8Yo Daughter Has Tummy Aches Every Night

Could be the stress of a new school year.

If you make it a family goal to have health insurance, you will acquire it. Otherwise, you'll be in this same position 10 years from now. Then somebody gets appendicitis, and you're bankrupt. Please make it a goal. (When I left college, I knew immediately that I needed to get a job with a big company so that I'd have health insurance, so that was my first move. You guys can do this too.) I promise, it's only seems difficult. It's quite doable.

Hi K.. I know you said you don't have insurance to go to the doctor, but the first thought I had was that she might have Celiac Disease. Its where your body reacts to gluten (the protein found in wheat, barley, and rye) and begins to eat away at the villi lining the intestines. Over time, it can be very destructive to all systems in your body. I have Celiac and what you described was exactly what I experienced as a young child.

Since you don't have insurance, in the meantime, you could try giving her probiotics (acidophilus, bifidus, etc.) every day. Remove the common allergens (corn, egg, dairy, wheat, nuts, soy, shellfish, I'm missing a few here) from her diet for 1 month and then reintroduce them 1 by 1 to see if there is a reaction. You could also try having her take digestive enzymes with each meal to see if that helps.

In the end, you will probably want to get things checked out since it could be any number of things. Good luck to you!

My daughter struggled with stomach aches for years. We tried lots of things, but we finally found something that worked. After doing some research, I decided she might have a gluten intolerance. We eliminated all gluten (boy, was that hard!!!) and she is doing much better. It's worth a try, and it doesn't cost anything to alter a diet! Good Luck!

My daughter has the same problem with all 4 of her children and for lack of betters words, they are filled with "poop". It isn't that they are constipated, they just don't "go" that much. Their doctor told her to give them a mild laxative whenever they complain and it seems to do the trick. (children's dose).
Her doctor suggested Miralx. you can also try increasing their water intake or giving them more fiber. Grapes, peaches or apples help with constipation but they must eat the skin.
I also hate to think that with 3 kids you do not have a good medical or dental plan for you and your cuties. Don't be caught offguard. There are alternatives to insurance. please go to www.deliveringonthepromise.com/sylviap, watch the video and receive a free prescription card that is good for 1 year. I do NOT receive a commission for you getting the card, I just want to help. IF this is something you think you can afford then contact me, if not just enjoy the card. You can end up saving $100's of dollars!

Hi K.,
I read through the responses but, no one suggested appendicitis. Sometimes it only flares up and it starts around the belly button and goes down into bottom right side of your abdomen. I had flu like symptoms with diarhea, finally I just could not walk without being doubled over. Does your family have a history of appendectomies? My dad had his removed at 9 I had mine removed at 9 my daughters at 5 years and 10 years old. My mom said I always thought that maybe that is why you always complained of having a stomach ache or that you felt dizzy. No more tummy aches but, I'm probably still dizzy :)) GL K. K.

Have you checked for a Wheat or Gluten intolerance? My husband has been dealing with passing out spells where he has a stomach ache right before and he can't handle the pain so he passes out and also has psoriasis.... I found a diet that is supposed to cure psoriasis which part of it is to take gluten out of the diet....well as soon as I took the gluten out within 1 week he was more than 75% healed of psoriasis and no more stomach pain or passing out. Just a thought. Also my oldest son was diagnosed with OCD by his pediatrician, who we don't see anymore, and he just didn't fit the profile for OCD. Once I took him off of gluten with my husband then his symptoms all went away.

Hi K., I agree with prev post. If you have already elimiated dairy issues as my daughter has, try the probiotics. Try for at least three to four weeks to start. I was on antibiotics that messed everything up and the probiotic helped.

Good luck to you.

K.,
Try getting probiotics into her every day. Digestive enzymes at every meal may help too.

I used to care for a little girl that got tummy aches every night. They turned out to be from stress. Her daycare had a lot of transition so she didn't know what to expect (or who to expect to be teaching her) every day. I know your daughter is not in day care. Just throwing this out there in case there is something that is extra stressful.

Other possibility I can think of is that maybe something is going on with her appendix. When I had appendicitis (in 2nd grade), it came on suddenly so I don't know if it is always sudden or if sometimes it might be gradual.

Could she be worried about something? When I was her age all the way through high school I had nearly nightly stomach aches due to stress from school.

Also, I suffered from IBS. One thing that really helped calm that down was to eliminate caffeine from my diet. Does she drink a lot of caffeine?

Just a few thoughts. Good luck.

Hi K.,
Have you looked at wheat/gluten? It can cause stomach pain and diarreha, not to mention a bunch of other symptoms including malnutrition. http://www.celiac.com/articles/1106/1/Celiac-Disease-Symp...
I would suggest trying a few days off gluten and dairy (typically if you are suffering from one you are suffering from the other as well) and see what happens.
Good luck.
L.

My daughter has had very similar pain. When we started tracking her digestive activity around the times she had the pain, we realized she was actually constipated (which causes gas pain and acid pain too since it can't pass).

Make sure your daughter gets plenty of liquids. Fruit juice once a day and lots of water. Also plenty of fiber (beans, fresh fruits and veggies). You might also try miralax for a few days to get things moving regularly again, if you notice that this is the problem.

(I know you mentioned diarrhea. I wonder if it could be the pressure of what gets by?)

She could be having a problem with something like wheat or soy or another food. It's good you're keeping a food diary - keep doing that, and you may be able to hone in on the problem if it is a food.

I wanted to suggest that you apply for health insurance through CHP. Even if your income is higher than Medicaid levels or free CHP, your daughter can get insurance and you'd pay a small monthly premium. (Any child in CO can get insurance, whether it is through Medicaid or CHP.) It's a real pain to go through the application process, but I think it is definitely worth doing. Let me know if you have any questions about how to apply.

I don't know where you live, but I can also recommend a pediatrician in Parker - Crown Point Pediatrics (Dr. Roos). I bet they would be pretty reasonable about working with self-pay patients.

Good luck and take care.

Sometimes the digestive aids in the stomach get covered up by mucus and can not digest the food. Most health food stores sell digestive enzymes. Probiotics will help also. I was just recently put on very strong antibiotics and my stomach was a wreck and I took probiotics and drank aloe vera juice for about a month and everything was cleared up. My daughter also complained about her stomach hurting and I had her drink aloe vera juice and she had no more problems. I know that they have special probiotics for children that are chewable. I am not sure about digestive enzymes. I think that they do carry capsules. I don't feel that you would have much luck trying to get her to drink straight aloe juice since it has quite an earthy taste. Sometime you can mix the aloe juice with a little fruit juice. Good luck!

She needs to poop at leastonce if not 3-4 times a day. Does she get 3-5 servings of fruit and 3-5 of vegetables every day??? Get her some live food and get her to poop more often and it will go away. I'm 90% sure and have 5 kids. We've been there, done that all too often.