What do I do with ds who is always complaining of stomach ache and feeling sick

[millymo]

He is now 9 but he has complained of stomach ache and of feeling sick for as long as I can remember.
Its driving me up the wall now at one stage he was always asking if he looks pale as well but that part doesn,t appear so frequent now.
I took him to the doctors about 18 months ago now and she asked him loads of questions about if he was happy at home, and school, if he had plenty of mates, if his bowels were okay, I felt quite awkward sitting there.
She even felt his stomach etc.
She did order some urine tests and they came back clear.
Now fruther down the line he is still like it.
So what do I make of him he seems generally happy at school seems to have some mates, brings people home to play, I don,t think he is being bullied.
He doesn,t want to go to school of late but think he is tired and needs to get to bed earlier.
I just don,t know if he has a general phobia of being sick from the times he has had a genuine stomach bug or if he is trying it on or whether he is worried about something.
I have asked him if anything is bothering him but he says no.
So what do you think what shall I do with him.

This sounds very much like me during me entire childhood and it wasn't until the age of 14 that I discovered I was allergic to milk. I had constant stomach aches and the problem with school was that the anticipation would make the nausea and pain worse.

It's just a long-shot but if this was my child I would try to cut dairy for a week or so and see if that made a difference, and if not, perhaps keep a food diary and see if there is anything obvious.

What are his poos like btw? Is he generally quite study or is he feeble looking? Is coeliacs a possible?

okay thanks

His poos seem completely normal.
One thing about him is that he does look pale more so on some occasions than others.
But I think he is naturally like that because his dad has a pale complexion.
I had thought about getting him checked for aneamia but I am not sure.

It might be worth taking him back to the GP and asking for a referral to a paediatrician. They might want to take some blood tests for things such as anaemia or coeliacs. It's worth going again I think, as it's been so long, but also perhaps thinking about a food diary.

Is it possible that he might have abdominal migraine? I had this as a child. The key thing is nausea and stomach ache without having a bug or underlying digestive cause. Some children vomit, some like me don't.

If he does have abdominal migraine, when he starts to feel sick encourage him to have a 'quiet time', perhaps listening to a softly playing story tape (ideally no TV) and sleep followed by gentle activities for the rest of the day. You may well be able to identify triggers (eg eating particular foods, stress, tiredness...)

Obviously MP is right and all possible physical/psychological reasons must be ruled out first.

A few thoughts anyhow