SATS Stress making DD Ill - Advice Please??

[rockinhippy]

Sorry if this is a bit long winded, I'm totally wiped out & find it very hard to keep it simple when I get this way, will try, but please bare with me :)

Yesterday & today DD, who is year 3 - has had a bad flare up of her stomach problems - ongoing - IBS/Possible Chrohns Diagnosis - aggravated by food additives, lactose & stress - but we have it very much under control & she's been fine for ages - (bar a few weeks ago after she was given a cheese wrap for school Dinner - otherwise after years of dealing with it, we know her triggers & I work very hard with her diet to make sure she isn't ill.

She came home from School yesterday complaining of stomach pain, saying she'd had at School too, but dealt with it herself as it was the end of the day, but otherwise seems her usual bubbly self, if a bit pale

Tonight she comes in, all her usual bubbly self telling us of her day, & then later running to the loo, she goes on to tell me she had to lie on the School bench at lunch time because she had very bad pains & then had to run to the toilet & had bad diareah, she is very good at dealing with this herself, as after a lot of School stress last year, she was going to School with constant problems & has just learnt to cope herself :(

Tonight the stomach pain & diareah continue & she's now running to the loo 6 times since getting in & now not sleeping because of it & is dizzy & washed out.

I'm wracking my brains desperately trying to work out WHY, I know she hasn't had any food/drink to set it all off - so that leaves stress, but initially she seems happy, chatting about her School work etc

I now feel pretty crap as during the course of further chats with her tonight, it turns out that this last 2 days they have been sitting SATS & I had no idea I thought they weren't doing it at her School, after some talk of it last year, or being totally thick, thought even if they did, it didn't start until year 4 or later

So suddenly Bingo!! - this is the reason she is suddenly so ill

she is a little perfectionist, & even though she's been told not to worry & to leave questions if she can't answer them & is bright & able, she she owns up to feeling pressured by the time limits & not wanting to leave any questions - she also owns up to thinking that this is all part of her "last School exams" (O"levels) so feels she has to do well :(

I'm really not happy about her sitting exams at such a young age, its ridiculous, but if she didn't worry about it, then fine I would accept it as part of the system & let it go - but its making her ill - tonight very ill :(

So my question is - how do I stand on insisting she doesn't sit any more?? (until yr6 ) - I know I can get my GPs backing on that because her problems are well documented - can I do that - as after all its her welfare thats my concern, not silly tests.

I doubt at the moment if she will be well enough for School tomorrow, but if I keep her home will they make her take the SATS at a later date??

How does this whole thing work?? - I'm happy to fight any system that isn't in her best interests, but its all new to me & so feel out of my depth[confused[

Can someone please explain the SATS system & how I stand as far as excluding her from it until older for health reasons.

Thank You :)

Thanks Sarkylady but the specialist was reluctant to put her through tests when she was well & I did feel that was the best for her too & he also said that Chrohns might not show up unless she was in a flare up, so the tests might not be definitive - I got the impression its different with kids to adults for diagnosis - I made sure I went to the best Gastro for kids & he did come highly recommended, so I can see where you are coming from, but bar the stress issue she IS mostly well now - & if not its obvious why - example being the cheese wrap

Ok. Sounds like you've done all you can from that side. Unless it is worth checking if he wants to see her while things are worse than usual.

Fwiw IME the tests sound worse than they are.

Sarklady If she has a bad run that lasts more than a week then I will go back to the gastro - but after dealing with it for years now, we generally DO manage it very well with diet alt therapies etc, so I'm not in any great rush to have her poked & prodded unnecessarily - which was the specialist take on it too ;) -

I also have had the tests myself & you were lucky - I found it pretty awful & woke up from the general anesthetic screaming in pain with the camera trying to poke its way out of my gut - twice - they blamed my having a small frame - DD is also very slender, so I hope you can understand why I'm in no rush to put her through that, unless it really is necessary.

Sleepingwell your book recommendation arrived this morning from Amazon & she has had her head buried in it all morning :) - she really seems taken with it & is doing all the little tasks it suggests, so it seems its going to help as she definitely seems a lot more positive when talking about it - THANK YOU!! :)

Hi rockin.
So sorry you had such an awful time :(
I guess I was lucky. I was lightly sedated not under ga.

I guess all I was trying to say is that some of the available medications can work really well with (in my case) no side effects.

Hope she feels better soon.

Thanks SarkyLady :)

& just as an update - she has gone back to School today - thankfully feeling MUCH more better & more positive & happy to do any more tests they throw at her - now she knows what they actually are for, so I'm happy to leave it with her Teacher to decide :)

• she had let her imagination run away with her over a few things surrounding it, including panicking about having diareah at School, due to a 5 min toilet allowance rule, aimed at a few mini vandals - it had never applied to her at all, but she owned up to sitting on the School loo in terror that someone was going to come & tell her off for being there :( - of course it all made things worse - that & thinking because she hadn't completed ALL the test, she had "failed" :(

The book arrived & she gobbled it up :) & really does seem to have taken it all on board so - THANK YOU - she would have been back Friday if I hadn't absentmindedly locked her in our back yard whilst I popped into the loo - - cue hysterics & it all kicking off badly again :( - sadly I've realised its self feeding - low electrolytes due to the constant diareah - cause her to be more "nervy" - so more likely to get diareah - crisps & coke sorted that out & she's now fine :)