12 year old sensitive stomach
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Anonymous
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My 12 year old gets intermittent stomach aches that seem to be related to eating. That is, he’ll start eating and find it triggers his stomach hurting so stops eating. He is also very skinny and has poor weight gain. Currently BMI is 3rd percentile.
He seems to get nausea fairly often, like travel sickness that doesn’t go away immediately that he’s out of the car. Goes pale and clammy. Mostly doesnt vomit but sometimes does. As this is intermittent, sometimes a couple of times a week, other times fine for a while, it’s been unclear how much investigation to seek or demand. His pediatrician did order a bunch of tests a couple of years ago. It’s not celiac, for example. He had a poop test that showed some inflammation, but they repeated the test a month or so later and it was normal. After that he was doing better for a while so we didn’t push for more testing. No pattern re what type of food triggers it, but he can’t eat much fried food, for example. And it’s not anxiety related or to avoid food he doesn’t like. Tbh, it mostly is an inconvenience but not that big a deal except that his weight is so low. Worth going back to the pediatrician? If so what do we ask for this time? |
Anonymous
| Has he always had symptoms like these, or did they come on recently? |
Anonymous
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I’m sorry, GI issues can be really hard to diagnose (and treat/manage).
I’d ask the ped for a referral to a pediatric GI. There are many clear and muddy possible causes- a good GI will help you get to the bottom of it. In the interim, you could try giving him a probiotic and/or IB guard daily (both are OTC) - I’d start with the probiotic. Also, if you can, keep a food diary with/for your son- even if it doesn’t seem to be triggered by soecific foods, some patterns may emerge. |
Anonymous
| He’s had them for about three years but they come and go so we haven’t persevered with working out if it’s something that can be fixed. |
Anonymous
Thanks, we did a food diary and it didn’t show anything. And a pediatric GI saw him for the testing two years ago, but seemed to think so was resolved when the inflammation cleared up. So this is where I wonder if it’s bad enough to go through all that again. The biggest issue is his low weight. The stomach pain is moderate and goes away fairly quickly when he stops eating, so not particularly alarming on its own. |
Anonymous
| Constipation |
Anonymous
One thing in very certain of is that it’s not constipation. (And yes, I do know all the ways that constipation presents, this is not it). |
Anonymous
| See a different pediatric GI. |
Anonymous
| Would still rule out constipation first. An abdominal cray can evaluates stool burden |
Anonymous
| Could he be restricting? There are medications for gastroparesis. But recommend you investigate for possible eating disorder. |
Anonymous
As I said constipation is definitely not an issue and has been ruled out. |
Anonymous
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Look up abdominal migraines. My kids gets these with no headaches. Its all stomach related.
https://www.yalemedicine.org/conditions/abdominal-migraine#:~:text=Most%20often%20diagnosed%20in%20children,condition's%20relationship%20to%20migraine%20headaches. |
Anonymous
You said his pediatrician ran a “bunch of tests a couple of years ago.” You should see an actual GI doctor, and since this is now a couple of years after the tests were run, they will probably want to recheck for possible “silent” constipation and many other possible issues. - NP |
Anonymous
| Have doctors done a celiac panel? |
Anonymous
Yes, negative |