Son Having Difficult Time Breathing and Stomach Pain

Acid reflux problems can cause you to feel like you can't breathe. Try a gastroenterologist.

2 moms found this helpful

I get indigestion that has the same symptoms. When I take something like Previcid or something for the heart burn/gas. Maybe he's getting bad indigestion, acid reflux etc. It's an idea. Hope you can find the cause and help your little one out.

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Can you ask for a new ped???

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I agree with Cin C. and Abbie H.

Also find a new doctor... get second, third, fourth opinions. It sounds like something is going on and if it gets worse he won't be able to breath.

1 mom found this helpful

I'm sorry you're going through this, but just to make it clear, the emergency room is for taking care of an urgent, immediate situation at hand. They are not there to diagnose what may be long-term physical ailments. They provide care and refer you back to your regular physician.
I've broken bones and they x-ray, tell me the bone is broken. Give me crutches or a splint, pain medication and refer me to someone else for the follow up.
Emergency room doctors are just that. They treat emergencies. They make sure a patient is stable enough to go home or they have them admitted to the hospital.
I don't mean to sound glib. I really don't. If your child's oxygen saturation levels are normal and he has unspecified abdominal pain, ruling out appendicitis etc, the ER will send him back to his regular doctor.
That said, my son started vomitting. I thought he had the flu. He vomitted at night and then was fine by morning. He had no fever. He didn't really want to eat which I thought was normal after throwing up, but after four days, only throwing up at night, I took him to the doctor.
Turns out it was acid reflux and the doctor prescribed a medication for him.
The vomitting stopped immediately.
I didn't allow him to eat after a certain time in the evening, I propped him up so his head was elevated. He took medication an hour before his last meal of the day and it was like a miracle.
He no longer takes the medication and we just have adhered to the cut off for eating if he feels his stomach hurting, he sleeps slightly elevated.
Your son may be having a reflux of some kind. It really burns. My son, however, only complained about feeling like he was going to choke. Then the vomitting.
The good news is they have ruled things out.
I just want to say that at a thousand dollars a crack, I wouldn't rely on the ER to give you answers or a diagnosis. They aren't primary care physicians. You'd think for a thousand bucks, it should cover every test available, but it just doesn't work like that.
Follow up with your pediatrician or better yet, get a second opinion.
When my son was diagnosed with his reflux issue, I couldn't get him in to the pediatrician and took him to see my doctor who knew exactly what the problem was.
I changed it so my doctor was my son's primary care physician after that even though he didn't specialize in children.
If you aren't getting answers the route you're going....try a different one.

Best wishes.
I hope your son will be feeling better soon.

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No but please see a new doctor!!!!

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I want to echo those that suggested gastritis. I have that problem. Take him to see a pediatric gastroenterologist. Take him as soon as possible, but until you can get him there, try Tums- or whatever acid reducer is available for children OTC (I don't know, my kids never had this problem)
Hope he feels better soon! :)

1 mom found this helpful

It's possible the the pain is causing the breathing problems. Sounds like a GI problem. My son had horrible stomach pains that suddenly developed when he was 2 years old. After some dr visits and a camera down his tummy they decided he had reflux. They were wrong and the meds did not help him. I was stumped. Ended up he lactose intolerance and I noticed it happened after he drank milk or ate ice cream. I didn't think it was this before because he really didn't have the symptoms that are common with lactose intolerance. All he had was terrible pain that would come on go without any reason, until I put it all together with milk and ice cream. He had no trouble with any other dairy product at all.
I would suggest using a food dairy for awhile and see if his pains come when a common food or drink has be consumed. Write down EVERYTHING he eats or drinks.
And maybe a visit to a GI doctor for some further testing might help.
Hope you find the answer. I can understand your frustrations being a mom and seeing your son hurt and sick without any answers is hard.
C.

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Ask for an ekg to check his heart, if that comes out normal ask for a CT scan if it hasn't already been done. It might be gastritis, my daughter has it and it can cause horrible abdominal pain and chest pain causing deep breathing like you mentioned. Have you tried giving him an antacid like maalox? Keep searching for answers, if you're not satisfied with the answers you're given get a new doctor, I've had to do that many times. Good luck!

Updated

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Have them check his heart.

My son doesn't complain of stomach problems, but he was diagnosed with reactive airway disorder. He has sinus issues and I am sure he probably has allergies too, but I haven't had him tested for that yet. Anyway, RAD sort of mimics croup/asthma symptoms. We ended up buying a nebulizer with the albuterol packets. This is usually how his routine goes.Usually when the seasons change Fall and Spring time he is most prone for these episodes. Sometimes it happens when he is really active and running around that will bring on a coughing episode too. He can be playing outside for one afternoon and honest to goodness he develops a cough that very night! Sometimes the cough is loose, so I will give him triaminic nighttime cold and cough medicine. Other times I can tell it is a tighter, dry cough and he complains his chest is tight. That is when I give him the nebulizer treatment on an as needed basis. Sometimes every 4 hours, sometimes once a day. Episode usually lasts 3 days and then it's gone completely. If this sounds at all familiar you might ask your doctor if this could be the cause. When I have had my son checked out during these episodes his lungs are always clear for pneumonia or asthma and even croup. With RAD the airways constrict so the cough can have that barky sound like a croupy cough though. Hope this helps and you find out solution soon!
A.