17 Year Old With Constant Nausea

[menech]

My 17 yr old daughter has been having constant nausea since December.  When it first began I thought she was having viral problems and made her miss school.  She feels like throwing up but never does.  She had one incident for a few days where she experienced heartburn and a few other times the nausea was accompanied with abdominal pains.  Most of the time she just experiences nausea. I took her to the pediatrician.  He prescribed prilosec.  She has taken it for two weeks now.  She thinks the nausea may have lessened but she is still experiencing it.  How long should she stay on this and if she still experiences the symptoms should I bring her to a GI specialist?

[menech]

Wow, glad you mentioned the vitamin D.  She has had low vit D levels for some time now and is supposed to be taking supplements. I am surprised her doctor didn't mention this to me.

She's very involved in school but she claims that stress is not a problem - I have asked her if maybe nerves could be causing it.  

I think I will try the prilosec for another week and if she is still symptomatic I will make an appointment with the GI guy. I really don't want to go that route if I don't have to. I have another kid with GI issues who see's a GI guy regularly. He's great, but test-crazy. I don't want to have to put her through all this if I don't have to.

Thanks for the suggestions.

[selmaS]

  Hi and welcome to the GERD forum.

I would suggest going to a GI Dr just to make sure it is high Acid levels as Low levels can cause many of the same symptoms...so a PH test should be done.

When on meds like prilosec she should have her blood panels done to check her vit D and magnesium...as it can get depleted from the med.

May I ask is she under a lot of stress at school? This can be a trigger for this....or if she had been ill  and on other meds or an antibiotic...these can cause this type of issue.

A probiotic may help...talk to her Drs, get a PH test and ask about a probiotic.

She should eat healthy avoiding foods that may trigger symptoms, and alter her life style to aid the meds in doing there job...and exercise is important.