How old is DD?

My DD had a condition called HSP when she was 4 yrs. SEVERE abdominal pain. This taught us alot about abdominal pain as it took about 8 weeks to get a diagnosis (4 of those in hospital).

One thing I learned along the way was that constipation can cause VERY severe ab pain. Sounds silly, but a few months after she got out of the hospital DD woke up one night shreiking and sweating clutching her stomach. We rushed her to the hospital where the gastro specialist knowing her history gave her a complete once over and sent her for an xray. Severe constipation. I was sooo relieved (and the teeniest bit embarassed).

Another is a condition where the intestine telescopes into itself. You would need a good gastro person to be able to pick this up.

The condition my daughter had is usually seen in boys but not uncommon in girls. It is the bodies bad reaction to the antibodies sent out to fight a strep infection. Has she had a strep infection lately? Other symptoms include swollen joints and a weird rash on the lower legs.

Hang onto that mom's spidey sense and keep at them if she doesn't get better. I'm still angry at myself for not being more forceful with the doctor's when they kept sending me home with the "it's just the flu" diagnosis. I remember thinking I'm just going to have to sit here and wait until she gets so bad they will have to take us seriously (she was at home sick for almost 3 weeks with pain that they immediately gave her morphine for when finally admitted) and I am still grateful to that one dr. who finally said "home? you're not taking this kid home. She's too sick to go home".

Hold in there. I know there is nothing worse than seeing your child in pain and being able to do nothing.

I hope this helps and hasn't caused you more worry. I'm hoping it's the flu or something alot of blueberries can cure.

Some more advice on pain management. You can alternate Tylenol with the other pain medication but I am so sleep deprived right now I can't think of the name. I just remember this allowed us to give pain medication every 2 hours instead of every 4.

Maybe if you have an all night pharmacy they could give you that info. We have a great medical phone line here where you can call and speak to a nurse 24 hrs a day. Any chance you have something like that where you are?

Also, we were told not too wait until the pain became severe before giving medication but to give it when it 1st started (but still following the instructions with the meds).

Man, I can't get over this site...budge, you're actually here. Someone is actually here who has experienced a similar problem and who is kind enough to share. At *this* hour. **shaking my head in thankful disbelief**

Right now DH is up watching her breathe (can't believe it, but with the threat of RESPIRATORY DEPRESSION in all caps hanging over our heads, it is not something we want to mess with) and I'm down here researching.

I'm so sorry to hear of what you and your daughter went through--OUCH!! I just read about HSP! :( :(-- and I really appreciate your encouragement to go with my "gut", as it were. My DD was already really depressed about the pain after one day--I can imagine how your daughter must have felt for weeks and weeks on end :(

She hasn't had strep, no. No weird rash or swelling. And I'd thought of intussusception, but I think that is for younger kids, yes? And she last "evacuated" this morning...and nothing was amiss...they gave her morphine this evening ("small to moderate" dose--I think that's what made her barf, actually, but not positive, and even then I certainly wouldn't have proceeded to give a kid a med that was specifically contraindicated in kids for emesis of unknown origin...and she barfed her way through that med too, btw) too and I think I'll be glad when it wears off, along with the phenergan.

I need to read up on the possibilities--it's so true that *one* doctor can make all the difference. This guy tonight was a hamfisted "knock-em-on-the-shoulder-and-tell-'em-they're o.k." kinda guy. My daughter doesn't take kindly to that, esp. when things like the car bouncing make her abdomen hurt more :( The nurses were backing us up, though. I'd prefer to go back when he's not on duty, to be quite honest. Or we may switch to a different ER.

You have helped a LOT with this; I really appreciate it, budge. There are some things that RL communities just can't match, and this is one of them, to be sure. I hope someday I can pay it either back to you or forward to another mom in some way...

budge, our posts crossed...

They tried giving her tylenol orally at the hospital when the abdominal pain cut through the morphine (!)..she promptly barfed it up. Thus the phenergan. Through which she barfed anyway, about 45 mins. later when we got home. The remainder of the tylenol came up then too. On the stairs...so she can't keep anything by mouth down right now.

At least she's sleeping and not having those pain moments right now. I know what other pain med. you're talking about--advil, yes? And which time zone are you in anyway? I'm sorry you're up right now but also very thankful...

We *will* be having the 24-hour nurse available to us through our insurance starting 1/1/07. *sigh*

How old is your daughter? my DD had a similar episode at 14; we were back and forth to the ER all week, it turned out to be a a benign cyst twisted on an ovary, it had to be removed. When the cyst would fill up with blood, she would have the stomach pain, then it would release the blood and the pain would subside; hence, the periodical pain that would disappear and cycle back. Even when they were prepping her for surgery to remove the cyst, they still thought it could be appendicitis.

An ultrasound ended up being the test that determined her condition; they don't do that test at the first visit.
Appendicitis is very hard to diagnose.
keep us posted and good luck to all of you.

I don't know anything, but linked below is a site with a list of medical issues you could look at. Keep us posted, I can't imagine how frightening this is for you and your family.

Here is a link that might be useful: abdominal pain in children

flyleft--my husband had a similar dilemma when he was about 20. Lots of pain in the same location as the appendix with no obvious cause. It turned out to be an ingrown hair on the back of his right leg. The ingrown hair had become infected, which caused the closest lymph node to swell, in turn causing pain. (There are lymph nodes near each hip.)

So check for any kind of wound, bug bite, or ingrown hair that may have gone unnoticed by the doctor.

Fly - I'm so sorry to hear that! I trust the Phenergan is suppositories? It's the only thing that helps when my DS has his periodic 'binge vomiting' episodes...

Trust that mommy-instinct, Fly.
It's there for a reason.

Hello, sweeby, uxorial, weed, & mitch...((((to you all))))

Dd is 9--sorry I spaced answering that, thought I had... Today she seems to have stopped with the pains. Nothing. She's keeping down food (which I think was due to the morphine anyway). We were going to go to the symphony tonight but I think we'll skip it just to be safe. She's saying now that the same feeling she had before when the pains started is coming back...so it's kind of touch and go. But we'll miss a 13-y.o. cellist playing the Saint-Saens cello concerto #1 *sigh* we were all really looking forward to seeing.

sweeby, the phenergan was IV, which she already had in for the morphine--since it was already in, I'm glad they didn't try to do the suppository--she was not into any more orifices being affected...sorry to hear about your son's syndrome...I hope you know about the respiratory depression possibilities with it when administered to kids--just might want to keep an eye on him when he has to have it, although my DD had it in conjunction with morphine, which *also* can cause respiratory depression, so we were doubly at risk there...probably much more risky than what your son gets.

uxorial, WOW! What a story. Who would have guessed.

weed, that was exactly the site I was looking at last night! :) Thanks. The net is amazing.

mitch, OW, poor dear...I shivered reading it. That would certainly cause the intermittent pain...I'll keep that in mind and I hope she hasn't had any recurrences or repercussions...

So it's a quiet evening at home, applying sanded caulk and comforting my dear girl :) Thanks again you all--I am so grateful for this forum and the wonderful folks on it.

Glad our experiences could help. Hope things continue on the calm side.

It must be scary for her to worry about the pain coming back. Lucky girl to have a mom who's there for her.

I must chime in too. My first thought was ovarian cyst, (I had this and the pain was so bad I vomitted until they could give me some pain relief,) but your daughter is just 9. However, I feel you should absolutely take your dd back to a DIFFERENT doctor, because what you describe needs to be figured out. Can you get her back in on Mon.? I had an odd experience in my early 20's with severe abdominal pain after I had eaten an unripe apple (I like 'em sour!). Demerol knocked out the pain for awhile and I had a little more for the next several days, until it was gone. Do keep us posted!

Ovarian cyst was what I thought of too, and nine is not too young. My daughter had that, very painful.

Also (you'll think this far-fetched), has she eaten sushi lately? I'll always remember something I heard on NPR years ago about a parasite found in raw salmon that attaches to the intestinal walls and causes excruciating pain several weeks later.

Hope she continues to feel well.

flyleft -- how are things tonight? Is she OK?

I can't offer any info but having once been grossly diagnosed by a "brilliant doctor from Harvard" I've learned to be quietly aggressive and persistent in unknown medical situations.

Wondering if you've called your pediatrician by now or happened to rouse one of the associates? It could have been just an awful stomach/intenstinal bug but I'd want an evaluation from someone who knows her very early in the week.

(((((((flyleft)))))))

I'm glad things are more stable for her ; hopefully it will stay that way.

Stomach pains are so odd; I had an intestinal bug a few weeks ago and I swear the pain was so strong and it was cyclical, every 7 minutes, like labor pain.
It only lasted a few hours but I was a little worried for a bit.

As far as my daughter's cyst, it sometimes necessitates removal of the ovary, since the cyst is twisted around it but they were able to save it.

good luck to you and dd.

flyleft:

I can't offer much advice either, I just wanted to tell you that you are doing the right thing listening to your mommy spidey sense. How is she tonight? How are you?

((((flyleft and DD))))

Ivette

Hey Flyleft,
It's been a while since I posted, but just wanted to add another vote for checking into an ovarian cyst. When I read your description of her symptoms, it sounded exactly how I felt a couple of years ago... after lots of tests, they found it to be a dermoid cyst.

I'm sorry to hear she's going through so much pain. With me, the pain came and went for weeks before it was diagnosed.

Fly,
I have nothing to add but support. I hope DD's pediatrician has some insight into what this might be/have been. How is DD feeling now?

Aw you all...

budge, thanks and the exact same back to you :).

It's *amazing* how many cases of ovarian cyst there are amongst us/our DDs. I'd never heard of it before.

So far so good with DD. We may call the ped on Monday but she's not in pain anymore. For now we're o.k. and going to a storytelling thing today, even (I hope!) mitch, with any luck that would be what it was. Did you have any other symptoms or just the pain? That was what was confusing me with DD. *Just* pain, nothing else, not even ulcer-type pain (burning).

We'll probably call the ped and see if anyone else has been having something like this--we don't know anyone who has, but then again it could be anyone. Again, your support and information were invaluable. I know what things to look for if it comes back thanks to you all.