4 Year Old with a Weak Stomach?

I have had similar issues my whole life and my parents wondered if they would ever know what caused it. I am now 26 and was diagnosed with adrenal insufficiency and Postural Orthostatic Tachycardia Syndrome aka P.O.T.S. about 3 years ago. My suggestion would be to have her cortisol levels checked which is done with a very simple blood test. There are different things that can cause the Pots, but it seems to go hand in hand with the other. I have found that staying properly hydrated helps a lot for me, but the adrenal insufficiency is actually a stress disorder. Things that seem minor to everyone else and mentally are for me as well cause my body to over react because my cortisol levels are out of balance. I hope things improve soon and don't give up it took them over 20 years to properly diagnose me.

I had fainting issues myself as a child and dealt with it up to my late teen years. I had the EEG and EKG done with nothing abnormal showing up. I did have a doctor tell me that a blackout or fainting could actually be a mild seizure, which I thought was interesting in your post that you said your daughter had febrile seizures. I don't know what febrile means but just seeing the word seizure in this context sent up a flag for me having that doctor tell me all those years ago that I could just be having mild seizures. I was actually tested for epilepsy in the midst of all the other testings (negative).

I have also always had really low blood pressure. That's what all my doctors chalked it up to at the time. Just standing up too fast and not getting the proper blood flow to my head so I get the blackout or, if I was already stimulated about something else (usually being hot) I'd actually faint. My two biggest fainting memories were at the pool as a kid (on my way in to the locker room, before I'd actually gone swimming), and after a concert where I had been pushed up against the stage for a long period of time.

I also have a ridiculous metabolism and if I go too long without eating I will feel weak and dizzy and blackout. I make sure I eat a lot of proteins and don't eat sugar unless I've eaten something more substantial first. I also make sure that I eat on a regular basis before it becomes an issue. I mention this part because aside from the occassional blackout from standing up too fast or going too long between eating, I have not fainted for nearly ten years (I'm 30 now). I had a doctor work with me because I fainted at work while pregnant with my first son and had the whole round of testing done again with nothing abnormal. She suggested I could control it with diet.

I know you had mentioned that the sight of blood seems to trigger your daughter's reactions so maybe none of what I said will help you, but I still wanted to share my story because I found a way to control this on my own when tests showed it wasn't anything. Perhaps you could work with a therapist to help her deal with her severe blood phobia? Or work on it at home with photos and information about how her body works so she knows it is all normal.

Best of luck to both you and her. It's definitely not something fun to deal with and I hope she finds a way to control it.

i don't know if passing out is a big problem, but passing out and hitting your head can be. try and teach her to sit down or lay down immediately if she's feeling woozy, no matter where she's at or what she's doing.

I've had a niece and nephew BOTH with not being able to handle things. Both are now grown and the "problem" was something that they eventually outgrew. Josh threw up EVERY time he got himself worked up or feared something....anything......even things like being at swimming lessons. HONESTLY, I"d rather have one passing out than throwing up constantly! LOTS less messy!!

There ARE people who faint easily. She may be one of them. Give it some time. Talk about how she feels, why she feels that way, what things she might do to overcome those feelings, etc. Remind her how powerful the mind is, ESPECIALLY when it comes to overcoming and dealing things.

There are great children's books out there that deal with just about EVERY life situation, including overcoming fears, etc. I used to work at a children's bookstore so I KNOW they are out there. As a librarian to help you find something for her age level.

My niece, stuttered. Kids have their way of dealing/not dealing with things that make them feel uncomfortable or out of control. This was frustrating for EVERYONE, including my niece. The doctor said her cognitive level was far ahead of her emotional and physical level and this is what caused her to stutter. She DID outgrow it, so did my nephew. He's now a sophomore in college and doing GREAT!

I have a friend whose daughter did the same thing once. The Mom was on her way to pick up her daughter from school, and accidentally slammed her hand in the door, mangling her own finger badly. She wrapped up her hand, continued on to school, and went to the school office to sign her daughter out a few minutes early, so Mom could get to the emergency room to get her hand stitched up. The child came down to the office, took one look at Mom, and passed out. Because it was at school, the nurse came running, and the office personel called the ambulance. They took the child to the emergency room, and Mom was told that they thought it was a vargas nerve reaction. Not sure what this is, but you could look into it and see if maybe your daughter fits this pattern and discuss it with her pediatrican to see who would confirm this as a diagnosis, and if you needed to do anything about it more than having awareness so that she can sit down or avoid sights that cause her to pass out.

Hope this helps!

M.

I have always had this problem. It is brought on by the sight of blood, or the feeling of the tourniquet tied on my arm during a blood test. They always have problems getting my blood as my veins are not cooperative. So I tell them about it and have to lie down before and for a little while after the blood is drawn. I also tend to have low blood pressure.

To prevent it - know that your daughter cannot help this, and avoid having her watch things that are going to make her faint. If it is unavoidable, make sure that she is where she will have a soft landing. Sometimes, closing her eyes and not watching will help. Putting her head down also helps the blood flow to the brain.

Let the school know about this too. It may make dissection labs impossible for her to observe.

Good luck!

H. - I am 45 and I have had this problem all my life. At the age of 42 I finally got a name for it. I will spell it wrong but - vaso depressor syncope. I pass out when totally overwhelmed, very anxious, nervous, sight of blood, giving blood - and yes needles - pretty much anything. I will say I don't think I care for you saying a weak stomach of silly things. To us they are not silly. And I am not goofy nor whimpy. It just happens and it is what it is. I also get sick to my stomach very easily and have a very low gag reflex. Changing a childs diaper is very hard for me and causes the same reactions - I have learned to to keep myself from passing out but it takes hard work. I do the lamaze breathing when I feel it coming on. Your reaction to this is very disheartening to me. At least my mother did not make fun of me and was concerned about it and knew it was a real issue. I found out what the issue was after passing out at work and completely stopped breathing and all bodily funcitions released and stopped. I was dead for almost a minute. I spent a week in the hospital for tests. After a tilt table test from a cardiologist they figured out that I have an issue with my vaso receptors. It is not uncommmon. Nor is ist goofy and whimpy! I would speak to my doctor around that issue. But please

I believe she is having vasovagal syncope which is not serious, but obviously distressing. Read more here:

http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/vasovagal-syncope/DS00806

We have a strong family history of epilepsy in my husbands family so when my son started having seizure like episodes after he experienced any sort of pain, we went through all the testing as well. CBC, MRI, EKG, EEG, until he was recommended to a pediatric neurologist. All the tests for him were normal as well. However, what they may not be telling you is that normal EEG does not necessarily mean normal. It just means that there wasn't an episode close enough to register on the test, so it may be that it has to be redone. Our next step after these tests was an ambulatory EEG which is where they wear the electrodes for 3 days to see if it picks up anything and after that if still negative, it would be hospitalization to have a controlled place for them to try to trigger one of his episodes. For my son, it was assumed to just be a benign condition called Breath Holding Spells where after a pain or strong emotion they reflexively hold their breath until in his case he would turn blue and pass out. There are two types of these spells. Cyanotic which is assumed to be what my son experienced and Pallid which sounds like a possibility for your daughter. Where the skin turns pale before passing out. For my son, the episodes have not occurred for a while so we feel like this was the situation for him, but will contact his neurologist at the first sign of it happening again. You can google Breath Holding Spells, and the WebMD site has really good information on this. Also, if you look into www.epilepsy.com it also has good information on this. No it is not epilepsy, but there is a section under types of seizures that is imitators and that is where it is found. I personally felt that any type of passing out is serious until you can rule out all other causes especially since it wasn't an isolated case for us.

You need to see a pediatric gastroenterolgist and neurologist. Tnis sounds like it be orthostatic intolerance. My daughter has been recently diagnosed with this and it can only be diagnosed with these type of specialists. My pediatrician was not familiar with it so it took 5 moths to diagnose. It falls under the autonomic system. Some kids pass out some just get dizzy. My daughter has never passed out but she gets bad dizziness with headaches and stomach aches. If you are in the Cleveland area University Hospitals has the Cheliminsky's. In TOledo there is a renowned dr, Dr Grupp I think is his name. People travel far to see him. THe other names are Orthostatic Hypotension and there is also posterior orthostatic tachycardia syndrome (POTS). We are still in the process of getting it under control but when she gets sick it's harder to control.

I think there is something more serious happening with your daughter. I would see an electrophysiologist as soon as possible to analyze her EKG to check for Long QT Sydrome, an electrical heart condition that causes sudden death. There usually is no warning, except for fainting episodes and sometimes seizures.

I suffer from this life threatening condition as well as my sister and our mother passed away suddenly from this condition when we were young.
I strongly urge you to get her checked out immediately since it is fairly simply detected by an EKG. Make sure that whomever reads the EKG looks for the long QT interval. Many times, this can be missed. It can be treated by taking a beta blocker as well as implating a pacemaker/ defibillator as myself and my sister have. It is a genetic condition and my daugther also has it and it was detected through a blood test at the University of Rochester Long QT research center. We are under a Dr's care in Cleveland.
Best of luck to you and God Bless!