Anyone know about Mesenteric Adenitis??

[QueenEagle]

Anyone??

Realise this thread hadn't been active in a while but my 4yo was diagnosed with this last night and sent home without treatment. Seemed fine through out the day but again was up at around the same time as last night in so much pain she couldn't speak. Is there anything I can do for her? Feel so hopeless

Hi Crowely, currently going through same with my 4 year old. Seems much worse at night

my eldest was hospitalised with it. They thought it might be appendicitis so had to rule it out

My daughter was diagnosed with this in October and it's been a nightmare since as she has had vomiting bug twice and tonsilitis and scarlet fever since then. Each time she gets over the illness the ma lingers.

She has ended up dehydrated on a drip twice with the vomiting bugs and scans and meeting the surgery team worried about bowel obstruction which thankfully it wasn't.

Me ds and dd have just had the bug again which was horrendous in itself but she still won't stand due to this ma. She stared vomiting on Tuesday finished last night but still has lay on couch today won't sit up or stand at all due to pain in her tummy.

Have given her hot water bottle and calpol and thankfully she is asleep now but it's just horrendous she is picking things up as it's 2x as bad for her than it is us.

Oh no. Poor little one sounds awful. My Dd has been put on a stool softener which seems to be helping day to day. Luckily we haven't had another bug since she was diagnosed.

I had it as a child, it was hideous and would flare every few months.

Happened on a school trip away and I was taken to hospital with suspected appendicitis, then told it was this.

I never had anything other than calpol - I was told it was a virus commonly carried by birds and cats (we had both) and I eventually grew out of it. Would last 2-3 days then I'd feel bruised for a few days.

Nights were awful.

Labour by comparison wasn't as bad as at least that came and went. This was constant.

I have to say it taught me huge coping with pain skills! not least that everyone thought I was being dramatic about wind till I wound up in hospital

DD has been diagnosed with this but thankfully it’s not as bad as some pps experiences.
Still horrible though. Will work through the suggestions here and report back if anything helps.

Any updates? My 9 yr old d was diagny7 weeks ago! I’m er and admitted to hospital for weight loss and dehydration!!! Still having tummy pains and doesn’t want to sleep!!! Help! We r worried and exhausted!!!

I am not a mom.
I’m 17 mid February I was taken to the ER with really bad stomach pains. Not only that but I would get really bad cold sweats, diarrhea or constipation I could not eat or else it would make me sick and I lost 12lbs in that week. At first my mom thought I was faking everything to miss school but since I would not leave my bed or eat she started to worry. First I was taken to urgent care where I was told I had gallstones and was given zofran( actually helped with pain and nausea) my sister advised my mom that i should probably be taken elsewhere for a second opinion which was when I was taken to the ER after a CT scan I was told I had MA and that I had to wait it out. I was hoping they could prescribe more zofran since it really worked but they didn’t I was only given one before my CT scan and told to maintain liquids and not eat until after atleast 2 days. After about 4 days I felt somewhat better and then after a week I felt completely better and fine. I was happy obviously because the pain was terrible and I was missing a lot of school, which I would not have minded had I not been a hs senior trying to graduate. Just recently the pain and cold sweats are coming back and after reading this it seems MA is reoccurring
I don’t feel sick elsewhere except my stomach luckily I’m on spring break so I’m not missing any school I’ve been taking nauzene which I had to purchase myself as my mom does not believe me that the pains have come back it has been working fine i am definitely going to try the aloe Vera drinks since I’m in a hole and i really don’t know how else to handle or cope with this. I can’t sleep since laying down makes the pain slightly worse
Is it also normal that the pain came back about a month later??
This thread doesn’t seem very active anymore but I’m hoping someone can help me this has been the worse thing I’ve ever had to go through so far. Even beats burning my leg

Hi, I know it’s been a long time since this thread has been used but we are going through a similar thing at the moment with our 10yr old son. He has has severe stomach pains for almost 6 weeks and has missed a lot of school. He has had scans, ultrasounds, blood tests and has even had his appendix out after numourous trips to the hospital as one surgeon thought it could be that. Pain killers and ibruprofen do not work and when they took his appendix out they diagnosed him with MA as his lymph nodes were inflamed. All the information online is saying it’s fairly mild and goes in a few weeks...this is not the case. He wakes up in severe stomachs pain and goes to bed with pain with almost no let up throughout the day until he’s asleep. Your comment interests me as he was originally treated for Lyme disease as he said he pulled out what he thought may be a tick after visiting a deer sanctuary in a Forrest. We stopped the treatment for Lyme early as two docs said it’s probably not Lyme and we were worried it was making it worse. At a loss but your post has made us think that it still may actually be Lyme. He’s normally a happy outgoing boy and has lots of friends and enjoys school. Please can you let me know what treatment you used. Thanks

Abigayle1, I don’t have personal experience of this but didn’t want to read and run. One person on the first page mentioned an improvement in their symptoms after going gluten free, have you tried this? I think their mesenteric adenitis was later considered a consequence of undiagnosed coeliac disease. If your ds doesn’t feel better soon and hasn’t been tested for that maybe ask the doctor if this is a possibility worth exploring?

Very old thread but hoping someone is still around that has found something that will relieve this.. my DD who’s 5 is suffering regularly and it’s horrible to watch

Hoping this advise helps for all those diagnosed with Mesenteric adintitis. My 12 year old had the worst tummy pain ever and we were admitted to hospital with suspected appendicitis. Had xrays, ultrasound, bloods, urine tested and all came back ok. He was discharged and told to go home and rest and keep fluids up and take nurofen and para choc. It was bad!!! The pain and lack of energy was so hard to watch. Anyways 6 weeks later - (and he only attended 1.5 days of school) - he is finally on the mend. We went to naturopaths, had night Drs and saw many different Drs for advise. It was so frustrating. I asked for more bloods (he’s had so many) recently just to rule out anything nasty. Thankfully all is fine. The things which helped him was aloe Vera juice (try to get the non sugar ones and with more natural aloe) and castor oil. The castor oil is amazing as it draws out the toxins. I rubbed it 5-10 min nightly on his tummy for a few days. The parachoc is also good as it keeps him regular. If bowels stop = bad pain. So I made sure he had it. Also nurofen to stop the inflammation. I have never seen pain go for this long or be so horrendous. Sending hugs to all those suffering and hope these suggestions may help someone.

My daughter is 9yrs old & has missed 4.5wks of school w chronic reoccurring stomach pain.

She initially had blood tests, urine test & stool sample which found she had a gut parasite - Blastocystis Hominis. She completed one week of strong antibiotics but was still experiencing severe stomach pain.
Dr advised the parasite would def be dead & that her stomach would be inflamed from the parasite infection & would take approx 7 further days to recover.
7 days later, still experiencing on & off excruciating pain. Back to Dr - 2x stool samples & Ultrasound. We receive Ultrasound & stool sample results tomorrow.

A few years ago she experienced the same severe stomach pains & after extensive testing (blood/urine/ultrasound), she was diagnosed with Mesenteric Adenitis. The symptoms however resolved in approx 7-10 days.

We have had an exhausting 4-5 weeks watching her in excruciating pain, crying & asking when will this be over. She loves school & is really missing her friends & being at school. As other people have posted, we too have had family members & friends suggest she may be worried about something...school/friends...etc
I know my daughter is experiencing real pain. She is not worried about anything (other than the pain). She loves school, has great group of friends & has no stress in her home or school life.

I believe her results will show enlarged lymph nodes in her stomach & she will once again be diagnosed w Mesenteric Adenitis.
Today is the best day she has had so far in 4.5wks. Only one attack of pain today, which lasted about 20mins. Generally has been about 4 attacks of pain/day lasting from 40mins to 3hrs (w severity coming & going). Due to this she has been unable to attend school...we are now 1/2 way through 5th week of missing school which is awful.
Good luck to everyone. Hopefully the worst for us is over!

Oh wow! It's been 30 years since I've heard that term!! I was diagnosed with this as a kid! I always thought it was a name the doctor made up (or a fancy name for 'tummy ache') to satisfy my mum who insisted on a diagnosis because no one could find what was wrong with me and she was worried!! ;) perhaps the doc didn't make it up after all!!

Just wondering if anyone would like to provide an update on how they/their child is going?

Further to my post above, my daughter’s ultrasound did show enlarged lymph nodes clustered together (apparently about 7 of them, each the size of an appendix). Dr diagnosed MA.
We were referred to a Paediatrician who confirmed Mesenteric Adenitis. He advised the severe cramping pain was due to her intestines contracting when passing stools which would be painful going past this cluster of lymph nodes.
He said the lymph nodes would go down in time.
He prescribed her Osmolax (laxative to soften stool), 1x Lge scoop/per day & Periactin 4mg, 1/2 tblt/twice per day.
She is also having Benefibre once per day & Lifespace Probiotic once per day.

She had a remarkable improvement almost straight away.
Pain still occurred but only in the evening & was not as severe. She even had a few days here and there with no pain at all which was an absolute relief for everyone.
However, In the last 3 days the severe pain has come back, up to 3 times per day, very severe. She even vomited with the pain two nights ago.
I am trying to get her bk into her Paediatrician ASAP as her next appt is not until 19th June & I can’t bare to have her suffer every day like this until then.
I will buy some Aloe juice tomorrow & Castor Oil for tummy rub...hopefully that will help.
She was finally putting on weight & seeming back to herself and now she is afraid to eat as she thinks the pain will come back. She has just come into bed with me crying in pain again :( Heartbreaking to watch and I feel so helpless.
Any updates from anyone I’d really appreciate.
Thank you & I hope to here some positive news !

Hi All,

I hope our experience below would help parents like us who are struggling with this.

My son age 7 had this for last few months and we went through the pain many of you have explained in previous posts. We had seen multiple GPs,A&E consultant , nurses and tried various home remedies none of which works etc and be was off school during this time.

Some background, we recently moved house and school and my son was struggling to settle in the new school + all the school closures with Covid made it even more difficult. He was facing some phycological challenges with all this

Couple of weeks ago, we saw a pediatrician who really helped us with the situation. What he suggested that his physical issue has long cured however the brain tricks the patient in feeling the pain. There is no underlying physical problem (which he confirmed with sonography). The pain is very real however. Apparently this is a well accepted medical condition and have specific name.

He spent some time talking to the boy and explained it to him. He told us to completely let go the condition and act in that manner. He explained that if we don't so that, it will continue for a long time. Based in his advice, we started acting as normal and paying attention to his pain and explaining to the boy and within 2 days, he stopped complaining. His appetite came back and he started acting normal. He still complains about the tummy ache once in a while but he understands that it's his brain tricking him and we just distract him for a bit and then it goes away

I hope it works for you too.

BR

Hello everyone, I know this thread is old but will like some updates of old cases to see if there is hope and eventually they do grow out of this condition.
My daughter had suffered from this like since December 2023, it started the during first semester of her fist time in school, stomach pain complaints, we eventually took her to the doctor and referred us to the hospital to check for appendicitis and it was rule out, blood work came out OK, the ultrasound did showed an enlarge lymph node on the bottom right qudrant, after examining xrays told she had constipation, we did the Miralax clean out and the maintenance after that. She was regular, but pain kept going for 3 more months. It was intermittent. Finally after that period her stomach pains went away and she was pain free for 5 months. This was here in USA with American doctors.
We went to El Salvador for vacation back in September 2024 and she had a cold and her stomach pains came back again, she told me ot was different pain and I qas relieved that it was not the same pain since before her stomach pain hurted on the right side of belly button. Now it was almost entire belly. We took her to salvadorian doctor and referred to ultrasound specialist, and he found 3 enlarged lymph nodes averaging 2 CM in size and was diagnosed with mesenteric adenitis, something that American doctors never told us, now it being 7 months and she still in pain, before it was intermittent now is a permanent dull pain but it gets intermittent severe. Now back here in USA she already has been in every test possible, blood woks, x rays, ultrasound ect. On the ultrasound done back on Feb 14 2025 it showed still she had enlarged lymph nodes on the mesenteric. But doctors here never tell us about the MA, I have told them about that diagnostic she had in El Salvador and seems like they overlook that and diagnosed her with constipation, she has Miralax for more than a month now per doctor instructions. I have tried the Aloe Vera and no help, I tried the black seed oil two days ago, not sute if it's going to help since I need to stop it because she got an allergic reaction to it I believe. So if people have updates will be highly appreciated. Since I have cried in sadness seeing my daughter suffering. She just turned 8.

My DD had this just over a year ago, and was so surprised by the lack of knowledge and support for this condition (some doctors even said there was no such thing, and it was all anxiety based). I'd love to be able to give some ideas as to what helped with the pain but unfortunately it was just time and trying to distract her. The hospital worked with school to make a plan to help build up her attendance, and supported her in understanding that the pain would be there and she would need to try and work through it as best she could. It is so hard watching them, my DD would cry and ask when it would stop hurting and I could never give her an answer. Gradually it did ease and distraction did help. It will get better, it just takes time. DD missed 8 weeks of school and then was part time for 4 weeks.

Hello everyone, I will give a follow up on how my daughter is doing. She still was having stomach issues and couple visits to the ER. We were refered to a Pediatric GI and ran few more test, many came normal but the last test was a breath test for SIBO and this one came positive, especially the hydrogen level one, we gave her the course of antibiotics (Flagyl "metronidazole") for 14 days, during this time it was like hell, high stomach pain and a little constipation. We decided to give small dosis of Miralax during it's course and seemed to help a lot. We couldn't wait until this course was over. After it was over we still give her Miralax in a small amount, half the cap full before going to sleep and keeps her very regular. It being 6 days after Flagyl course was over and she haven't complained about stomach pains. Hope this continues like that and find a way to help her with constipation that doesn't involve laxatives. We are giving her a diet that can keep her regular also.