My 18 yr old DS has constant sickness

[MissMarianHalcombe]

I have an otherwise healthy DS who has never had any health issues. He’s had constant nausea for nearly 5 weeks now and has vomited almost every day -generally first thing in the morning. He has absolutely no other symptoms.

He’s doing A levels and I did wonder about stress but he swears he has no anxiety at all. He is extremely laid back, so I feel this isn’t the answer.

Dr initially gave him medication for a stomach ulcer, then changed after two weeks to anti-sickness tablets. Neither have made any difference. He’s due for a blood test today. Dr says he doesn’t know what it could be.

Anyone any thoughts?

Your poor DS! Could it be dehydration?

Acid reflux?

He’s really fed up with it as you can imagine.

I talked to him about acid reflux but he doesn’t seem to have this at all

I think unlikely to be dehydration as he’s played football for years and knows about dehydration. It’s possible he’s dehydrated at the minute due to being sick so much.

He’s had the blood test today so I’m hoping it throws up some answers. I have to say I’m not filled with confidence

I’ll update when it’s back

Could it be gastritis? I had this and suffered with nausea first thing on a morning for weeks. Think it was aggravated by empty stomach and lying down.

How long was he on the ppi medication for? I had to take it for months at full dose before it went away. Other symptoms were central referred back pain and noisy stomach!

Only 2 weeks for ppi medication. He’s had no pain, or any stomach issues -just nausea and actually sickness. Literally no other symptoms.

It’s very frustrating for him, bless him

He’s not managing a day at college, hardly even been out the house other than visiting the Drs

Perhaps not then although mine did just start with the morning nausea, then after 6 or so weeks progressed to the back pain and other symptoms. It was diagnosed with an endoscopy. Took a good few months of lansoprazole to go, but mine had got really bad by that point.

Hope they get to the bottom of it and you get the blood results back soon.

I think it is very likely anxiety, even if he doesn’t think so.

Well the blood test is a good starting point at least he's being investigated by the GP.

I’m hoping the blood test will give some indication.
I have wondered about CVS but his vomiting doesn’t seem that “violent” or prolonged enough to fit. He does have migraines and has allergies. His allergies are very mild & well managed. Not nuts, more cat/dog hair, pollen

Not sure if you can have mild CVS?
Googling symptoms is never a good idea

MissMarian no we know that googling is not a good idea yet we do it every time! If you do feel you should Google just stick to the NHS and UK sites only as they seem to have balanced and up to date information.

Sounds like cyclical vomiting syndrome

Does he smoke or take any form of cannabis?

I remember suffering from nausea every morning at around the age of 16 for a while and my friend was actually sick like your son so maybe something to do with hormones/secondary school stress. Glad the GP is taking it seriously and doing investigations though, you’re doing all you can.

Definitely no smoking or cannabis.

Too sports oriented for that. He’s only ever been to 3 parties in his life -and never been out out.

Thanks to everyone for replying too, helps to just get ideas from others

Blood test results show slight abnormality in calcium levels and liver enzymes but nothing to worry the Dr too much. DS is having blood tests repeated in two weeks to check if they have changed.

In the meantime he’s still throwing up in the morning and constantly nauseous for the rest of the day. It’s been 5 weeks now.

It’s so frustrating!!

You mention sports orientated ... is he taking any of the these protein body building shakes or supplements? Is he over training? Has he put himself on a sports diet eating only chicken, rice and brocoli?

I guess there's no mental health issue of gagging because he is anxious about College or something else?

Definitely no supplements or restricted diets. He normally eats like a horse. He enjoys sports but he’s not ruled by them if that makes sense.

I have asked him about anxiety and his mental health in general but he assures me his MH is strong. He did very well in his GSCEs with no stress and is predicted to do well in A levels. He has an unconditional offer at the Uni of his choice so theoretically any pressure would be reduced. I do understand that anxiety isn’t always obvious.

We have a very open & honest relationship so I do believe he’d tell me if he was stressed or anxious

The Dr seems to be flummoxed so it just seems like we’re waiting for him to either get better or to deteriorate before any treatment is offered. Don’t get me wrong I don’t expect Drs to be miracle workers, it’s just so frustrating for him.

I certainly don’t want him to become stressed because he feels so poorly which is a real possibility

has he had any ear problems or dizziness. wondered if it could be something like labyrinthitis (nope no idea how you spell it and never had it so no idea if it would be a possibility)

PERSONALLY I suffer with nausea A LOT! mine is made worse if I have eaten yeast the day before. I am currently on an anti candida diet and it is really helping. Might be something like that. Or probiotics might help if it might be due to gut microbiome or whatever it is called. Sugar lows can also cause nausea. I used to get those too. Mornings particularly bad as obviously no sugar for hours before hand. Has he tried wearing travel bands? they can work for a lot of people and for hormone related nausea so are worth a try.

Wish I could help, i know just how awful it is.

Thank you-He’s willing to try anything
I’ll get a travel band & try him with a diet change.
Ironically I have suffered from Labyrinthitis but he has no dizziness, in fact no other symptoms apart from sickness & nausea. Apart from colds (and I can’t remember the last time he had one) the only other condition he has are migraines.

He’s usually fit & healthy

**he does have some allergies. Eggs that he’s grew out of around aged 6/7, and still retains mild allergies to cats, dogs, dust but he self manages & rarely now needs antihistamine

It sounds like CVS. Migraines and CVS are genetically linked. They are due to mitochondrial dysfunction. You can read more on these two websites: mitoaction.org and UMDF.org . My ds has both. The mito-cocktail" (described on mitoaction.org) has been helpful. It's just high doses of certain supplements like CoQ10, Levo-Carnitine, Magnesium, Vitamin D. He also takes Acetazolamide (prescription) because he's had genetic testing and has calcium channel mutations and it is known to help with that.
Dr. Richard Boles molecularmitomd.com/ is an expert on mitochondrial disease...probably worth looking through his website and his scientific papers too.

Happy to provide more information if you want to PM me.

Does he swim? Maybe picked up a bug?

Dd 4yo was sick nov then 10 days later then in jan.
Could he be getting teeth?

Or have a stomach migraine (whatever that is called)?

Could he be anaemic? My dds worst symptom of hers was vomiting every morning, when her levels drop again that’s the first symptom to show up.