I think my DD 10 has ibs C - crippling stomach pains

[Themadcatparade]

I am hoping for some advice and support off people who have experienced similar either in themselves or in their child.

over 2 months ago my Dd had a nasty viral infection that triggered stomach pains so severe she was screaming with them. We was on holiday at the time and ended up on a and e. Appendicitis got ruled out they said it could have been inflamed lymph nodes due to the virus she had at the time.

antibiotics proved to get her well but she was still having trouble with bad bouts of stomach pains.

two month down the line - 5 trips to a and e, an ambulance trip and hospital admission she finally had a scan and she was severely impacted. Got put on movicol. Stomach cramps started to ease only after she was nil by mouth for two full days due to sickness. Started disimpactment regime and we got her well enough to to be in school.

she lasted a day and a half before she was back at home screaming in agony.

She has been bad since last Friday - gp has seen her slightly confused and said she doesn’t feel impacted again and we are on our second round of disimpactment just in case. The community nurses have said the pain doesn’t now seem to fit with constipation. But the stomach pains she is having are agonising.

she has described what feels like crampy type pains which I’m starting to feel makes sense - she sounds very gassy and her tummy gurgles to the max when she’s having these pains, it tends to ease some after each bowel movement, we have monitored her, limited her diet and we have now seen a pattern that these pains are triggered after she eats. We are trialling cutting down gluten and wheat.

after a lot of research and useless and conflicting medical advice we have now come to the conclusion that she might have ibs C, which would make sense with the food triggers and the cramp like pains, and her constipation that she has struggled with on and off since she was a baby (it is not hard stools, always soft but it just seems like her body just can’t ‘go’ if that makes sense). I’m wondering if her bowel is hyperactive and working harder and this is causing her cramps.

she has been off school and she is in year 6, she has missed two holidays including a a school residential which hit her very hard. She is anxious and a former shadow of herself. My heart has been shattered over seeing her in agony daily and we are all helpless how to make it stop for her. We have just enquired over seeing a private gastro paediatrician rather than settling for the nhs which have prolonged this issue with passing off her pains, and conflicting advice which has sometimes made her worse.

can anyone provide any advice over the pains and how to settle this at all? We are trying buscopan at the moment but so far it has not seemed to ease them.

Hi I just found your thread because I’m going through similar with my dd. How are things now? I’m toying with taking mine to a&e today as just can’t get anywhere with GP

@Sandcastlesinthesky I’m sorry to hear that it’s so hard isn’t it 😟

We have decided to pay to see the specialist and I’ve managed to luckily get a cancellation for Thursday. it can’t come soon enough.

We have found specific items of food that she seems to get on with without much pain afterwards so we are trying to stick to those to minimise her distress. This is currently alpro vanilla yoghurt and some hummus crisps. We trialled her with little bits of red pepper today and she did okay. Avocado set off a bit of pain so that’s been ruled out. I’ve found some vitamin drops too, but she’s just so tired and run down with lack of food.

is your experience food related too?

I took her today to a&e because the stomach cramps were bad and I was starting to worry about appendicitis. Dr said she has GERD but needs testing for coeliac disease and he’ll write to the GP. He prescribed omeprazole but she’s just thrown it back up. It’s hard to know if there’s a good link because she eats so little and I find it hard to restrict her because of that. I think she might be lactose intolerant though so she doesn’t have milk really but we’re still having problems

My son had very similar issues, have they done any ultrasounds or barium swallow and X-ray to check if they can see anything else going on?

We did omeprazole, movicol and gaviscon advance for a while but they didn't seem to overly make a difference.

He's a lot better now,
occasionally gets bouts of bad ibs but overall it is significantly better.

We use a probiotic (biokult or acidophilus from Holland and barret) one capsule given in the morning this was advised by his paediatrician.
If he isn't going to the toilet at least every other day I give him Tesco prune baby food pouches and movicol if bad. Both if really struggling to go. We've also learnt what foods are likely to trigger the stomach pains, we have to avoid eggs and bananas and to much bread amongst other things.
Hope your dd feels better soon.

@Sandcastlesinthesky a and e dr also prescribed my little one omeprazole. How long has it been going on for?

@jemini1234 we have had an ultrasound but all they noted was that she was so ‘bowely’ and had significant amounts of gas.

can I ask if there was anything that made him start to feel better (I’m assuming the probiotic was advised later?) and how long the episodes have lasted for in Him? I’m frightened of giving her anything in case it triggers off. We have made some progress today just two bouts of pain which she struggled with but not screaming.

I honestly think the probiotics are what made the big difference for us. Also getting him going to the toilet regularly again so he wasn't backed up and avoiding the trigger foods because even with the probiotics those will still cause issues even now,

He has ibs M so may be slightly different. It's hard to say how long it went on for as he has had issues with constipation since birth pretty much but we had a year where his symptoms got really bad that's when we were working with the paediatrician and trying out different meds etc

It's not perfect and he still has tummy bloating sometimes, more excess wind than average and experiences bad days with his ibs but the prolonged excruciating stomach aches and being sick he hasn't had for a long time.

I would speak to your paediatrician about barium swallow to rule out anything else going on (although be warned this can cause a bit of tummy upset afterwards)
and trying out probiotics, I switch ds's every couple of months.
I know what it's like seeing them in so much discomfort is really distressing I was constantly worrying waiting for the next time it would happen but I'm glad we tried the probiotics because they helped so much.

There's also some good ibs groups on fb and a children's ibs group that may be helpful for a bit of support.

Thank you. I will mentioned the probiotics at her appointment on Thursday and see what he suggests for her.

Im just scared I’ll never be able to give her anything else to eat again or she will get deficient in the things she needs. We are on alpro yoghurt at the minute and that’s all she can tolerate (plain vanilla, not the fruit versions), it’s been a week on that mainly because everything else sets her off. We even tried her with some clear chicken broth last night she had a complete meltdown over it. It’s mad to think that that is all she can eat at the moment, because she usually eats so much she absolutely loves her food.

I’d ask the doctor about Colpermin. You can buy it over the counter for adults but you’d need to talk to a doctor about whether it’s safe to give it to a child. It’s just peppermint oil but in capsules that stay intact as they pass through the stomach and only release the oil in the bowel. It can really help with IBS.

IBS-C here. It might sound silly, but it's entirely possible that gas could be enough to have your daughter screaming in pain. Some people have high sensitivity to bowel movements, as in they can feel food moving along their digestive tract more so than the average person, often causing discomfort and even pain.

I really sympathise with you and DD. I know she hasn't been feeling well. Has she been getting enough movement in her routine? Just walking around, a bike ride, a bit of jumping, anything, can be enough to help pass the gas and BMs. Hope she starts feeling better soon.