Seeking reassurance re teen DD

[Tiredofthewhirring]

Apologies it's another health anxiety thread.,

My DH died suddenly of bowel cancer, everyone missed it. 3 weeks from diagnosis to death. Kids were 3 and a newborn,

Hence I'm extremely anxious about their health and missing something,

DD 14 gets stomach ache about 1-2 times per week. Generally I ascribe this to the fact she eats 90 percent of her calories in the evening (she's not a breakfast person and hates eating at school)

We're on holiday and she's had more stomach aches than usual. Again, it's not surprising, she's eating lots of fatty food and having more fizzy drinks. Lots of acidic food etc. She sometimes feels a bit nauseous along with the ache.

My rational brain tells me she's a bit sensitive of stomach and needs to balance her diet to avoid flare ups. Eat vege etc.

My irrational brain is doom googling and convinced something awful will happen to her.

Can I have some reassurance that teens eating different diets, holidays etc can all lead to stomach aches? Stories of other teens? A grip handed to me pls?

I've had therapy in the past for this problem and will be seeking more. It's exhausting. I want to be able to have normal reactions to my kids minor illnesses!!!

Could it be anxiety rather than anything physical. A reaction you get dad's death possibly?

There's a lot going on here in terms of trauma, restrictive eating, overeating, poor diet, and then the history of bowel cancer. Then of course being a teenager. I would be investigating, through GP initially and then if nothing medical then therapeutic support would be next step.

@Toddlerteaplease

I don't think so, but anything is possible

My daughter went through a phase of complaining about stomach aches and bloating in the early years of secondary school. I took her to the GP eventually, who suggested it was mainly anxiety related. It went away by itself.

@pinkspeakers

Thank you for sharing

carb loading late at night having not eaten all day can absolutely give you stomach ache

it probably isn’t even an intolerance just poor diet choices and the time she is eating

It's highly unlikely to be anything sinister but I understand your concern and it wouldn't be unreasonable to speak to a GP to put your mind at rest.

Again, probably unlikely but a friend's DD with similar symptoms was diagnosed with coeliac disease at a similar age. The symptoms manifested themselves on holiday after niggling in the background for a few months - probably due to the sudden increase in eating 'junk' type foods containing a lot more gluten than they'd normally eat at home. Just thought I'd mention it as there is a link between undiagnosed coeliac disease and bowel cancer (if undiagnosed for many years) and there's a hereditary element too.
No immediate need to panic but worth asking for a GP opinion on returning from holiday for peace of mind.
Also will add that my DD often had tummy ache at the same age and we never got to the bottom of it but she's fine now and has outgrown it. So there's not always a reason.

Coeliac is an option

I think a food diary, getting a better diet in place and maybe getting a GP appointment to rule out whether it is coeliac is the way forward

@Tiswa

That's what my rational brain says

Irrational brain less helpful

I sympathise trauma can often do so - but persistent stomach aches are v v v v unlikely to be anything serious and this could range from hormonal/anxiety/food intolerance through to coeliac - which for me would be the most serious outcome

@Tiswa

Yes and I'm fairly certain she's not coeliac. Her bowl movements are fine, her weight is fine and her home diet is carb heavy.

The holiday diet has been more fatty and cheesy so these seem more likely triggers.

I actually wonder if it's GERD, she's had hiccups and seems to experience feelings of acid.

Fatty cheesy foods does seem to say a lactose intolerance (and acid reflux is a symptom of that too) so that does seem likely and fairly manageable DD has it a little but was solved by being vegan although that was a happy coincidence!