My Teenage son feels sick all the time

[charchar79]

Hey all. First time posting - I hope you are all well?
Where do i start?
My son is in year 10, and for the last 3 weeks hasn't been to school.
He has been complaining of a lump in his throat.
I took him to the doctor - who examined him and see nothing wrong with his throat - but we had 2 lots of blood tests - both with high platelets and low infection markers, ( i think thats what it was) everything else was fine (liver and kidney function etc) The dr said it was probably normal for him?? (Im thinking i should get second opinion??)

In year 7 i struggled to get him to school - he was sent home a few times for feeling sick (He has a fear of being sick) But we managed to sort it towards the end of the first term, by me giving him a juice and a rice krispie bar for when he arrived instead of breakfast before he went.
Year 8 seemed okay.
Year 9 we went into lock down - and he stayed in bed all day and did no school work.
Year 10 has been pretty much the same as year 7 - but more extreme, he was getting the bus - but he didnt like it - so since been getting the train. Within the hour the school are ringing me to go and pick him up.

Roll forward to now.... I just took him to the train station and he yelled at me to pull over cause he was going to be sick - which i did... (I didnt shout or get angry - i never do) and he wanted to come home. So we have come home and he is sat in the toilet (i dont think he will be sick - im thinking its anxiety)

So i dont know what to do? Do i go and see another doctor? Is it anxiety? Is there anything i can do to help this? I did arrange a counciller through my work, but he refused to go.

I just really want to help him - but im at a lose... Any ideas???

He sounds depressed and horrifically anxious. How is he socially? You definitely need another chat with the gp.

Oh poor you and your son OP. My son was just the same in yr seven. I kept having to go and pick him up from school because he felt sick and he never actually was. It's been so hard for the kids this last two years. I agree with PP a trip to the dr is necessary to discuss his anxiety. I feel for you, I do

My son had this and it was reflux. They prescribed Omeprazole which did the trick.

Get his morning cortisol tested (blood test). It is extremely rare but feeling sick and anxious like this along with the lump in the throat / thyroid type issues are classic signs of Addison’s disease.

It sounds very like anxiety mixed with emetophobia. I had similar for a very long stretch of time, and it took a lot of learning about my body to realise I was anxious and not actually nauseous for any serious reason.

I wish I could say a referral to MH would help, but it's hit and miss. What really has helped me is sertraline but I began that as an adult. I don’t know if they’d give it to a teen.

I’m really sorry, OP - give him a hug from me, tell him he isn’t alone and that it will be alright.

Oh and definitely go back to the GP.

Thanks for being nice to me.

I will get him booked in as soon as possible - and see another doctor.

I am thinking it is more Anxiety than anything, but just dont know how to manage it - It just comes on all of a sudden.

@solania - I suffered with Emetophobia for years - i was on and off prozac for many years - Its so hard (especially this time of year - for obvs reasons) i have coping mechanisms now - and see a cbt therapist. So my worst fear is that he has inherited from me (although when i had the freak outs he never knew)

Has he been tested for glandular fever? He might have post viral fatigue which can cause constant tiredness, motion sickness, aversion to bright lights/noise/crowds, etc. With glandular fever your lymph nodes in your throat swell up and you day his bloods did show traces of something infectious going on.

Not saying it isn’t anxiety, but worth getting tested to see if it isn’t glandular fever post viral fatigue.

I went to the gp with what I could only describe as a fur ball feeling in my throat, I was convinced that there was something stuck in there . Lots of tests , all clear and gp said it was anxiety.

@EmpressCixi my mum suggested this also?

I think the best thing i can do is get him back in the doctor (appointments are like hens teeth) so will do an E-consult and see if i can have him tested for all the things you have mentioned.

I just want him to be back to normal (he is a normal smelly teenager - when he is his normal self)

Is your DS up to date with his sight test OP?

Yes, get him tested for everything suggested in here that he hasn’t been tested for yet. If your GP is like mine, they probably assumed teen boy who has been in his room for months, and now it’s winter...let’s just do a vitamin deficiency blood test as he’s probably low on vit D and teen diets are notoriously deficient, so maybe deficient in B12.

So also ask what did they test for so far? What has been ruled out?

Another thought I just had is thyroid function. He should get that tested too. It’s really just another blood test and the GP ticks the right boxes so the blood can be tested for these additional things.

@Roselilly36 - Yeah - he is due one next year. He has a very mild prescription just for monitor work.

@EmpressCixi - I think did complete and Full blood count - so not sure what that included.

I am ringing the doctor again today - as desperate to get to the bottom of this.

Push to see a gastro consultant. In the mean time go lactose free ( its not that hard- no milk in food and buy lactose free butter and milk). If its that you will see an improvement quite quickly - within a week. If not, its not dairy causing the issue which is also good to know.

Sensible to rule out health issues but this sounds like classic anxiety to me. My dd had some mild symptoms like this a while back but they went after she started driving lessons and having more control over her own timetable and life basically.

The pandemic has been stressful for everyone, particularly teens.

If you can afford it, I would get him to a private licensed psychologist who specialises in anxiety.

Sometimes, teens just need to hear someone say "you are normal, loads of people get anxiety, lots of adults get anxious too, you are not alone" type thing... . and learn strategies as to how to combat it (breathing and grounding, cbt etc.)

I would try and get in there with the treatment as early as possible op as you don't want it to develop in to anything more serious. Good luck and try not to panic yourself, you will get through it

Sorry to hear this op.
I was an anxious child and often felt sick and used that to get out of doing certain things. I grew out of it and became more confident.
I see you tried to take him to a councillor but he refused to go.
In this regard I guess just generally work on communicating with him without pressure about his problems and everything else so he knows he isn't judged and you are there for him. You sound like you are doing that already (and you sound like a great mum) and that will be a huge help to him. Maybe speak about your previous problem and other people's similar problems with him so he knows he isn't alone. Maybe get him looking into how he can maybe help himself a little bit.
Obv lots of good advise on here about doctors checks.
Good luck x

Sorry op, I missed the bit about him refusing to see a counsellor. Don't give up with that but in the mean time maybe some resources here might help:

www.youngminds.org.uk/

Does your son know that there is a huge link between anxiety and physical symptoms which appear very real indeed? Working on his breathing with a good calming mindful app might help. I am sure others on here can recommend.

Hope you get it sorted. Def get onto your Gp for more tests.

As a teacher the things I have seen in teenagers that cause similar symptoms (apart from anxiety) are

• glandular fever
• inner ear / viral infections

Hope you get some answers soon x

If you call optician and explain he is feeling sick and you are wondering if his eyesight could be the cause, they can code the form to enable him to have an NHS sight test early.

I would definitely recommend you do this, just in case, I don’t want to concern you but sickness can be associated with tumour, often optoms are the first to pick up on these, VERY rare but it does happen occasionally. It is far more likely that his prescription has changed, does he always wear his specs?

Ring and get him an appt opticians are usually quiet in the lead up to Christmas so you could probably get an appt today or tomorrow.

My son was the same and the situation became untenable he was just missing too much school. We removed him at the end of year 10 and home educated him. He sat his IGCSEs over a year and will get more results in the new year. The ones he already has were all 8s. Not bad for a child who dialed every subject when at school.

Best thing we ever did and the vomiting and sleep issues have gone.

Failed not dialed