My 7 year old has had a stomach ache for two years

[Imsolucky1983]

I am at my wits end. My daughter started complaining of stomach ache and "sick" coming up her throat age 5. After a year of doctors visits I eventually went to a&e after being up for 8 hours with a screaming child. We were given a diagnosis of acid reflux. Gaviscon didn't help. Ranitidine helped about 50:/: we are now on lansoprosole which has helped about 75:/: but we are still having about 4 attacks of a "burning stinging" stomach a night, and about one episode of heartburn a day. My dd is now 7 and is so fed up, she asked me if she will feel ill forever sad we are under a consultant they have done an ultrasound of her stomach, tested for a bacterial infection with a stool sample and done a blood test. We see them again in a month. They are not overly concerned though. My dd is finding the pain so upsetting though she has even had to have a few days off school when she has been awake with the pain at night. She has said it's hard to concentrate on her work at school when the pain is really bad. She was even in pain on Christmas Day. I've noticed it is worse in the hours before she does a poo. We are currently trying a dairy free diet as her younger sister has cows milk protein intolerance but so far it has not made any difference. We have tried probiotics which help with her mild? constipation, although her ultrasound showed a lot of poo but they were not concerned. We have tried movicol but that seemed to make the pain worse. She has been tested for cealiac. We have taken her to a cranial osteopath. We have increased fruit veg fibre and water intake. We have tried gaviscon in conjunction with lansoprozole. I am at a loss. Does anyone have any experience of something similar? Or any ideas of other things we can try?

You need to start making a fuss. I too was at my wits end. Gluten did not seem to be a trigger (and isn't for us) so whilst it is worth trying, don't let that stop you from ruling out other things. Is your consultant a gastro specialist? Try and see them earlier in any case (call their secretary/ clinic appointments and see if there is an appointment early Jan) to outline your concerns. Get them to explain clearly how they have ruled out an ulser. Write a list of questions to take with you and tick them off if this helps.

I would also go back to your GP and ask for a priority gastro referal. Once refered called the gastroentrology clinic and ask if they have a cancellation list you can go on. We too ended up at A&E (twice) as we just could not manage the pain,.they were fantastic and, whilst it shouldn't need to be this way, it was an effective way into gastro system for us.

Your DC isn't being listen too atm - you need to get her to someone who wants to help her. Don't trust that that will just happen- that, unfortunately from my experiences, is not the way it works.

I as going to say try getting rid of milk but i see you have done that.

I know how your dd feels, I didn't realise people didn't have pain in their tummy at her age.

mawbroon dd doesn't have a tounge tie she was a really successful breastfeeder for one year, unlike dd2 who I suspect had a posterior tounge tie and had to be bottlefed. That must have been so hard for you. I'm glad you found an answer too the problems, I hope I do too.

outandin no I don't think my consultant is a Gastro specialist. We seem to see the same consultants for many things with both daughters over the years, so I am sssuming a pediatrician. Would I need to pay privately to see a specialist or can I ask to be referred?

sassh did you have tummy pains when you were little? What did it turn out to be?

Go back to GP this week and ask to be referred to gastroenterology as a priority.

Go back to your GP and ask for a referral to a paediatric gastro. You could research your local hospitals to see if there is one locally and you could ask for a direct referral to them.

The NHS is wonderful but sometimes you do have to be quite forthright to her what you need.

Good luck.

Her=get

I've just looked up our consultant and she specialised in rheumatology! There is a gasto pedistrician I wonder why we didn't get given that one to see??

How would we get transferred to the different consultant?

It's good you are listening to her. I became ill with vague tummy aches at age 16. I was told it was all in my head by GP and my parents assumed GP was correct and rolled eyes when I said I felt unwell. Lost a lot of weight through upset tummy and not eating, referred to specialist, tested negatively for coeliac and was then told by my problem was actually anorexia nervosa. It wasn't. And I wasn't offered any advice or treatment other than repeat prescriptions for Imodium which I took daily for 2 and a half yrs. Three years later, feeling really ill, I changed specialists, spent 2 months in hospital where I was diagnosed pretty swiftly with Crohn's - a classic textbook case apparently. Specialist was aghast that previous specialist had been unable to diagnose this and had left me suffering, knowing I was taking daily high doses of Imodium. That was a few decades ago. I'd like to think someone with tummy probs today had a better experience. Please keep listening and speaking up for yr DD. She's prob frightened and miserable.

You could also try limiting certain fruits & veg. My mum has something similar to acid reflux and has cut out acidic fruits like citrus fruits, and only eats very small amounts of brassicas. She's also cut out dairy and bread.
I agree with PP that you should ask to see a gastro specialist.

Sorry for the late reply OP.

My daughter has suffered from this for about two years now. Slightly different scenario - my daughter has autism and GP thinks it's some kind of anxiety related reflux. Our problem is less about the cause but rather how to manage the symptoms. Feel like we have tried everything but nothing helps very much

Has she been tested for helicobacter pylori. That can cause problems like this. Where I work it is a stool sample via your GP.

Have seen the helicobacter in a few children of this age.

Yes she was tested for that via a stool sample.

I will make a note of chrons disease too, thank you!

molly did you experience a lot of other symptoms or was it just the abdominal pain?

Imsolucky1983

It was milk, sorry I should have said that. I can tolerate small amounts now in food, I have not had a diagnosis but if I drink milk or have too much (pancakes with a cheese sauce comes to mind) I suffer.

She has just been for a poo putting her feet on a small stall which helped she has done a huge poo but is now screaming that her stomach stings

Poor little love bless her heart. Have you taken her to a cranial osteopath? My sister was ill with stomach related issues practically from when she started solid food. She's 25? Ish now. Her situation ended in drastic surgery when she was 13 which i won't go into now but has saved her life. When she was very young, about yr daughter's age mum took her to a cranial osteopath who was fundamental in guiding towards the issues and relieving pain and symptoms.

Yes we have taken her to a cranial osteopath they thought her forcepts delivery and stressful birth was partly to blame, we did about 5 sessions I think over about 4 months but it didn't make any difference unfortunately

GP tomorrow and get a Paeds gastro referral - ask that she is seen as a priority - you need to be seen at the gastro clinic.

Crohn's may present differently in such a young child. Might be better to offer it as a suggestion to a gastroenterologist and let them decide if it's a possibility. Hope she feels a lot better soon x

Yes I'm trying to get a list of possibilities as they do not seem keen to look into the reason for the pain, they just want to manage it with medication, although that has not been effective either as she is still
In pain