5 year old with recurrent tummy ache

[Waffle12]

My 5 yr old has been complaining of tummy ache on and off for the last month.

Started off with an evening of a tummy ache and 1 episode of vomiting. Wasn't right for the rest of that week, and wasnt eating great. Couldnt work out if she really had lost her appetite, or was worried about eating making her sick again (she freaks out at being sick).
Anyway, seemed to be back to normal, but then complained of tummy ache again. This has been going on for about 3 weeks since the initial incident. Seems to be a couple of times a week she is complaining of tummy ache, and has been sick on 1 more occasion.

A few days ago it was really hurting so we called 111 who told us to go to a&e to rule out appendicitis.

Doctor felt tummy all over and said all felt soft and no pain when he was pushing on where her appendix is. Blood test showed slightly raised white blood cells and all else normal. Mentioned possibly post viral as kids have lots of lymph nodes in tummy that can react when there has been a virus (although the only thing I remember her having around the start if this was a slight cold). She had an ultrasound today and i was told they couldn't see anything specific and were able to rule things out. The only thing she did comment on were a couple of lymph nodes. Not sure if she was just commenting that she could see them, or the fact that she mentioned them means they must have been inflamed??

We have a follow up appt at some point to discuss the results. But in the meantime I wondered if anyone had been through similar with their little ones? I know tummy ache in kids is really common, but I'm concerned it has been going on for 4 weeks now, and even more concerned that her appetite is off.

Any experiences?
Thank you

I read an interesting page on the NHS website the other week that said headaches in children often manifest as stomach aches and vomiting. Could she be having headaches? Have you had her eyes tested? As a child I suffered from regular headaches and was in bed weekly feeling sick because of them.
Hope she gets better soon

Thank you for replying @bowerino
That's interesting- I'll have a read up on that.

I am regularly asking her if anything else hurts, and then asking specifically if her head, or arm or whatever hurts and she always says no.

She always says it's around her belly button, but I know that at that age they arent very good sometimes at saying exactly where the pain is.

@bowerino

I read an interesting page on the NHS website the other week that said headaches in children often manifest as stomach aches and vomiting. Could she be having headaches? Have you had her eyes tested? As a child I suffered from regular headaches and was in bed weekly feeling sick because of them. Hope she gets better soon

Yes I was going to say this. I got glasses early before 5 but one of the signs I needed a new prescription was intense stomach aches or travel sickness / balance issuee. I had learned to ignore the sight issues and headaches but couldn’t ignore the rest lol

Have a look at abdominal migraines

Is she losing weight? I think that can be key here. Keep an eye on it. Get the red book out and plot it on the graphs in there, check to see of she has dropped centiles. If so, back to the GP.

One of mine has recurrent tummy aches and has had paediatric review. Nothing concerning has come back thankfully and they do seem to have resolved. Paed said to keep an eye on weight though and seek help if centiles drop.

We have family history of migraine, and it can present as stomach ache in kids, so I wonder whether it was that maybe.

It's good that blood tests haven't shown up anything concerning.

Also at 5 I wouldn't rule out anxiety. They've not long been at school, 2020 has been 2020, and the run up to xmas can be very exciting to a 5 year old. It's a lot of them to process.

My son has abdominal migraines. Tummy ache, exhaustion and sometimes being sick. We ended up being prescribed pizotifen as a prophylactic and he’s only has one minor episode since. He’s 5

When my DD was 5 I took her to the doctors a couple of times as she had tummy ache constantly so I got a bit worried. Sometimes she would only eat small amounts as her tummy ache would come on really bad but it also happened when she was not eating, near her belly button area. The doctors checked her over and said both times nothing was wrong, asked if she was anxious about school etc (which she didn’t seem to be) and that tummy ache happens a lot with young children. It went on for about 6 months and then just kind of sorted itself out. I still don’t know why it happened though but that’s interesting about the lymph nodes in the tummy.

Thanks for your replies.

I'll definately look at abdominal migranes- I havent heard of them before.
Would that cause on and off tummy ache? Or a constant one? Hers are on and off.

Anxiety had crossed my mind. I do quite regularly ask her if anything is worrying her or of there is anything she would like to talk about- but I know they dont always even know themselves.

My almost five year old daughter is prone to stomach ache and sickness that she describes as like a headache in her tummy
I also wonder if it could be abdominal migraines. I also had to have her examined at a & e for a suspected case of appendicitis once when it was more acute

Constipation?

Ds1 had awful problems with tummy pain aged 3-4. Multiple A&E visits due to agonising screams of pain and uncontrollable vomiting (he was given morphine once due to the pain level), lots of tummy pain in between the crises, tests, blood tests, scans etc.

It was eventually put down to constipation (even though he was actually pooing, they believed it was a case of him not fully going so becoming impacted/backed up) and he had a high dose of Movicol for several weeks which sorted things.

Treat for worms just to be on the safe side.

@MrsDeadlock
We dont weigh her regularly but she was weighed at a&e at the weekend. Plotted it in the red book when we got back and still on her line.

I have always had a bit of an obsession about her weight as she is very slim and has always been on the bottom of the percentile chart. So any time she doesnt eat a full meal it worries me- but that is more my issue and I try not to project that onto her.
Will definately keep an eye on her weight though.

I would not suggest that this is the situation with your DC, but just to report my experience. DC had repeated tummy aches, but no DV or other concerning symptoms as a young child. Age 8 ultrasound following accident found DC had only one kidney, had not been identified on pre-natal scan. The tummy aches may or may not have been associated with this but it might be worth asking for US scan. No problems since and DC is now 20+ year old adult.

Has she had a blood test? Worth having bloods checked when it comes to lymph nodes.

Abdominal migraines are on and off. The frequency varies. My son would have them sometimes every month, sometimes every week and sometimes a few days in a row. They started to get a lot worse and he felt awful a lot of the time. But since starting meds three months ago he’s been totally fine! So really do check them out and ask about pizotifen if it is that and it’s starting to affect her life negatively.

@3rdtimelucky2019 yes she had a blood test at a&e. The only thing it showed was slightly raised white cells which is when the dr suggested it could be post viral. Infection markers less than 1 and all other results fine.

@SimplySusanna constipation had been mentioned although bowel movements seem ok. We do have a prescription for movicol as a back up plan. Dr suggested a low dose of half a sachet every other day to see if it makes any difference so we'll pick that up tomorrow.

Its just so hard not knowing what's causing it.

We have had similar with dd 8 since sept. A&e 3 times this stage. Saying abdominal migraine but have been tested for gluten intolerance. Awaiting results
Constipation was mention by one dr and put on movical but the next dr took her off it

Sorry u are going through similar @WLAH As part of the bloods they took the other day they said they would check for gluten intolerance too, but will take a few weeks to come back.
Hope you get the results soon.
Do you know the reason they took her off movicol- did the new dr just not think it was constipation?

Yes takes 3 or 4 weeks for gluten results
Yes new dr thought it wasnt constipation
The last 6 weeks weeks she has had pain and vomit once a week. Lasting 12 ish hours.
We have started a food diary see will it help

Have they checked for coeliac in the blood test? You mentioned she had always been v slim. Worth checking

Yes to abdominal migraine- my daughter had tummy aches then at about 9 started getting auras and migraines. She is on pitozifen (sp) which seems to control the attacks.

The A&E doc was referring to mesenteric adenitis - inflammation of lymph nodes in the abdomen, quite common after certain colds in children. The mention of lymph nodes on ultrasound might support that theory.

Mesenteric adenitis seems to be quite common in this age group.