DD 9 post covid abdominal pain and weight loss

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My daughter has had two bouts of covid this year. During and since the second bout, she has suffered with stomach pain and nausea and has had episodes of diarrhoea and sickness.

Last Monday she was sick. Since then she has had constant tummy pain, which she describes as burning and achy, zero appetite and lethargy. She’s lost a lot of weight - around half a stone.We’ve had a couple of visits to doctors. First said constipation or non-specific childhood abdominal pain…second thinks reflux. Blood tests normal except indication of low vitamin D. Prescribed lansoprozole, and to do a food diary. The pain is constant not just during or after she’s eating.

I just wondered if anyone has any advice or any experience of this? If she doesn’t show any signs of improvement, what other tests could I ask for? I’ve requested a scan incase there is a blockage but was basically laughed at.

Can anyone recommend any particular probiotics which may help? She was very poorly a couple of years ago (though never lost her appetite!) which we thought was covid and a gluten & dairy free diet made a huge difference, so we’ll start that again.

Its awful seeing her like this and not knowing what to give her when she asks if there’s anything to help the pain. She’s usually full of energy and has a good appetite so this is completely out of character. She’s also missing loads of school.

Any advice welcome. Thanks in advance.

Gastro issues do seem to occur post Covid. The probiotic that is recommended for Long Covid is Symprove - worth giving it a go!

I had similar and am having an ultrasound tomorrow to see if not eating for so long whilst having covid has given me gall stones. But then I am f42 so a lot older than your dd

I am following this as my daughter (10ys old) sounds very similar. She started with bad stomach pains around 6 weeks post covid - enough to keep her off school and up at night.

We have been under the care of a consultant for 6 months now and she has had x-rays, scans and blood tests. Initially we were told she was constipated and blocked up. We managed this with movicol. Pain still didn't improve and she started vomiting after eating. We were then told it was acid reflux. She has been on a high dose of lansoprozole for this for a while, which helps a little but she still has symptoms.

We've now been told she has been medicated as much as they can so we need to look to lifestyle and diet changes to see if symptoms improve.

She is still suffering stomach pains and is vomiting daily and I am trying other things to try to improve her symptoms, but feeling quite helpless.

@Rispa42 Thanks for the probiotic suggestion. I did read an article which said certain strains of probiotics were helping with long covid but I can’t find the article now.

@0ddsocks I hope your scan goes well and you don’t have gallstones. I’d like my daughter to have a scan but I’ve asked a couple of times now but they won’t refer her.

@MyKidsDriveMeBonkers Gosh your poor daughter (and you). It does sound similar. What blood tests did your daughter have? And did anything show on the scan?
I have just started my daughter on an anti reflux dairy free gluten free diet in desperation, but I would like a scan to cover all bases.
It’s so frustrating isn’t it, and upsetting, when you can’t help them. And must just wear them down, the constant pain :(

She was tested for lots of things, to rule everything out - H pylori, coeliac and other things that may be more worrying, they were all clear. She also had some stool samples tested. They were thorough and wanted to rule out anything nasty.

Her symptoms all point towards acid reflux, but no medication seems to be helping.

She's been in pain and feeling awful for over 6 months now, and it's horrible to see her feeling so awful.

I am now trying other things to try to help her digestive system, but it's a long slog. She is getting increasingly frustrated as she just wants it 'fixed'. I feel so useless not being able to help her.

Has she been tested for coeliac disease? (She would need to be eating gluten for the test to be effective). The symptoms could fit, and it can be brought on/triggered by illness/stress/trauma

@MyKidsDriveMeBonkers How is your daughter getting on? My daughter is still struggling. She’s been referred to a gastroenterologist but it’s at least a 16 week wait…

@daffdil Yes she had a coeliac test which came back negative.

Hi - not much change, unfortunately. I'm trying lifestyle changes now. Limiting her diet to cut out foods that may trigger her pain, probiotics and more herbal remedies. I've joined some facebooks groups to try to read up and look for suggestions.

This all takes time to see results though, which is frustrating for my daughter. She is having good and bad days.

I'm even considering asking for her to be put on anti anxiety medication, as all my reading tells me that stress and anxiety can have a big effect. I'm torn on whether this is the right way to go though...

There is a group called longcovidkids on Twitter. They may be able to say if anything worked for them.

Second going into Long Covid Kids, there are many kids on there who have struggled with gastro issues. Both me and my DH have Long Covid and have had gastro issues, they did resolve, but it took months. One thing that really helped both of us was over the counter antihistamines like cetirizine (some try a low histamine diet too) and probiotics.

This is an article about the probiotics study (phyto-V)

www.cuh.nhs.uk/news/friendly-gut-bacteria-speeds-long-covid-recovery/

@MyKidsDriveMeBonkers So sorry to hear your daughter is still struggling. It’s such a worry isn’t it. It makes sense to try to look at everything. My daughter is quite anxious too. I wonder if it does become a vicious circle - if your gut health is out of balance and you aren’t absorbing the right nutrients then it will affect your moods.

Vitamin B6 and fish oils are supposed to be helpful for nerves and reducing anxiety. I’m going to try to increase these in her diet.

@BeenToldComputerSaysNo and @Choconuttolata thank you for the long covid kids group info, and the probiotics study, I’ll take a look.

Interesting about the histamine foods. I guess these are inflammatory? I have some children’s Piriton in the cupboard. Would be great if something helped. I feel quite helpless.

Just voicing my support for those of you trying to help your kids through this awful lingering pain and symptoms. I'm really struggling with gastrointestinal problems as a result of covid plus some antibiotics I had to take for an unrelated infection. In the last couple of days I'm taking quest acidophilus a couple of times a day, and a prebio 7 capsule once a day, all swallowed down with a capful of organic apple cider vinegar diluted with plenty of water. Today I've started on metatone tonic too, and some magnesium glycinate which I've read has helped some long covid sufferers. I'm noticing some improvement but it's slow. I'll update if things improve further over the weekend. The pain I've had in my back, solar plexus and ribs because of the reflux has been agonizing. I hate to think of children going through anything like it 😔

Have any kidney issues or uti's been ruled out? My son had nausea, back pain and abdominal pains post covid while I had a uti / kidney infection

Oh your poor daughter. Like a number of other posters, I have had gastrointestinal issues following Covid. Things that have helped include: cutting out refined sugar, almost entirely cutting out dairy, eating only small amounts at a time, avoiding fried foods and anything too fatty (eg nuts or cheese are a no no), no fizzy drinks. I’ve cut out caffeinated drinks, and reduced other caffein intake (chocolate!) Still have a little bit of vegan dark chocolate without refined sugar, but even that I can’t have much of. I’m supposed to be seeing a private gastroenterologist soon as I refuse to let this be permanent. I just don’t think such a restricted diet is healthy long term. Since I got Covid the first time I’ve lost nearly 3 stone, involuntarily, though that does seem to have stabilised now.

Thanks for your replies.
Still no progress unfortunately, and back to school so more bugs to contend with!

I’ve started her on the pre and pro biotics mentioned in the study linked by
@Choconuttolata (thanks again for that!) after checking it was safe for children. And I’m giving her a very bland diet, no greasy food, dairy or gluten. No improvement yet.

@MotherOfPuffling have you seen a private gastroenterologist yet? If so, I’d be interested to hear what happened. We may have to resort to this ourselves due to long NHS waiting list.

@Regalhen UTIs have been ruled out.

@baroqueandblue sorry to hear you’re suffering too. It really does seem to affect some people so badly. Have you felt any improvement yet? I had terrible reflux a few years ago so can sympathise. Though the pain was not persistent like my daughter’s and didn’t leave me doubled over.

So frustrating not being able to find any solutions.

I just wondered how everyone is getting on?

@MyKidsDriveMeBonkers How is your daughter?

@baroqueandblue Any luck with the dietary changes

@MotherOfPuffling Did you have any luck with your private gastro appointment?

I don’t feel we have made much improvement since I posted in July. My daughter’s pain got so bad at one point we ended up in A&E with suspected appendicitis. The ultrasound was clear, as were blood tests.

Her tonsils are also permanently swollen (something none of the doctors have checked until we asked them to a few weeks ago). A 10 day course of antibiotics did nothing. She’s on pro and prebiotics & still dairy and gluten free but we haven’t seen any improvement. Obviously not helped by the antibiotics

She just about manages school most days, but can’t manage even a short walk without doubling over in pain. We’ve stopped all activities.

Honestly at a loss what to do next.

Hi,

Im so sorry your daughter and everyone else is still not better.
So many people overlook these after effects of covid. It’s really not just a cold for many.

I don’t have experience of LC but I do have some of bowel issues.

Ive known people get on with L-Glutamine (google it maybe). Good at repairing a leaky gut (which I know is considered pseudoscience right now but there was this paper last year about Rheumatoid Arthritis patients having a leaky gut healed with Crohns meds and finding remission…what I mean is maybe the science is true).

Anyway, here’s a link to one source and it’s a fairly easy/safe thing to try. www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4369670/

I really hope the science catches up quickly in terms of long covid and your daughter and everyone starts to recover.

Thanks @Youthinkyoureuniqueyourejustastatistic

I’ll take a look at the study. I have some L-Glutamine as I came across this once before when I had problems myself.

Not one doctor is linking what is wrong to Covid, despite her having it twice and the symptoms starting soon after. We are at the point now where I think they want us to accept it’s just childhood stomach pain that she’ll grow out of one day.

It’s so tricky. It may just be normal childhood stomach pain and it may be because of covid or infection.

We’re just at a place where we don’t know and for some they choose to be cautious and hedge their risks and others just want to ignore it until it either effects them or is proven.

Meanwhile, as with those with any chronic illness, it’s one moment, on day at a time.

I’m not saying it’s anxiety related but some anti anxiety meds/anti depressants have a positive effect on functional gut issues. (They can also cause them as a side effect in some cases though).

I really really hope you find something that works for her.

Just wanted to update with what's happening with my daughter. She's still suffering with stomach pains and vomiting (although she seems to be having slightly longer periods now between big flare ups).

We are lucky to have private health insurance through my husband's work, and I found a paediatric consultant specialising in gastric issues. We are on our way back from our first consultation with him today.

He wants further investigations and we're booked in for a endoscopy and capsule study in a couple of weeks. He thinks she may have ulcers or lesions in her gastric tract or that her oesophageal valve may not be working correctly.

I'm just relieved that we have been able to get further investigations done and hoping we may get some help to relieve or even solve her symptoms at long last.

It was this time last year her symptoms started getting really bad, so it will be a massive relief if do get some answers at last.

That's a good update.
I wanted to add that if you think that her issues are causing anxiety or possibly even caused by anxiety, the illustrated book Guts by Raina Telgmeier is excellent. It's aimed at your Dd's age group.

@MyKidsDriveMeBonkers Thanks for your update. I’m glad that you are making some progress and I really hope you can get some answers from the consultant, and sone relief for your daughter soon. Can I ask what a capsule study is?

Unfortunately my daughter’s symptoms have multiplied and we are no further forward.