9 yr old - constant tummy aches / head aches

[FranceMum]

My DD (9yr old) seems to be constantly suffering from tummy aches and head aches. This has been going on for over a year and we have been back to the doctors several times but we still have no satisfactory explanation / pain management. At first we thought it was child migraines, then the Dr was insistant it was a milk intolerance issue (we have tried cutting out milk and there was no change) and finally that it is stress induced (but she gets them at weekends / holidays as well as school days). We've also checked her eye-sight which is perfect. Out of all of these, only the migraine seems to me to be likely as I suffer badly from them.

It has now got to the point where it is affecting her schooling as she struggles to concentrate and after school activities are regularly missed. I have searched the internet and found that non-specific stomach ache is common in children and they just grow out of it but how do you know if this is what it is? Has anyone else experienced this? Does anyone else have any recommendations of next steps? I am going to seek a second opinion as OH has a different GP but would like to know if there are any questions I should be asking. I'm worried there may be an underlying cause I'm not getting to - or am I just being an over-anxious Mum?

TIA.

My sister had the stomach thing when she was young. The GP said it was like having a migraine in your tummy. She had loads of tests etc and no-one could find out what was causing it. In the end it was put down to stress and she did grow out of it. I can't remember how old she was.

Thanks dustystar - did your sister ever find a way of dulling the pain? It's hard to watch them go through this without being able to offer any sort of effective pain relief.

Do they fall on particular days? ie, weekends and mondays?

I used to get migraines and awful sickness as a child - they were linked to being stressed about going to school. I went through the whole milk, chocolate, cheese etc thing, and finally they agreed they were real, but no treatment at that tme could be found.

Mine weren't limited to term time, or just school, I often would get them if I was excited, so days out etc..

When I hit puberty they got much worse, and I now get cluster migraines around my period (but thankfully have treatment too)

Has your DD seen a paediatrician or just the GP? If not I would ask for a referral to a paediatrician as they should be able to sort out whether it is non-specific tummy ache/ headaches and more importantly offer you some help with pain management/ coping strategies for your DD.

Thanks for the replies.

Shrinkingsagpuss - I'm keeping a diary at the mo and cannot see any pattern at all - she sometimes has them on a Sunday when we've got nothing on and can really have them all days of the week. I've talked to her teacher and there is nothing going on at school and DD says she's not stressed. She goes to a tiny local school so they would know and her sister is in the same class. I still am hedging towards thinking it is childhood migraine given the family history. I'm hoping not though as I would really like to see her grow out of this fast.

Pushki - I can't seem to get referred (we live in France if that makes any difference) but we are going to seek a second opinion. My doctor just won't refer us on thinking that DD will grow out of it. Of course, as soon as DD's in the surgery she plays it down, sometimes I wish the Dr could see her in pain and she might take it more seriously.

Does anyone know of an effective treatment for migraine in children?? We've tried all the usual children medications and nothing seems to touch it.

I presume sumatriptan isn't licenced for children?

No, although there have been some interesting studies showing that nasal sprays are beneficial to kids from 8 -17. The trouble is that they recommend 10mg for her weight and I've only got 20mg sprays here. She's back in bed now instead of horse-riding (we get Weds off in France).

my 8 year old dd has suffered from similar symptoms for about a year. she had a whole term off school plus loads of other weeks as well (she was diagnosed with mesenteric adenitis btw). she has just gone back today after 7 days off school. she is really missing out on schooling and although bright i am getting worried about it as she changes to middle school in sept and her streaming will depend on this year.

we have seen endless docs and the latest excellent kind paediatrician said we should relax and not send her in if she felt unwell (if poss). he siad doing that would make her less likely to 'exagerate' her symptoms to get a day off. she is anxious and worrried generally although before this i would have said she was a confident happy little girl. to add to the problem we have recently moved house to a different county due to other unrelated cirumstances and she is really struggling to settle. i feel dreadful for moving her away from the place where she was born with all her friends.
having said all this i used to have similar symptoms and i hated school all my life.

I only asked about the days becuase mne started the day I started 2ndry school - which happened to be a wednesday, then for a term they were each weds, after that, sat/ sun or monday irrespective of wheter I thought I was stressed (to be fair I was bullied through the whole of secondary school).

What did I try - some prophylaxis - can't remember the names, did nothing.

Migraleve - the pink and yellow tablets- now available over the counter -, various foul fizzy tablets which just made me throw up (midn you, often throwing up actually got rid of the migraine)

Sumatriptan works for me, but I have serious side ffects. now I'm on Rizatriptan. Works a treat but does make me SOOOOOO tired.

I'll look in my BNF at what is licenced for children

I spoke to my sister and she says she grew out of them at about 11 when she started going through puberty. She says there was nothing that she did at the time that helped unfortunately but did mention that one doctor thought it might have been due to chlorine in the swimming pool. Not sure about that as we only went once a week but thought i'd mention it anyway.

My 10-year old daughter has had a constant headache often with a bad tum (lower right) since January 08. We did a blood workup (nothing) and an ultrasound (which indicated possible mesenteric adenitis). But our pediatrician said the headaches were migraines, and the stomach aches a side effect of the migraines. He said that mesenteric adenitis (adénolymphite mésentérique in French) was very common and went away on its own within days or weeks.
FYI, we're in France, too (Americans in Normandy). While our doctor's got an excellent reputation, we're not at all satisfied with this, as our daughter is in tears most every night, tired, losing weight and generally miserable 24/7. This from being a bright and cheery child all her life. Could it be stress related (she's top of her class, and the headaches get unbearable when it's time to practice piano...). Anyway, the pediatrician ordered an MRI of her head, just in case, which we'll do next week. Ibuprofen helps, and I'm starting her on Echinacea. Please let me know if anything evolves for you. My mother had migraines, and I had a lot of headaches as a teen, but a 3-month headache (oh yes, when it gets bad, there's often a very slight fever) in a 10-year old doesn't seem right...

I don't know if any of you will still be around on this thread, but I was about to post something similar as my almost 11yo DS has been diagnosed with migraines this week.

I would say he has been suffering for a couple of years, crippling stomach aches, headaches and feeling sick at mealtimes. He has lost a lot of weight, is pale and has dark circles under his eyes. It is affecting his sleep. Just now he seems to suffer worse at bedtime, and this episode has lasted nearly a week.

Medinol (that's all the GP prescribed) doesn't seem to touch the pain and he is (understandably) quite nasty with the pain. Tonight I am at my wits end, I don't know what else I can do to help him. He has been fine for most of the day today and had two reasonable sized meals early on, but not much at teatime.

I found this website but would be interested to hear from anyone else in this position.

In an unrelated incident it has been suggested he suffers from anxiety, but I wonder if his anxious tendencies are more a result of suffering migraine? He doesn't seem to have a pattern relating his pain to school etc.

My friends ds suffered like this and was diagnosed with abdomible migranes. She found cranial oestopathy to be a great help.

thanks, will look into it.