Teenager with constant stomach pain (3 months +)

[Jac1102]

My 14 year old daughter has had constant stomach pains in her lower right side since the end Jan 2009.
It came on very suddenly as a sharp pain. She was admitted to hospital with suspected appedicitus but sent home again. Several admissions later and all sorts of tests have revealed nothing. Blood/urine tests have come back normal. She's had 3 ultrasounds - again they were normal. She had an x-ray which did show a small calcification around the pain area but the doctors said this was a red herring and not the cause of the pain. Upon having an MRI scan they said the calcification had now gone and everything looked normal? She and I are at breaking point - she has been unable to attend school since it started and this is having very serious effects on her education not to mention her health. She has been taking paracetamol, ibuprofen and codeine since it started. She has also had diclofenic and amitriptyline but nothing takes the pain away. She is not having any problems at school and prior to this was a happy and well teenager. She is having no problems at school with her education or bullying. I rang her consultant last week as she was in severe pain after attending school for a day but was told there is not much more they can do? Please, has anyone any ideas or suggestions???

[Jac1102]

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[ematn]

Bless you hearts.  You need a doctor like House.  Hope you get it figured out.  Had my GB removed about 7 years ago and felt better then after my son 2 1/2 years ago I have pain similar to GB spasms and no doctor knows what is wrong with  me either.  One says kidney the other said bladder but my pain is more in  my back than abdomin.  Anyway, hope you are all well soon.

EMATN

[Brian32]

Hi
I to had a lot of pain in my abdominal area.  I took a test called Nuclear Medicine Hepatibiliary Scan I don't know if this test is for your daughter or not but it was the only test that found my problem (The Gallbladder) it was removed and I feel good now but they mess around for 3 years before I found this test myself.  It tracts the fluid as it runs throu your system.

Also I would say talk to your doctor about stronger pain medicine.

Note: When I had my attacts I would take my pain meds before a hot hot bath. The bath would take away the pain instantly (Make sure that the water is hot and covers the abdominal area) the bath would take away my pain while the pain meds had time to kick in.  I know this sound silly but it work for me every time (can't hurt to try it)  Hope you fine out soon.

God be with you guys

[Jac1102]

Thanks for the replies. I hope you are both well now, it seems to be a common thing to tell you its all in your head.
My daughter has been seen by a gynecologist, they were the ones that organised the ultrasounds. They are still saying everything is normal. Since my first post, we have paid privately to see a pain consultant, he thought it could be something to do with nerve endings and gave her 4 injections directly into the area that is causing problems. Unfortunately this hasn't worked. We have a followup appt with them again in a few weeks time. In the meantime, her main consultant doesn't want to see her for another couple months and has referred her to the physcology team! (which has a 5 month waiting list!!!!!) She is still in pain but is now doing her best to try to lead a normal life, although this is proving difficult. I will keep you updated if anything changes.

[Jacwright]

Has she been checked by a gynecologist?  It could be an ovarian cyst.  I have had surgery several times for them - the first time was when I was 16 and had been having severe pain in my lower right side for a long time.  The doctor said he couldn't find anything wrong and soon everyone was saying it was all in my head.  I kept saying something was very wrong and when I died I wanted "I told you I was sick" put on my headstone!  Then one early morning I got up to go to the bathroom and passed out.  I had always had heavy menstrual periods, and it had been especially heavy for several weeks.  I was rushed to the hospital and they thought I was either having a miscarriage or ectopic pregnancy (which was ridiculous because I was an innocent 16 year old) but the doctor told my mom that was the only thing it could be.  You can imagine how she felt.  They did a D&C and discovered almost no blood in my uterus, so got permission from my mother to do exploratory surgery.  Turns out it was a ruptured ovarian cyst, which was causing internal bleeding and I nearly died.  All because of a cyst that should have been found months earlier.  I had two other episodes of ruptured ovarian cysts, and a total of 4 surgeries for them before having to finally have a complete hysterectomy at age 29.  Good luck, I hope they find out what is wrong with your daughter and it's not serious.

[TraceyKlass]

My daughter started having severe abdominal pain when she was in 5th grade. It continued until senior year in high school. Took her out of school repeatedly. Multiple tests, er visits, it was a nightmare. She just wanted to be normal. Doctors tended to tell her and me it was in her head. They were never with us when she had the attacks. She would turn white, sweat and then cover her head and go to sleep to get away from the pain.  Finally one more test was done (not until senior year) by a whole different doctor(we had moved) that had not been done before, Gallbladder Scan. Before, just ultra-sounds where done and they kept saying everything looked fine. After the scan, they determined she had a non-functioning gall bladder and scheduled surgery right away. Her gall bladder was covered with lesions and was wrapped up clear into her liver. The doctors said it looked very suspicious, but no cancer was found. They figured all those years she was having gall bladder attacks from a bad gallbladder. She the gall bladder. They just don't expect kids to have bad gallbladders. It took her over a year to get back to feeling better.