Worried

[Kat0430]

My daughter recently turned 8 yrs old. For more than a year now at difft times throughout the day she experiences what she calls a "virus" where she experiences severe feelings of nausea. She rarely throws up and sometimes gets a stomach and/or headache with the nausea. She often if at school has to put her head down, if at home she gets an ice pack for her neck and tries to wait for this "virus" to pass. We've taken her to our pediatrician , a pediatric nuerologist, an endocrinologist, and have had every lab test known to man run on her. We've come up with nothing and she's really having some bad times at school now with this. I know these feelings of nausea are legitimate, you can just see it in her eyes as they are very weak at these times. PLEASE, does any of this sound familiar to anyone and can you please offer any advice to a heartbroken Mom who doesn't know what to do for her daughter.

[Dr. Kokil Mathur]

Hi
Welcome to the MedHelp forum!
Yes, it is really worrying to see your child suffer. Since she is just 8, there is a chance she has lactose allergy and milk or milk products are causing nausea. Other food sensitivities too can co-exist. It can also be due to acidity. Though she is very small possibility of a nerve impingement in cervical spine area should also be investigated. It could also be cyclical vomiting syndrome with only nausea and no frank vomiting. Hope this helps. Take care!

[geminigirl1963]

It could possibly be signs of migraines - not all migraines start, or even contain, headaches.  There is also something that they call "abdominal migraines" that mainly at least start with stomach pain and nausea - sometimes also with headache, but not always - my nephew used to suffer from these.  

One reason I'm thinking along the migraine line is because of how you say she gets an ice pack for her neck when this happens.  Fortunately, I don't get many migraines, but when I do, they are doozies (mine don't always start with headaches either, sometimes I get the nausea first and then the headache up to even several hours later) - and one of the things that helps me most is to lay down in a dark, quiet room with ice on the back of my neck.

Ask your pediatrician about possibly giving a migraine medication a try next time this happens and see if it helps.  There are many good migraine medications out there.

I would also kind of keep track of what she has eaten/drank the day of and the day before one of these episodes to see if you can relate it to something in particular such as chocolate, more sugar than normal, caffeine, dairy, wheat/gluten -- food sensitivities definitely can cause nausea, stomach pain and headaches.

Best of luck and please keep us posted on how she's doing.

[MMahon]

I agree with sakura above.  If tests have ruled out other possibilities then anxiety should be considered and I'd have expected the doctors who have seen her to have suggested this.
Does it focus mainly at school?  Has anything changed in her life in the last year that may be impacting her?  Does anything seem to trigger it off?  Could she be having problems with other students at school?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anxiety_disorder#Childhood_anxiety_disorders

[sakura4000]

Are you sure she might not be suffering from some type of anxiety disorder which could definately cause bouts of nausea and the other symptoms she is experiencing. I know she is only eight but it could be a possibility. Hope this helps