do you mind if i ofload? i've had a shitter of a day

[Tortington]

my son has sever stomach pains - it's been going on for 4 weeks. i have seen the gp 3 times in those 4 weeks.

1st time they said it was constipation - he's not a good pooer! he was given a laxative.

this gave him diahorrea. he was frightened of crapping himself at school.

stomach pains conintinued. i took him back to doctors who said it was probably too much laxative and to stop ( i already had) and it weould right itself.

it didn't. i went back yesterday and he gave a urine sample and an appointment for today for a blood sample to be taken.

again i o today to doctors nurse takes a blood sample. come home - he is shouting in pain. i take him to hospital.

we wait for 3.4 of an hour the nurse says she has made another appt with gp with afternoon at 4.40 as he is under the care of the gp i cant bypass the system.

you would think i would be good in these situations and be forthright and assertive. i am however the opposite and instead of saying "please help me my son is in so much pain he can hardly walk" i just nodded and we left.

i have bought more painkillers. but i am reluctant to give them to him until he is desperate becuase i can't keep medicating him with paracetemol over a long period of time, i'm afraid i may cause his liver some damage.

the stomach pains keep him up at night and he is becoming phobic about food becuase of the pain it causes when it digests.

i just cried in the car driving home.

on top of that.

got aphone call from my uncle. My nan (87) is very ill again and wants to go to hospital to die.

i phoned her and she said the same thing to me. she sounds very odd. i am 300 miles away. i went up only 2 weeks ago becuase she was admitted to hospital (bels palsey it turned out)

i work full time and i am finding it increasingly difficult to juggle everything.

i had 4 weeks off with depression due to circumstances i can't go into. its the end of the financial year - so i have no holidays left.

i had just got back from sickleave when nan becuase ill. and i had to go up north.

now i have a major piece of work to do at work - and i am using all tactics to get time off to get to doctors with my son who is 13 yo btw.

i don't want to not see my nan before she dies. she brought me up - i can't tell you how much she means to me. i will need to use compasionate leave when she dies to help sort things out. so that avenue is closed.

i think i will see what this evening brings in relation to son status & nan hospital dying status.and then what this weekend brings. try and sort out my workload for next week. work like a good'un to get things done. and see if i can get a long weekend up north the weekend after. Where i am always putting on people - so someone has to put me up etc.

thanks for listening, i feel useless

I hate to hear of kids in pain. there is a good guide to what might be wrong here - covers acute and chronic pain and the tests they'd do in America.

www.askdrsears.com/html/8/t080200.asp

If your lad's blood hasn't been tested for coeliac antibodies have a look at this. The blood tests aren't totally reliable anyway. If he was my kid I'd have him on a gluten and dairy free diet for as long as he could stand it or 2 weeks.

"Finally, Dr. Erhart stated that she has been more active in screening for celiac disease in adolescents with abdominal pain and has been somewhat surprised at the prevalence of this disorder among patients in her practice. She noted that symptoms of celiac disease usually have their onset in the toddler period when new solid foods are introduced in the diet. However, patients with subtle findings of celiac disease, such as nausea, abdominal pain, and short stature, may go undetected until adolescence.

To test adolescents suspected of having celiac disease, Dr. Erhart recommended checking antigliadin immunoglobulin (Ig)A and IgG as well as tissue transglutaminase antibody. These indices have demonstrated good reliability as a means to screen for celiac disease."

oh custy - I haven't read all the posts but blimey what a time you;re having.

first off you are not "useless". life is hurtling crap things at you right now - try to tell yourself that you'll get through it.

I think you're right about ds - four weeks is too long to be having such serious symptoms - you know him - I do think you need to get pushy now. when I was worried about seeming pushy about dd someone said to me - which would you prefer? make some doctor thinking you're a pita or put dd at risk? it's a no brainer.

work - is there a chance of setting aside a bit of time at the weekend to get ahead - so that you don't need to worry about taking the time to run around with ds during the week? and is there a chance of delegating something? getting out of some of your ordinary stuff whilst keeping up with the new big thing (new big things being the things that get noticed)?

re your nan - please don't worry about "putting on" people while you visit - I'm sure in the circumstances no-one's going to think like that - and the fact that you've thought it makes me suspect you're a considerate guest.

I shouldn't think any of the above is all that helpful - I wish I lived near your nan cos I;d seriously invite you to stay.

I hope things get better soon.

just thought of something else - can you write a good long letter to your nan? get the dcs to make her a scrap book? get them to all write her letters? send her some small and silly gifts? make some recordings for her? anything that will make you and your family feel a bit closer to her and possibly give her an excuse to write back - specifically to dcs maybe?

Custardo-One of my DSs (now adult!) had something similar some years ago. He was in severe pain which lasted for several weeks. He was admitted to hospital at one point, then sent home after being sick as they thought it was a bug. However, the pains continued-he was never a complainer but was in absolute agony.(GPs were useless like yours-told me to take him home and give him calpol) but I took him to hospital and he was readmitted. His blood pressure had gone sky high by now. It turned out that he had a blockage and we had to stay in hospital until it had been cleared. The rise in blood pressure had been caused by pressure on his kidneys apparently.
I would take your DS to A and E and insist on them seeing him tomorrow if I were you.

{{{{hugs}}}}

make sure they take a stool sample (when he is able to, obviosuly) to check for any infection.

the antacids will help with any pain coming upwards, but have they given anything to help move things through the system? I dont mean laxatives, but something like motilium?

huge empathy to you though. I have a ds who suffers with pains on a daily basis, and the pscological impact in relation to him not wanting to eat is growing by the day. Njow your ds is in hospital, dont give up until they sort him out. Call on all your reserves of energy to fight for the best treatment.

Good luck

Oh and I will pray for your nan x

Ah-just noticed your DS is already in hospital-should have read more carefully! My DSs diagnosis was eventually made using an X-ray-it showed he was completely blocked. He was not able to eat either.

sorry to read you are having such a bad time. I hope things get better for your ds and nan soon.

xx

You poor poor love. You are not useless just because you aren't superwoman. You have got a really difficult life at the minute and I couldn't do it, I know I couldn't. You are bearing up really well.

Oh bugger custy. Sounds crap.

Have you looked up Crohns disease to see if it matches sypmtoms?

vvvv I wouldnt advise custy looking that up atm. Let's hope this is 'just' a temporary thing which her ds will get over quickly. (I am not being off hand, just wouldt want any unecessary worry.)

custy - other things to press for tomorrow at the hospital if the pain continues:

xray - would show blockages in the system
barium meal - ditto, but more detailed

good luck and thinking of you and your ds. keep us posted as you can x

I hope its not serious too. But, its worth looking at different things so she can go to the docs with some knowledge behind her to get the tests her son needs.

I think custy appreciates candidness, anyway. She's no southern softy

yes you're right vvvv - I am a southern softie... (and this is all a bit close to home for me atm that's all )

losty. Im a softie southerner too, so I can give you {{hugs}}.

My friend has crohns disease. She manages it fine.

Custy, so sorry to hear that your son is poorly. Hopefully they will be able to do more investigations today. Poor lad.

thinking of you today custy..

(vvvv might like to talk to you about your friend at some point. if you dont mind)

nothing useful to add, but so sorry all this is happening at once. Hope they find out what is wrong with your son really soon. It is frightening when you can see your child is in pain and it's not for something you recognise. Is it half term next week for you? Hope that makes things easier.

custy - hope that they soon get to the bottom of what's happening with your boy.

Maybe worth asking about an ultrasound as well as the stuff previosuly mentioned.

Ds2 suffers with chronic constipation (we're a household of non-goers) and it got so bad it inflammed his bladder. Symptoms similar to your son.

Dont know how much info I can give, but, yes, no problem losty.

You are right you had a shitter of a day

agree with whoever said take him to A and E - come on, pull yourself up to full custardo height and do it.

Plan to go up to your nans next weekend? do you have someone who can take over the organisation for you?

how are you today

sorry I see now you have taken him to hospital

Poor you custy! I hope your DS is feeling better today.

FWIW - my DS (5.9) had something similar late last year. He was in agony with a sore tummy for three weeks. Only when DH got it and complained about horrific heartburn and indigestion, did I cotton on.

I gave DS1 some antacid and he was feeling much better within a day or two. DS2 ended up with the same and gaviscon worked well for him too. I checked with the doctor about this afterwards and he agreed that sometimes a really bad tummy upset results in the acids being all upsidedown which in turn causes loads of pain.

So hope all is well.

custy, you sound like a wonderful mum and great to your nan too, and a very, very thoughtful person. i think they're lucky to have you in their lives. i speak as someone with teenagers and elderly parents and the expectations are enormous, but you sound like you're managing it all really well. hope your son gets a diagnosis soon

fuming.

i can;t possibly do all this on my own - had phone conversation with dh yesterday evening along the lines of " they can kiss my arse if they think they will just give him gavisgon and chuck him out becuase they havent got the beds"

"yeah too right" says he.

so ds stayed overnight - i had to come into work today.

doctors rounds at 10 am.

been phoning dh until 2 mins ago .

ds is home. dh took him to hospital cafe whilst waiting in the queue ds was clutching his stomach. he took him back up - they gave him more gavisgon.

i cant believe this - im so annoyed at dh - i told him MORE TESTS i told him i told him.

and now what?> eh well