8 Year Old with Constant Stomache Pain

Both my girls ages 11 soon to be 12 and 10 years of age both complained of cramps in their stomache and I too was very concerened, because it was all the time. I at first thought it might be constipation, and would use some meds for that. That didn't help. SO than I took my girls to see their doctor. He did the tests and felt their stomache and found NOTHING. The girls always complained of pains else where as well, but never heard them complain they were dizzy unless it was from lack of sleep or lack of water. So I started making them drink mostly just water and 1 glass of juice. I haven't heard them complain lately. And by the way the doctor told me that it was just GROWING PAINS. Girls get them every where. So hopefully nothing serious or at all is wrong with your daughter. I hope its just growing pains. GOOD LUCK!

Just out of curiosity, has you doctor tested her for tape worms?? You said she has not lost her appetite but she is losing weight and her stomach hurts; as long as there is nothing else that is wrong it sounds like when my sister had tape worms. They are nasty little buggers, but her doctor told her to put something sweet on a plate next to her bed evey night for a week. She did and four days later she woke up and what looked like a small, opaque, pile of broken stretchy gumbands on her pillow. She said it did not look discusting, but the thought of that being in her stomach was. She was 19 when this happened and dealt with it for months thinking it was just really bad cramps. I figure it's worth leting you know about it just in case it works. I would not cancel the apointment with the specialist though, just in case :)

I just took my 7 yo daughter to the doc yesterday with the same complaints. They couldn't find anything either. I've been watching for appendix rupture, but nothing so far. I would say at this point for you that would not be probable b/c that is typically more rapid onset than several months. How frustrating it is for you both!! Do you think that she could be making it up for attention? I thought that about mine, b/c sometimes she acts normal (running around, etc), but she does seem to be distressed when her belly hurts. So sorry that I don't have any suggestions, just wanted to let you know that someone else it there with you. Best wishes at the specialist. A.

When my daughter was in the 3rd-4th grade she had constant stomaches. It was to the point she wouldn't go to school. I also took her to the doctors and they couldn't find anything wrong with her. Everyday she insisted they got worse... I had a meeting with her teacher and found out that it was school she didn't like and was having trouble with a certain boy .This was never an issue because she always had above average grades...She was also in a private Catholic school. We fixed everything up and we eventually moved out of that district anyhow. My sister also said her son had the same exact thing. So maybe it is something at school.She is now almost 21 and in college and doing excellent. Hope everything turns out ok.
C.

I wonder if there is any history of Inflamatory Bowel disease in your family? My son started experiencing chronic stomach pain, diarhea, and weight lose at the age of 8. One morning he woke up in so much pain we had to take him right into the doctor and discovered he had an abcess near his rectom. That is a drainage point for infection, and why would an 8 yr old boy have that? My husband has Crohns Disease so immediatly the pediatrician sent us to a specialist and we began our journey to find out what was going on with our son. It didn't take long for the diagnosis to come back that my son also had Crohns disease. His treatment began at the Akron childrens hospital, and then we moved onto the Cleveland Clinic. A move I am sooo glad we made. I encourage to to research your doctors background, find out the type of patients they see and whatever your daughters diagnosis, go somewhere where that is treated in high volume. Whatever drugs she is prescribed, find out how many oatients they have used this dru on. Don't assume that because an office is prescribing a drug that they know how to use it. Good luck! My son is being treated now at the Cleveland Clinic and I can't tell you the difference in the level of knowledge. I would be happy to talk to you again if you need help or have a question.

I wish I had something to tell you. Im going through the same thing with my five year old granddaughter. Sometimes with her I think its a way of getting out of doing chores lol. Other times I think the stomach pains are real tho. What do you do for the stomach pains? I really dont know what to do for those. Kelly D

My daughter had the same thing last year and we ended up going to a specialist at Riley Hospital. They did a cat scan and some tests...all seemed normal. They enede up diagnosing her with Irritable Bowel Syndrome, but I never believed it was accurate because she didn't have pain just after she ate, it was all the time, just like your daughter. We never took the medicine they prescribed because I knew it wasn't an accurate diagnosis. Eventually it went away and we now think that it was anxiety-related. Are there issues that are causing stress for your daughter....school, friends, etc.? I know it seems unlikely, but apparently it's fairly common for stress and anxiety to cause stomach problems. But I would check out all medical things first, just to be sure. Hope that helps.

I too have an 8 year old, but it was my then 2 yr old that had the stomach cramps, and was losing weight. Her bowel movements were more what was concerning me, and they were the color of magic marker green, after doing a few tests on her stools, they finally diagnosed her with C-Difficile. And this is caused from having a lot of antibiotics, and it distroys the good bacteria in your intestines, then it generally makes you sicker over time. With my daughters' pediatrician I had to force the issue of testing something else, before they finally found this. My advice to you is to keep having tests done, and if you don't agree with a diagnosis, go for another opinion. We were advised to give her something that you get in a health food store to get the good bacteria replaced back into her body, it's called Bifidophilus Flora Force, and we just break open the capsule and stir it into applesauce, cottage cheese, her cereal, almost anything, it doesn't have a taste. And now that she's 4 yrs. old, she does it herself, and she doesn't seem to get sick with other stuff as often, she's never had a case of the flu yet this season. (knock on wood!)

As a nurse, I would question Reflux? ulcer? diabetes certainly? I think a more complete checkup, with tummy and legs xrays, tons of blood work, maybe even a CT scan. Certainly some kids use this vague excuse for attention BUT with our babies there is no reason to assume they are lying about general pain. Keep after a doc till you get a satisfactory response and keep listening to your mom instinct. In the meantime, keep a "diary" of the pain, when it get worse/better, when she has stools, weight each week. When you see the GI specialist they will love that info.

A month away??? Wow, that's seems a bit ridiculous for a child! I would be calling another doctor (pediatrician) for a second opinion. There is no way my girls' pediatrician would let any specialist wait a month to see my kids. He would've called the specialist's office himself and told them they must be seen in the next couple of days. One time I called to make an appointment with an ENT b/c my daughter has a hole in her ear. They told me it would be a month away, so I made the appointment. My pediatrician called me to find out when her appointment was. When I told him, he said that was unacceptable and called the office himself. She got in the next day. Not to alarm you, but your child's situation sounds a bit scary to me and I would not let anyone brush it off!

hello W.,

have you thought of a growth spurt ? I remember my daughters having issues with stomach and leg pains. I eventually figured out they grew an extra inch or 2 than the
normal 2 inches a year. Maybe check her height during this
uncomfortable time ? thats only one scenario. Hope the specialist can help you find out if there are underlying issues that will have a simple remedy. Good luck !

been there, done that.

did you try chamomille tea? or fennel seed tea? there are lots of herbal suppliments you can use. go to a health food store and ask the person in charge of the herbs what they suggest.

hope this helps.

E.

Did they check her appendix...if it is her right leg that she is complaining I would definately ask your doctor about that. Appendicitis causes pain in the right leg...lack of appetite...amongs other things. Web MD has some good info if you want to check it out.

I have worked with pediatrics patients and there are a couple of things I would suggest you try. First would be the BRAT diet. I am not sure if you heard of this but it consists of clear liquids for 24 hours and then the next 48 hours along with clear liquids you add Bananas, Rice, Apples, and Toast. What this does in cleans out the colon. Usually used for people with colitis (inflammation of the colon). I would also keep her on either pedialite or gatorade. Cramping in the legs and the dizziness could be to an electolyte imbalance. Also the Bananas on the diet should help with that as well. Plenty of fluids, mainly water. FYI dark colored sodas are harmful to your kidney's so if for some reason she has to have soda make sure it is not a dark one. Hopefully this will help with her symptoms, goodluck.

i am having the same problem with my 5 year old and the doctor told us it was probably the sinus infection that she had that was causing the stomach pain, the infection has been gone about a week and the stomach pain persists. hope you have better luck finding out what is wrong.

This is so totally what happened to me when I was a little older than her. Same symptoms and everything!! Check for Gluten Intolerance. Those are CLASSIC symptoms. I can't believe they didn't check it out. Blood tests for Celiac are not always conclusive and neither is a biopsy so the best thing to do is to cut out all sources of gluten for four weeks. Then reintroduce it over a day. If she gets sick in the next 72 hours then you have your answer. Good luck.

M.

Take her to children's hospital if you have not already. I'm glad your doctor has at least done test but your daughter should be someplace where they deal with this more often. Hope this helps.

well it sounds like they are doing lots of tests which is good, but have they checked her for ulcers? sounds out of place for a child of such a young age i know, but i was diagnosed with ulcers myself when i was in elementry school-just a few years older than your daughter. they did a scope on me and found 2 ulcers. i was constantly ill feeling as a young child with chronic stomach pain. This is just something to bring up to your doctors if they haven't checked for this yet, it's fairly simple and would hate to see her go through a battery of upsetting medical tests if she didn't need to. It might be worth while to get it looked into and possibly ruled out. Best of luck to getting your daughter well soon!

I have a 6 yr. old who just started kindergarten this past year. Since being around other kids more, she tries to pull this "my tummy hurts" and it is often when she is tired and doesn't want to get up for school, or she is working on something stressful at school, I do feel in my case it is not real most of the time. I can often say, well then if your tummy hurts we can't go to story time at the library, and that usually changes her mind real fast.
I would still keep the doctors appointment to be on the safe side.
When I was 11 yrs. old, I developed an ulcer, and for my age they still don't know how, we always had well balanced meals. But the pain from that wouldn't kick in until about 30-60 min. after eating. Then I was in MAJOR pain, doubled over. There was no faking that one.
Keep the appointment, but look at other factors at school. Is there something in class she doesn't like, has another student been real sick?? Talk to the teacher.

My youngest son had constant pain in his tummy area when he was 5 1/2. I ended up taking him to a chiropractor that checked for food allergies & treated him with herbs. He had some pretty severe allergies. He still at 19 should carry an epi-pen for his potato allergy. This was the only one that didn't disappear with the herbal treatment. Chiropractors can do many things besides spinal adjustments anymore. God bless!

Have you had a test for celiac disease yet? It sounds like a possibility. Or could there be emotional factors/ stress invloved??

--Chris

I have a seven yr. old girl that has the same thing, but occasionally even vomits, but always at school. Alot of children going to school have physical symptoms from their nerves. I always thought my daughter was outgoing (she is at home) come to find out that it was different at school. Just a thought, good luck!

You might want to look into abdominal migraines. This is something that generally only presents in children, generally children with a family history of headache or regular migraine pain. I have migraines, my neice has abdominal migraines. They are food related. They are triggered by chocolate, vinegar things like pickles, tyramine which is an amino acid that naturally occurs on food that is not absolutely fresh. If you leave fruit or anything in the fridge have her eat it sooner rather than later. also, hotdogs and pizza are really bad. Stuff with lots of citric acid contributes too.

You can probably find more on the web about these.

Hello, my neice went through this at 7 yrs. old and she had the same symtoms but her belly was distended and she was gassy. All the tests came back okay except for one which I can't remember what it was but she had a tiny fracture on her tailbone and it through her blood work out of wack. They also told her she's going through a growth spurt and there growing pains. And to also cut out all of the acidic sugar like in kool aid because she drank alot of that at the time which made her belly gassy. So they ended up just teilling her it was growing pains and to cut out certain foods after all the testing and the specialist and later on she did end up feeling better. I hope I helped. Good luck and I hope everything turns out okay.