severe fatigue, headaches, increased sleeping in my 15 year old daughter

[kathy79]

My dd has always been very happy and possitive person who enjoys socialising with friends enjoys school and is doing extremely well. However over 4 weeks ago she began to complain she was extremley tired. Didnt want to get up to do her usual routine and started to not do as much. She has been going to bed earlier and earlier, sleeping during the day, is pale in complection and has been having frequent headaches. This in itself is unusal for her. She has dropped off socializing so much with her friends and after a little exercise wants to sleep. She keeps saying she dosnt know what to do with herself she feels that tierd. Has been feeling woozy and dizzy from time to time. This does not seem to improve with rest either. We have been to the g.p twice now he has tested for diabetes anemaia and thyroid conditions and the results al came back normal.My daughter started getting upset at this and said why does she feel so bad to the g.p. His responce was we all feel like this from time to time its a fact of life! I was rather annoyed by this.
Has anyone else had an experience like this? any suggestions welcome!

My ds now 16 was exactly the same last autumn. I took him for blood tests and the opticians. They couldn't find anything wrong. I tried to make sure he ate regularly and drank plenty. It did pass and he's now fine. All I could put it down to is all the changes happening in his body.

HTH

Vitamin D ? Seems a crazy suggestion in the summer but a large percentage of the population are deficient, google the symptoms and see what you think.

I think if it's been going on for this amount of time, you need to push the gp a bit more. My friends little girl was like this for about 5 months (although she was also being sick first thing in the morning too) before her mum pushed for a mri scan - she had a brain tumour I don't want to be alarmist in the slightest, but such a change in behaviour, and the headaches, surely isn't normal.

Thanks to everyone who has responded and has given me some suggestions, my daughter hasnt been checked for glandular fever and she has been taking good teen vitamin supplement for 2 weeks now with no sign of it helping. The g.p did say that it might be stress related and asked her if she was depressed or feeling weepy. My daughters responce to that was "no im not depressed" do you know how you feel when you have had real bad sickness bug and just after you have managed to stop being sick you feel really weak. I feel like that all the time and nothing seems to help. My daughters school have been pushing their students really hard with exams testing and re-testing. She has been complaing that she is finding it difficult to concentrate, got paniked at school last thursday as she felt dizzy and extremley tierd and couldnt remember what room she was supposed to be going to.
I might have to go and talk to her school tommorrow, as situation is not really improving at moment. Im hoping that it will pass for her sake as he is totally out of sorts.
Thanks for listening

Pregnant? Drugs? GP would not ask about those in front of you...

Panic and anxiety can cause these symptoms.

I was exactly like that when I had glandular fever. I can't believe they haven't at least checked, it's so common...

I thought Glandular Fever too

you must ask gp to check her bloods for g fever

I dont mean to scare you but, I heard somone on radio about 2 weeks talking about symptoms very similar to you daughter's, tiredness etc lots of tests and 2 yrs later after a second opinionit turned out she had some form of cancer.

I cannot remember what type it was but apparently it could be diagnosed by a simple blood test and the were snocked gp are not made more aware of thid.

Apparently teenagers presenting such symptoms are usuallt told its just a phase, its hormones, stress etc, the teenager in question got so bad she couldnt get out of bed in the morning and all social life completely fizzeled out.

I dont know if by chance someone else may have listened to it on the radio, i just cannot for the life of me remmember the station or type of cancer.

I pray this really is not what your daughter has but couldnt help remmbering the the symptoms described and what you are saying. Please try and do some online searches perhaps and i will too.

Go back to the gp.

I expect it is combination of teenage stress, hay fever, one of a 100 combinations of mild things.

But headaches and sleep in a sudden onset should be properly investigated.
The chances of it being serious are small but the symptoms are similar to some serious issues. My dds friends had these symptoms and it was a serious condition.

Go back to the gp. You mention dizziness -you should stress that.
If he doesn't check her properly then see a different gp.

Tiredness in teenagers is common.
But so fatigued you are missing social events plus dizziness is not so.

nokissymum I think it was ovarian cancer you heard about on the radio, and the symptoms were in the pelvic region, apart from the tiredness. They were suggesting that teenagers needed to see the GP 4 times on average before cancer was diagnosed - but it is incredibly rare.

It is definitely worth persisting with the GP, and they do like to see how things progress over time - i.e if she isn't getting better, they will start to take it more seriously.

I really wouldn't google though - you will have her in an ambulance within 5 minutes!

Hope you get some answers soon.

Thank you chocolat yes i think that was it, but it all started with extreme tiredness, before it turned into bloating etc.

Like you said she should persist with her GP but if not getting anywhere seek a second opinion.

Good luck OP.

My friend went back time and time again to the gp, please go back and make a fuss until all avenues have been explored. The unusual tiredness which makes socialising impossible, is surely not just stress.

My friends dd went to disneyland and didn't want to go on any of the rides etc, still the gp thought it was friendship worries (of which there weren't any)

You have just described my son 18 months ago. He was diagnosed as having Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS). It is quite common in teenagers, especially girls.

Luckily we have Bupa through work so I was able to get DS seen by a paediatrician quite quckly. She took bloods and tested for loads of things, arranged an eye exam, and most importantly, a Cat scan to rule out cancer which was what we were panicking about. If we had wanted the Cat Scan on NHS we were told it would be at least 6 weeks!

My best advice is to keep going back to the GP, or ask to see another GP. If they still dismiss you ask to be referred to a specialist.

Feel free to pm me if this is the cause and I can help

Keep going back re: hypo/erthyroidism, you need a few readings to notice a change.

Hope she feels better soon, especially with summer holidays coming up.

Many thanks again for your comments and advice! I have spoken to the school and they have put her on a modified timetable tempoary until we get to the bottom if it. I will take her back to g.p again as she fell asleep before sunday dinner then again straight after dinner. She never does this also the headaches are a concern as it has woken her from sleep at 3 and 4 in the morning twice now. She has come and got me up (again she never does this either so must be bad).if im not happy with what he says i will ask for a second opinion or ask for futher investigations to be done. My daughter is not a complainer so usually puts a brave face on things and is reluctant to say whats wrong as she hates seeing the g.p.

I hope you are seeing the gp soon. And tell him in detail about the headaches and falling asleep in the middle of the day.

Hope it gets sorted soon. My 19yo nephew had the same symptoms last month and it was glandular fever, he spent a few days in hospital and is now recovering though still exhausted a lot of the time.

Hello,

This sounds very familiar. My son had exactly the same thing when he was 13. He is now 16. Please go to your GP and ask to make all tests to exclude all the nasties. (mri scan and bloodtests). If all tests return negative then you may well find that your daughter is affected with CFS (Chronic Fatigue Syndrome). GP's do not like to diagnose as there is no cure only management of the disease. This syndrome typically affects successful and sociable teenagers and the immediate reaction of pushing them more is not helpful at all, if anything it makes things worse.
It took 2 years for my son to be diagnosed with CFS and finally referred to Great Ormond Street. Before that school were after us, family could not understand and we were doing the wrong things by pushing him too much. CFS diagnostic is not nice as there are no known cures but at least you know what it is and do not put everything down to mental illness.

Please have a look at various websites tymestrust.org for example.

Good luck

Hi ... I'm not a parent but I just wanted to say that although it sounds like it could be glandular fever I think getting checked for ME or CFS would be a good idea. I'm 15 (almost 16) and haven't been to school in two years although I struggled on for a long time before that. Our GPs were useless and the paediatrician we saw was just as bad, ME is denied a lot on the NHS. For a long time everyone thought it was in my head or I just didn't want to go to school but I'm now a lot better after seeing an alternative practitioner and I've finally been given a diagnosis by an NHS paediatrician. A lot of people have trouble getting a diagnosis of ME or CFS but it is recognised by the NHS and I'm finding it a lot more managable with some outside help. The best thing to do if you suspect ME/CFS is to stop all stressful situations and just let her take it as easy as she feels she needs to. "Brain fog" is synonymous with ME/CFS; not being able to concentrate properly. Also the pyschological symptoms like panic attacks are less common but I experience them and it's pretty nasty. I hope this hasn't been too rambling ... but here are some symptoms of ME/CFS:

Most common symptoms:
Fatigue or exhaustion, headache, malaise, short-term memory loss, muscle pain, diffuclty concentrating, lack of restful sleep, sensetivity to bright lights, blurring of vision, fever or sensation of fever, joint pain, depression, light-headedness, insomnia.

Other symptoms:
Abdominal pain, lymph node pain, sore throat, muscle weakness, bitter or metallic taste, balance disturbance, diarrhea, constipation, bloating, panic attacks, eye pain, scratchiness in eyes, double vision, numbness and/or tingling in extremities, fainting spells, dizziness, clumsiness, chills, night sweats, weight gain, allergies, chemical sensitivities, palpitations, shortness of breath, flushing rash of the face and cheeks, swelling of the extremities or eyelids, burning on urination, sexual dysfunction, hair loss.