Abdominal pain 14yr old

[shapla]

Can anyone help me? My son has had abdominal pain for 2 weeks now. It has been diagnosed as acid reflux and he is on medication. It’s not helping. It starts every evening with a pain around his belly button and gets worse with him doubled up in pain then throwing up. This lasts for 10 hrs or so. It is not normal. Does anyone have any clues or you have come across this before.

Only thing I can add is to make him another doctors appointment!

Me and DH have acid reflux definitely comes with weird burning liquid belly and a bit of a tummy ache but not that bad.
Trust your mothering instinct on this one if he's throwing up with the pain and you don't like it get him to see the GP tell them the medicine isn't working and get them to look into it again

I wish him a speedy recovery!

There are several things it could be. At the very least, his current treatment is clearly not working so he needs to see the doctor again.

Could it be abdominal migraine?

Abdominal migraines are diagnosed in children who meet these criteria:
at least five attacks of abdominal pain that each last 1 to 72 hours.
dull pain around the belly button that may be of moderate to severe intensity.
at least two of these symptoms: appetite loss, nausea, vomiting, pale skin.

I would take him to see another GP in the practice if there is one.

I have had migraines since about 13 (am 43 now) and even in the same GP clinic some of them are better and know more about migraines than others

oh and whilst mine are not abdominal most attacks happen in the evening for me.

I was going to suggest abdominal migraine too

Many thanks for the replies. I posted very briefly earlier in a panic! He did see a ‘top’ gastroenterologist last week and he diagnosed as acid reflux. I’m a bit unsure as I don’t feel it’s normal to be in pain for this long. Has had barium meal which seemed to be normal. Few people have suggested it could be food intolerance etc. I think my issue is that the attacks last so long and the Omeprazole isn’t as effective as it should be. I will read up on abdominal migraine.

Take him back to the doctor, I had acid reflux for three months (after a sickness bug), I felt awful and lost quite a bit of weight. I'd have a drink in the morning and had to sit still for an hour in the hope I could keep it down. I found giving time for food to digest (although not easy with work/school/other commitments we all have), changing my diet to reduce acidic foods and medication helped.

Having said this there are some diagnosis which would give similar symptoms, so keep taking him back as he's probably feeling lousy and these things take time to get tested and diagnosed.

Does he eat regular, fairly healthy meals?

OP you might want to read up on Celiac Disease which can present with a large range of symptoms but the most common are gastrointestinal. One of our dds was diagnosed when she was a teen. She had symptoms like a bloated stomach, pain, vomiting but at different times and over a period of years. It can be hard to spot and diagnose. I had a friend who wasn’t diagnosed until her 40s and her only symptom was hair loss which she had had since a teen.

The specialist can do blood tests to test for it and then a procedure at the hospital to confirm the diagnosis. Of course it may not be Celiac but wanted to raise your awareness as we had never heard of it.

Can you get him checked for appendicitis? Both my DC had this in their teens

Both DH and DS seem to have had a stomach bug (virus) that resulted in lower stomach cramping along with symptoms of constipation, although not actually constipated just sluggish bowels. DS has improved with a thorough clean-out courtesy of Movicol (although I stress, he wasn't actually constipated) as though it's moved whatever it was out of his system. They've been like this for a couple of weeks before improvement. DS was at the point of crunching over and crying, but he's autistic so couldn't tell us what really hurt, quite stressful for us.