Am I valid for feeling like this or am I just looking into it too much?

[1404nay]

My son is 8yrs old in year 3. He suffers from severe acid reflux. He has attacks, where he’ll wake up that morning and start vomiting multiple times (12-18times) followed by excruciating abdominal pains and sometimes diarrhoea. All this can last the whole day. Everything gradually kick in and every attack kick in duration and the duration it last is different. today he got sent home from school. His attack started after 10:30am and by 5:12pm he was back to himself feeling all better.

the issue is the school phoned me at 11:46am telling me he’s vomited a second time and he vomited the first time an hour ago so to come collect him. I’m Pissed off at the fact they didn’t call me as soon as he vomited knowing he suffers from that and they phoned me after an hour because he vomited a second time. Were they planning to not call me and keep him if he didn’t vomit again? And the other thing that’s really pissed me off, after the first round of vomiting they made my son clean up his own vomit. Is that even allowed. What should I do?

should I complain about all this? And what is the protocol when a child throws up in school?

I don’t think it’s so terrible that the school didn’t phone you immediately. Presumably they know that him vomiting is not unusual, and were probably hoping that he would be ok after it happening once, and woukdnt need to miss the rest of the school day.
Cleaning up his own vomit - hmmm. Sounds very unlikely to me. But you should ask for a meeting with the headteacher to discuss both issues and make clear what you want to be done if it happens again.
However, it doesn’t seem at all right that a child that age has such awful symptoms that are affecting his life so much. What does his doctor say? Is he getting treatment? I would ask for a referral to a paediatrician or other specialist.

Hi, thank you feeling the reply. But for the last 3 years he’s been suffering from this and over the 3 years he got sent home multiple times from school. The school would call me straight away. Which is why I found it baffling as to why they didn’t this time. And I’ve reminded them always to call so I can bring him home when his vomit is bubbly which is caused by the acid because I know how long it’ll last and what he goes through. My issue is they didn’t notify me at all that he vomited until the second round so to me it seems they wouldn’t have called if hadn’t Thrown up again. I’ve emailed the headteacher as I can’t hold in my frustration anymore anfter learning the fact my son was handed the tissue to clean up his own vomit. How dare they, I’m so mad at that.

regarding the acid reflux the dentist has finally got the doctor to refer him so they can put a camera in his stomach to check what’s going on and take it from there. And diagnosed him with server’s gastro something, I can’t remember the name. But his dentist was concerned because his severe case of acid reflux, it’s damaged his enamel and burning his mouth and insides. So now im just waiting for the appointment to come through. I hate seeing him go through this every time it happens and ask me whys this happening to him and I have no answer to give him.

I feel very sorry for him and it must be awful for you to see. I’m glad he’s getting proper medical treatment at last. But I’m afraid I still think you’re overreacting to a one-off event.

I once taught a child with what sounds like the same thing. We had a joint meeting with his mother and the local school nurse to make a management plan. I don’t know if that’s possible where you live, but you could ask.

Making him clean up a pool of vomit would be wrong, but was it in fact just asking him to wipe up a small bit of spit-up with a tissue? That doesn’t sound unreasonable to me. I know it’s not what you want to hear, but the teacher probably didn’t want to have to clear it up and it’s not really their job. Waiting for the "right" person to arrive to do it, if it was in a classroom, would be very disruptive for the other children and make a huge deal of the whole thing.

GERD maybe gastroesophageal reflux disease or Gastritis? I don't think either explains the severity, Id be more angry at the doctor, he should have had an x-ray for constipation, endoscopy maybe colonoscopy too. A friends kid had similar symptoms and it ended up being cyclical vomiting syndrome.

If it was only a little bit spit up I wouldn't be too bothered about him being given a tissue to wipe up. Doesn't sound like the first vomit was big, that could explain their actions. If they're anything like my DC school they're encouraging resilience and pushing through, but they don't have the medical knowledge to make that choice. Ultimately if you want him sent home straight away no matter how much vomit Id be making that clear to the head and expecting teachers that work with him to know and follow that plan. Id also want to know, if you don't already, how substitute teachers are informed of his needs.

Thank you both for reassuring me. Regarding I think it was that GERD. I was extremely annoyed with the doctors coz every time time they’d say they’re not worried as it’s not happening everyday. It took the oral medicine clinic to contact them to investigate further. I Also have a prescriber calling me next month to discuss what other medication I can try on him while we wait for the camera test which I think is called endoscopy. I’m really bad with remembering these words.

and regarding the school it’s been dealt with now. The headteacher apologised as the TA was new and they had a substitute teacher in that day as well. I’ve also told them no matter the amount he throws up he needs to be sent home that day as it last all day, he’s unable to do anything as his vomiting multiple times and gets the worst abdominal pains and once it stops he has not strength left that he falls asleep. Like if it starts at 10am it can end between 2-5pm and every attack duration is different.

Now that I’m calm I honestly don’t think I was over reacting at all. If they had sent him home the first time he vomited the medicine would’ve worked as that attack was a delayed one. I told the school when it comes to his acid reflux I can’t have anyone lacking or being careless. And there’s a cleaner for a reason even if it disrupts the whole class or not an 8 year old shouldn’t be cleaning up after his own vomit. That’s just wrong. If it was a tiny spit up it’s different but it was quite a bit as he needed loads of tissue to clean it up. And he says the amount was the size of my hands as he threw up on the table. Thinking about still pisses me off. Sorry 😞 but thank you Bunnycat and Eliflurtle, I appreciate your support and for giving me reassurance and glad the school apologised and understand what to do from now on regarding his acid reflux.

This doesn’t sound like acid reflux to me at all? Both mine suffered severely (to the point of being tube fed) but it doesn’t tend to present like this. Are they doing further tests / allergies / crohns ?

Does he have any anxiety or asd signs as some asd kids can be sick a lot.
My youngest had similar usually starting in the night say 4am and going till about 10am could get diarrhoea. She does have some asd signs. Touch wood this seems to have stopped at about 8. Having started about 4.5yo.

Is he getting any teeth through as that seems to make reflux worse?

Its not necessarioy wrong to get the kid to clean up. Although i guess lots of kids may then end up with 2 piles..

He needs some speedy medical input. Go and kick arse.