Chronic upset stomach?

Hannah has been having chronic stomach issues for the last couple of weeks. Constant upset stomach, she goes between not being able to go #2 at all and having to go all the time, and random bouts of vomiting. I thought that maybe it was because we've been so far off our regular schedule and up late and up early, etc but after a week of doing nothing but staying home resting and getting back on track with her meals (not so much eating out at restaurants) she is still having troubles. It's to the point where she's starting to get anxious about eating at all because she doesn't want to get sick and hesitant to go anywhere that might not have a bathroom readily available. When we are out she wants to go to the bathroom every 10 minutes and I don't think it's because she has to go but because she's becoming paranoid about feeling ill.

She has a doctors appointment tonight at 6:30 and I'm hoping we can get some answers. She's always had some digestive issues. When she was really young she had TERRIBLE constipation issues and we always keep miralax on hand because it sometimes pops back up randomly.

I was thinking IBS but isn't that usually more like intestinal rather than actual stomach aches?

Could be an intolerance rearing it's ugly head. I work with a little boy who is now having tests as it's believed he could be intolerant to fructose. Has a very rapid and severe effect on him.

Could also be something she's happily eaten before now too. I. Sure the doc can shed some light on it though.

Ibs is more of a "you're sensitive to something but we don't know what" kind of issue too. Can even be stress that triggers it. It's kind of a symptom with unknown cause. Can manifest in lots of ways. Cramps, constipation, bloating, diarrhoea and occasionally vomiting.

UGH I'm really hoping it's not a food intolerance LOL she just outgrew the egg allergy!

IBS is a cover-all term that can apply to any chronic issue of the GI tract. It isn't a diagnosis, it's sort of just a statement of fact: you have GI issues. Then doctors usually prescribe something that covers up the symptoms, because they aren't usually well-versed in the subject to give a diagnosis, and it's so often overlooked so they won't refer you to anyone either. In my case, it was easy because I have a genetic history, and my grandmother was one of the first to be diagnosed with Crohn's. (Back before then they thought it was a mental issue and prescribed anti-psychotics!) So I got lucky and it was pretty much assumed from the beginning. Others in my family have the vague "IBS" diagnosis, though.

If you are really concerned about it I'd have her go to a GI specialist. It could be anything from intolerance, to allergy, to genetic, to...anything. Kids grow in and out of them all the time. They would definitely be able to help you out. The GI is a place that needs way more research, and a specialist is the way to go, IMO.

Hopefully they will be able to pinpoint a cause and figure it out!

Our doctor is pretty good for referrals so I'm sure they'll be able to recommend a good specialist. I've always had good experiences with the specialists they've referred us to over the years (and between the three of us... it's been too many LOL).

She is currently under the care of an allergy and asthma specialist as well.

I'm hoping it's something that is an easy fix but as with any issue she has had so far... it's never an easy fix and always a trip to the specialist.

I hate it because the poor kid is terrified of shots and I'm pretty sure that at some point throughout this diagnosis that she's going to need a blood draw or something.

I am secretly starting to wonder about a gluten intolerance. Besides the stomach issues she has some other issues that people say is often related to gluten intolerance. Such as her asthma (which was so bad at one point that she was on a daily controller med, rescue inhaler and nebulizer more than once a day. but it seems to be back under control now) and her cold allergy. Yes... she's actually allergic to COLD. Breaks out in hives all over.

but if it is... I have NO idea where to even start to figure out how to do all of that.

I was going to ditto Lyzelle, IBS just means "you have something wrong but we don't know what it is." Usually it is after they've ruled out some of the serious things. They told me it was IBS after doing screenings for celiac and Chron's and something else, I forget what now. I was on multiple different meds and each one I got really optimistic because I would see people on the internet saying it totally fixed them, blah blah blah, and nothing ever actually helped. Turns out it was gluten all along. To this day I have no idea why no doctor ever told me "Maybe you should just try cutting out gluten."

I would start doing some food trials to rule things out. I was just thinking about the cold urticaria, I know we mentioned it before because I have it and it has been linked to gluten sensitivity... mine has definitely gotten MUCH better since I quit eating gluten. I only get a minor rash every now and again, nothing at all like it used to be (I have a huge tube of benadryl cream I had to keep with me before!)

I'm not saying it's gluten and I'm not saying no gluten will fix everything, but IMO, it's worth trying to see if it helps. They say it takes 30 days (or more...) to really see the effects. I would say that's about how long it took for me. Mine was more like I slowly just started going longer and longer between being sick and then one day I was like "hey... I can't remember the last time I got sick!" So unfortunately it will take some sorta long haul testing to find out if that's it for sure. You can try going to the doctor for a celiac panel but there are false negatives AND false positives pretty often with that, and like I said, I wish I had just TRIED it and I would have found out that was it. I wish I had tried it before spending all that money on all those tests... =P

Dairy is another common one that I would try ruling out. The egg you said she outgrew but it might be worth trying without that again?


ETA: If you wanted to try going gluten free, honestly the easiest way is to avoid most packaged foods. Lots of just fresh (or frozen) foods and fresh ingredients, meat, veggies, fruits. With meat you just have to be careful because sometimes they use food coloring that has gluten in it, most often with ham. You could just try a 30 day "no packaged food" challenge type of thing and see how it does. For me I actually ditched a lot of packaged food first, so when I realized it was gluten making me sick, it was SO much easier to just be like "oh, okay." Because a lot of that stuff I didn't eat anymore anyway. I had bought a big bag of high quality stone-ground whole wheat flour that I realized I couldn't use LOL. But it wasn't too bad. It will be hard if she's a picky eater to convince her to give up some things like mac n cheese or whatever. They do make gluten free versions of those but they are expensive and, well, they aren't going to taste the same. I would make things like that more of a treat. She is old enough she might be okay to get on board if you explain about how it's to try and figure out what is making her sick.
Honestly, when you talk about how she is afraid to eat and then go somewhere, that is what a LOT of my life was like starting around 13 years old... if I had to go run errands I couldn't eat because I didn't know if I would end up sick. I couldn't go out and eat a lot of the time because it was embarrassing to be sick in a restaurant bathroom. I would vanish from the table for 30+ minutes at a time and that was routine... it is such a change now, it's so wonderful, it really is. I hope you can find out what's causing it before she has to live too long like that. It's not fun at all and I can't imagine having to deal with that being as young as she is, she's even younger than me when it started. =/

I'm hoping we can get some ideas tonight but I'm thinking trying gluten free or cutting out different things is going to be necessary.

The tough thing about gluten free with her is she's a grazer. She has never been able to eat big meals. It's hard to come up with snack ideas that we can take on the go lol. Although lately she's been hesitant to snack so... there's that going for us lol. I bought a whole bunch of fresh fruit this week (raspberries, cherries, bananas... although I have to be careful with bananas because they will plug her up). She likes cooked veggies but doesn't like "crunchy" things so most raw veggies she won't eat. Especially now that she has some loose teeth. So meals would be easy enough to do since she usually just has a meat and a veg with dinner but snacks are going to be tough!

Everything I can think of is crunchy LOL. Nuts, popcorn, 100% corn chips are okay, there are brands of regular potato chips that are gluten free too, sweet potato chips or other veggie chips (who knew tomato chips were so tasty??) But all of those are crunchy to some level so might not work. Probably won't be any fun for loose teeth for sure.

How about things like fruit snacks or leather or jerky? My big on-the-go snack I take to trials and stuff is Krave jerky, it's kind of expensive but it's high quality and gluten free and super delicious. Dried fruit in general might be a good idea. I also make my own trail mix with nuts, unsweetened coconut flakes, dried fruit, and dark chocolate chips if I feel like being "bad" haha.

There are also brands of gluten free granola bars and things like that so that might work out. I was eating those for a while when I was looking for more carbs and calories for my marathon training. I forget which brand I was buying but they have them at Target. I know they have a few different brands there that are gluten free. I remember when I looked at them the first time, I was like "Wait a second... you mean unless it SAYS gluten free, granola isn't gluten free?? OATS. WHY HAVE YOU BETRAYED ME." Many years ago my doctor suggested I just wasn't getting enough fiber so my body was all screwed up so I was eating Fiber One bars for breakfast. After about a month he asked me how it was going, and I said "Well, at least now I know exactly WHEN I'm going to get sick. Instead of being random, it's like clockwork, about an hour after I eat my breakfast!" IT'S THE FIBER ONE BAR MAKING YOU SICK. IT'S THE GLUTEN YOU MORON. and yet I never put two and two together until this year hahahaha. And my doctor never did either. =P

All of this.

I cut out gluten/grain in general because it wasn't doing my Crohn's any favors.

I totally miss oatmeal. And cereal. Everytime I am in the store I stare vengefully at the whole aisle. And then mournfully walk away.

sorry... crunchy is not the right word. Hard is probably a better word. like she won't even eat candies that are hard or overly chewy lol. She'll eat the heck out of cooked carrots but raw carrots? nope lol.

She does like fruit snacks but didn't know if those would fit under the gluten free category. she loves yogurt covered raisins but I've heard most of those contain gluten.

popcorn she loves. Nuts, she's not big on but I can always keep trying those lol and if she won't eat them, I will some good snack suggestions. thanks

well doctor thinks it might be mesenteric adonitis. basically a swelling of the lymph nodes around the stomach that can sometimes occur after a child has had a virus. Causes all the issues she's been having.

but they are sending her for an ultrasound to check out the stomach and then if they don't find anything there and she doesn't get better, we will see the doctor and go a little deeper. She's not lost any weight which is good because I figured for sure she would have.

she doesn't go for the US until August 5th. she could have gone on Thursday but that was an afternoon apt and she can't eat for 8 hours before the test so we waited for a morning appointment instead.

So we'll see what that shows and go from there.

Ok... I'm starting to wonder if Hannah is using the stomach thing as an excuse to not go out. Normally she's always loved being on the go but today she seemed fine until I asked her what she wanted to do today and she said "oh... maybe nothing. my tummy hurts" hmmm. She certainly doesn't seem to be in much discomfort right now. she's playing dress up. So maybe I'll just leave her alone about going out and see how she feels.

It's like... does she not want to go out because she is afraid her tummy will hurt... or is she just tired of being out of the house so much so she says she has an upset tummy even when she doesn't?

Could be she doesn't want to go out because she doesn't want to have an accident or puke in public due to stomach issues. I'm always pretty hermit like when my stomach hurts.

yeah I just sat her down and talked to her about it and told her I needed her to be really honest with me about her tummy. I said it's ok if it doesn't hurt and you really just don't want to go out today. She said that her tummy does hurt. So I believe it does ache and that is probably why she doesn't want to go out (fear of throwing up in public). We went to Ruby Tuesdays a few weeks ago and she threw up in the middle of the restaurant and that was quite upsetting for her.

She had her ultrasound this morning, which she thought was super cool lol. The tech was so great and very forthcoming with info for a kid who has 100 questions about what everything does, what are they looking at, what does each organ do, etc, etc, etc lol.

Should hear from the doctor tomorrow. She seems
To be
Doing better though. I've stopped giving her milk to drink so I don't know if it has to do with that or not. She is still eating yogurt. She's also become really focused on eating things that are good for her figuring good food=no tummy aches lol.

So we shall see what the doctor says

Hope the doc has some answers for you today and Hannah starts to feel better.