9 yr old son with symptoms.. advice needed.

I'm starting here (rather than the colitis, crohns or ibs forums) to begin with as you guys have so much knowledge.

My son is 9 and had increasingly painful stomach ache for the last few months. To begin with I just ignored it, thought it might be wind etc etc. But then it started to get worse and he had a couple of days off school, seemed genuinely in pain and quite pale looking. When it hurts he doens't eat anything either and just rolls around on the floor. He is a bit of a trooper and a tough little lad - he just gets on with stuff and rarely complains. He had to be circumcised last year and didn't really bat an eyelid and coped with the hospital really well etc.

ANYWAY... we eventually saw the GP, who referred to a paediatrician. He did blood tests and felt nothing was really wrong - ie: UC, crohns, coeliac etc - and that it was probably IBS. He started him on antispasmodic meds (Buscopan) which isn't really doing a great deal. The stomach pains are still there, probably getting worse and more frequent.

He has mentioned seeing blood in his stool and that it is intermittent 'slimy' and then 'hard'. We told the Doc this and he thought we should do a stool sample which I'll do and see what it brings up.

There was mention of a colonscopy but I really don't want to subject him to that unless absolutely necessary.

There's no history of anything other than coeliac disease in a cousin. There's no hereditary link with my illness.

What do you guys think??? what do blood tests show?? and what should I do next??

Thanks as always... Sarah

Very sorry, so hard for both of you. My cousin's son went through a similar thing at about the same age. Final result was that he's allergic to soy. Now he's fine, as long as he avoids it. So, you might want to get him tested for allergies.

Some blood tests that are important in UC and Crohn's are the sed rate (ESR) and the C reactive protein (CRP). These are markers of inflammation, and if they are normal, that's probably why the doc is ruling out those diseases. Do you know what else they would be looking for on a colonscopy?

A stool sample is a good idea, as blood in the stool is an issue. Was he checked for hemorrhoids, which are one of the simpler things that can cause blood in the stool (which is also a UC/Crohn's symptom).

As I understand it, IBS is more of a diagnosis of exclusion; there's not anything specific that shows it, just that he doesn't have the other things that have similar symptoms.

Hope you figure out something soon.

Hi Sarah - Oh your poor boy, stomach aches are hard to ignore, even for tough little kids.

Stomach aches like what you describe run in my family. Is he anxious about anything lately? I know for some children anxiety or stress can be a huge trigger of painful stomachaches or constipation.

I'd check back with the doctor soon if he is still uncomfortable, maybe they can try a different medication. When I was very young I had terrible stomach pains whenever I had to travel or got nervous about school. They gave me Bentyl (antispasmodic) and it really helped.

Hope you figure it out soon!

Ali

Thanks blueglass.. as ever you're a mine of information.

Agree with you both re: anxiety.. been trying to figure that one out and going back and forth. it's tough to figure it out. Wondering if recent events have led to him having symptoms.. my other son has learning difficulties and it's a bit of a tough time. But like I said in my first post, he's a trooper and my instinct is that this isn't anxiety related.. He does get very pale when he's in pain and when the paediatrician examined him said he could feel tenderness in his sigmoid colon. Hence him looking for IBD I guess. although I'm keeping my eye on things and trying to play it down whilst giving him comfort.. it's a tricky one! I just offered him pizza (his favourite food and never known to turn it down) to see if he could be persuaded.. but no he said he thought it might make it worse. He even missed a football match last week - his favourite thing in the world.

Also I didn't mean for one second that an allergy was the easy option.. sorry didn't mean to offend.. I just meant it would be preferable to IBD. My nephew is coeliac and I know that's been a huge stress for them as a family. He can't eat pizza or drink beer etc and I can imagine for a young man that's very hard. I'm sure your cousins' son finds it hard.

Alibee - he's on an antispasmodic and it's not really doing much. Maybe we need to increase the dose or try something different.

Currently he's lying on the floor on his stomach at my feet :-(

I know how you feel - my daughter was diagnosed with UC at age 10. I hate to say this, but it started with stomach aches. She had them for about 6 months on and off and then one day she got really, really sick (bleeding, diarrhea, vomiting) Our first stop was the Pediatrician for blood and stool tests. Blood test showed high inflammation markers which led us to a GI. She then had a colonoscopy and endoscopy and so the journey began. I am sorry you are going through this...feel free to email me if you want to chat.

Thanks guys... well next stop is a stool sample to look for infection, then I'm going to ask for allergy testing. If neither of those show anything and the stomach aches are still there, then I guess we'll have to go down the colonoscopy route. Ugh. It's the thought of giving him that prep that's almost worse.. and plus they'll need to do a general rather than sedation.

Will keep you posted. Thanks for your comments. S x

Hi Karen

No he's not constipated.. or at least he says he goes every day or every other day. I've got him to tell me when he's done a poo so I can go and inspect it!! the one I saw last night looked normal to me and no blood.

Doc hasn't looked at his bum yet..

I'm sure we can make improvements to his diet though, I just don't want to make too many changes until we get some sort of diagnosis or at least an idea if there is anything going on.

How are you doing anyway... are you any further forwards???
S x