Would you be concerned with frequent sickness in a c7 yo hild?

[kid]

My DS seems to get ill quite frequently. He is 7 and eats well and is very fit and active.
But every couple of weeks, he gets a sickness bug and it totally wipes him out.

He often complains of feeling sick, but when he is acting his usual self, its hard to believe him. He is definitely sick today, I have the contents of the bucket to prove it!

Would you be concerned, or is it completely normal? Its not all year, every year, but it feels that way just recently.

Every 2 weeks seems like a lot to me.

I'd take him to your GP for a check up/tests if it were my child.

sounds like he might be eating somethign that doesn't agree with him? I regularly threw up stuff that didn't agree with me, specifically thigns like frankfurter sausages and saveloys, overprocessed pork of any kind really.

Apart from the cause, which should be investigated, I would worry anyway if he is physically sick that much because stomach acid in the oesophagus is dangerous, causing abrasions, wear on the oesophagus, potential for cell damage etc. And as well, he won't be absorbing food he is throwing up so he will be lacking nutrients he should be getting.

Have you taken him to the GP yet?

He hasn't been to the GP yet because he bounces back after a day.

He was last sick the weekend before last.
Before that, it was a few weeks so its still quite frequent. I also have a DD (she is older) and she doesn't get sick half as much as he does.

I think I will ring the Dr and see what they say. I just never know if I am wasting their time and there really isn't anything they can do to make him better.

Thanks for helping me make the decision. Will phone when they open at 3.

If it really is a one-day thing each time then after you have spoken to the GP I would consider keeping an eye on what he eats - if he is always sick after certain food(s) then you might have your answer.

How are his bowels? Sometimes if there is any kind of back-up, the stomach can eject food rather than cause more pressure on a blocked system lower down..

His bowels are fine, he goes to the toilet frequently without any problems.

I am inclined to think its something he is eating rather than something he has caught as no-one (touch wood) seems to catch it.

I will keep a diary of what he eats anyway I think so I can see if there is something that tiggers it.

He is fast alseep on the sofa at the moment, poor little thing. He is also quite hot (usual usual with a virus so that could blow my theory!) and pale too.

ah another thing - does he get a headache with it? My brother had a brand of migraine that sometimes had a headache, not always immediately though, but he would always get very very pale and then throw up. Does migraine run in the family at all? (we have a strong family history of it)

I suffer from migraines occassionally and my sister does too (other sister might too, not sure)
DS does complain of headaches. I had his eyes checked and his vision is perfect they said.

Didn't think the sickness was caused by the headache, I always assumed it was the other way round.

with my brother it was definitely part of the migraine. Once he had thrown up the migraine would go, it wouldn't go before that. Another thing to add in to the mix!

My brother is the only one of us in our family who got migraine in that specific way, btw - we all get it slightly differently.

And just to confuse the issue yet further - I found that pork was one of the migraine triggers for me. Some foods are well known for being migraine triggers - oranges, cheese, chocolate for e.g.

Anyway - please still phone your GP - there are plenty of other things that it might or might not be - I'm sure he won't consider it time wasting because of the potential healthrisks from longterm vomiting!

well he certainly eats plenty of chocolate without getting ill so I would rule that out. He started showing signs that he would be ill on Saturday, but managed to keep going until today.
He had some pork on Sunday, but I am sure he has had that before without problems. He doesn't like cheese and doesn't eat oranges often.
It could be anything really couldn't it!
I am sure a food diary will help work it out or at least narrow it down.

So far today, he had half a slice of bread but thats now in the bucket! He didn't eat dinner yesterday but did have a sausage sandwich in the morning.
The joys of parenthood!

I was meant to be going out to get my DD but I really don't want DS throwing up in the car. I don't like sick plus its a new car lol

don't blame you!

difficult one but plenty of avenues to explore - hope you (and he!) get some resolution for the problem soon.

Well I finally got through to the drs on my 4th attempt and what a bloody rude receptionist. Apparently I should call in the mornings not the afternoon, well sorry my son got sick after 10am!

Anyway, the dr is going to call me back at some point this afternoon, I hope they are a bit kinder!

My DD2, who is nearly 11, has been vomiting (mostly first thing in the morning only but feeling nauseous on and off all day) on a near daily basis for the last two months with the odd week off. GP said there was a 4 months waiting list to see paediatrician so took her privately and he prescribed antacids to see if that helps (she has had previous helicobacter pylori infection). Unfortunately, this didn't seem to help. Took her to GP again last week and have finally got NHS hospital appointment on Thursday. Don't leave this problem, please see GP as it's very debilitating to the child and there could be a long wait for a hospital appointment. My daughter has lost quite a bit of weight now and has become wary of eating. I have today sent off for a York Allergy Test 9.99 to see if she has a food intolerance as I don't know what the hospital are going to do.

I am trying not to convince myself that I am going to be told that I am wasting the Drs time.

He isn't sick on a daily basis, but I still don't consider it normal to get sick as frequently as he does. He isn't my only child, so I have someone to compare him too.

I think I will play on the headaches bit to the Dr, they may take that more seriously that the fact that he has vomitted. Hope they don't phone while I am driving to get my DD.

How are things at school? Stress? I read somewhere about cyclical vomiting syndrome.

The headaches are very significant. They asked DD whether she had headaches before vomiting (she doesn't) and explained that migraine often causes vomiting. Hope you get a result.

Its been going on for a long time so I couldn't link it to the SATS he just did.

He is very popular at school and has lots of friends. He is also doing very well, making lots of progress in all areas and generally happy to go to school. He doesn't like going when he feels sick which is fair enough, just a shame I don't know when he is trying to pull a fast one.

Got an appt with the Dr for later on this week. She thinks he may have abdominal migraines, will let you know how he gets on.

I was just about to suggest abdominal migraines as my DD suffered with these when young (she was hospitalized for five days on a drip on three occasions before I realized what it was - it wasn't thought of then due to the lack of headache), If it is abdominal migraine then one of the triggers can be low blood sugar so your son should eat a bowl of cereal or a couple of rounds of toast last thing before going to bed otherwise when the blood sugar drops overnight it can set off an attack. Strangely I found that my daughter could eat chocolate and ham before 4.00 pm but if she ate them later than that she would have an attack. Once you identify the triggers it is relatively easy to head off the attacks. I always made sure to have a couple of sugary biscuits in my pocket so if she went very pale she could eat them immediately. Hope your DS's attacks can be stopped soon.

Abdominal migraine.

Is there a history of migraine in the family? In young children it comes out as abdominal pain.

My ds (10) suffers from it and has done for the last 3 years. I thought it was stomach bugs, when his teacher said he was on the brink of too many days off school (day of illness then 48 hrs so not passing it on) i knew i had to take him to the doctor, who then referred to peads. he was put on tablets-pizotifen and is much better.

His symptoms are:

Clamminess
Going very pale/almost green.
Bad bad stomach ache.
vomiting.
having to sleep.

Once he had had a big sleep he was absolutely fine as if he was never ill.

As he is getting older they are turning a bit more headchey..and he is getting some visual disturbances. Once he has had them we know one will strike within 48 hrs.

The tablets don't stop them, but they are less frequent and less severe.

His triggers are excitement (going to a party/sleeping at a friends house) and stress.

Hope you get to the bottom of it.

DS often gets ill after sleeping out at someone elses house (usually nans or cousins)

He has been vomitting all afternoon. He is looking pale and has those red blood spots on his face from the pressure of being sick. He said his head hurts.

I don't know what to do with him between now and Thursday afternoon. I wish the Dr would see him sooner

I will be going to work tomorrow and leaving him at home with DH.

Kid - your poor DS. If you are really worried about him then ask for a home visit, or an appointment with the emergency doctor. We were told never to assume that it was just "the periodic syndrome" as they called it then and if we were worried to ask to be seen. We did have to call the emergency doctor at 5.00 am one morning as DD was just so sick (every five minutes for a couple of hours). When the doctor came he actually stayed for half an hour as we were on the point of being admitted again - but luckily the sickness started to slow down. Hope the vomiting stops soon and you can all get some sleep tonight.

Awww i feel so sorry for him. There isn't much you can do.....plenty of water, my son found eating ice lollies helped a lot-not sure if it numbed the pain on the inside?? good for re-hydration though. Try and get some calpol into him.

He needs to sleep, i know its hard when he is being sick so much.

Try ice-lollies...the sugar should help out too.

Hope he is better soon.

If he had a good night and sleeps through, I will feel a bit better tomorrow about his recovery tomorrow.

If he is still being sick and not drinking, then I will phone the Dr back and ask to be seen sooner. I just realised, its only Tuesday tomorrow, I thought it was Wednesday.
Surely he is over the worst of it now?

He has been sleeping so much today. He put himself to bed at 7pm but then got up again at 8:30 and was sick. He was taken up to bed at 10 and hasn't been back up since. Will check on him when I go up and leave the doors open so I can hear him. He can't keep any medicine down at the moment, I tried 1 tsp of calpol today and it came straight back up. I am glad the sickness seems to have eased tonight, but I can't help thinking its because there is nothing left inside him.

poor little boy! what is he drinking? Flat ginger ale or flat lucozade is quite good - puts a bit of sugar back in the system, helps to rebalance the blood sugar (he will continue to feel disastrous if it is low).

When I had rotoviral food poisoning (half hourly ejections at both ends oh my god I thought I was going to die) I kept myself going with alternate water and flat ginger ale. None of this toothkind crap, it has to be the real deal with sugar in it though. Lucozade has more glucose in it.

The way to make it go flat instantly is to add some water to it; it needs to be flat or the fizz makes you sick again.

I hope you find the triggers and I hope it isn't just excitement/stress - that's much harder to control than food triggers.

I will pop over to the shop tomorrow morning before work to get him some lucozade so he can have some of that during the day for energy.

He was just drinking water earlier, but no sooner has he drank it, he vomits again and I swear he is bringing up much more than he is drinking.

He is usually a very lively boy, doesn't sit still for a second so this is totally out of character for him. Its not the first time he has been like it, but each time it feels like he is worse than the time before. Realistically, I don't think thats true but it just feels it at the moment.

Right, I am off to bed, it might be a long night for me if he doesn't sleep well or if he doesn't make it to the toilet. At least his bedroom is right next door to the toilet. I'll put the bucket up there too I think just incase!