Nausea and loss of appetite

[nitti365]

Hello,
my son is 14 years old and has never had any surgeries and nothing more serious than Mesenteric Lymphadenitis, which we cleared up with some Ibuprofen last year. His only symptoms for that were stomach pain.

Now, a couple of weeks ago he started getting severely nauseous in the mornings and also sometimes in the afternoons. He also has a very decreased appetite in the mornings. He used to eat two bowls of cereal in the morning and now he can't even touch water. I am really worried about him and made an appointment for him with out family doctor.

I just want to make sure he's taken care of properly because i'm very worried about him. Can someone tell me what I should ask the primary care physician about? like possible diagnosis? also, which labs and test should i request to be run?

thank you so much for your help.

[S. Kaul, MD]

Hi!

It’s important to understand that simple things such as anemia or UTI could cause nausea and loss of appetite. Without knowing for sure that it is a gastroenterology/ related issue, it would be a wastage of resources to see a gastroenterologist directly e.g. this could be a thyroid issue or a malignancy; and one would end up jumping from a gastroenterologist to a primary care physician and then an endocrinologist or oncologist. Also diet changes may be beneficial for the related conditions and these may be suggested preferably post a clinical evaluation in case there is a suspicion of the conditions being related.

Regards

[patient915]

Welcome to the gastroenterology community!  I would recommend that you get a referral to a gastroenterologist about this.  I would also recommend that you try eliminating different foods from his diet, such as lactose or gluten.  You can also try him on a low-fat, low-fiber, many small meals a day diet.

[S. Kaul, MD]

Hi there!

Nausea and loss of appetite are very vague symptoms which may not necessarily  be related to the GI. Any systemic illness including infections, metabolic/ endocrine disorders, growths, allergies, micronutrient deficiencies, medication side effect etc. could lead to similar symptoms. It would be bet to get this evaluated by a primary care physician and depending on the cause diagnosed or suspected; it can be managed accordingly or specialist care may be sought.
Hope this helps.

Take care!