It makes such a difference as to the possibilities.

What's her diet like?.... I remember struggling horribly with IBS between the ages of 12 and 17, cramping pains, feeling nauseous, turning white etc. And, because of kid status, 'are you happy at school?' was always asked. It was much later when it was diagnosed and some simple dietary/lifestyle changes fixed the problem.

You may already have loked but as a mum of two boys with coeliac disease it might be worth checking her symptoms on www.coeliac.org.uk.
My youngest had terrible stomach pain especially at night and was pale with dark circles under the eye before he was diagnosed. They are fine now they have a gluten free diet.
I hope you can find a solution soon

Thank you for your response not coeliac as that was what I had suspected still am sure it is aggravated by diet although so far no clear pattern

Re IBS which foods were you told to steer clear of ?

mesenteric adenitis can happen after a bad viral ilness and can take a long time to go away

IBS solutions depend on the individual. The most usual (mine included) is to increase the amount of fruit, vegetables & fibrous wholefoods in the diet, be better hydrated and cut right back on heavily processed foods, refined starches, meat and sugary foods. By speeding up the transit time of waste products in the gut the cramping and associated pains of trapped gas and constipation are vastly reduced.

In other people, ironically, IBS can be caused by too much fibre in the diet... Creates too much dry matter in the gut which is difficult to process and digest. In their case the advice would be to reduce the intake of fruit & veg a little and increase intake of fluids.

Thanks so far good week we are keeping food diary again to see if helps. Have done lots more research on net on functional disorders and can see her symptoms very common eg feeling full very quickly , nausea ,night time pain etc basically seems that it is to do with nerves being highly sensitised in the gut - this is what consultant has told us and takes time to get better, apparently it is one of most commom causes of stomach pain in children, just for unlucky proportion it is severe and dehabilitating.
Piprabbit, we found only thing that helped wiht pain was heat, hot water bottle , with hindsight I think also the fear of pain causes a problem too and makes it all worse so its important to keep them calm and try and carry on with normal activities as far as possible - I do hope things improve for you. The blood test for gluten intolerance is not very accurate I understand by the way you may want to ask doctor just to properly rule out