Severe Long-lasting Abdominal pains in child

[cat1973]

My 8 year old son was at a pool party and started complaining about pain in his stomach.  Well, it never stopped and became very severe throughout the night.  With no sleep between the two of us, the next day we saw his peditrician who thought it was acid reflux - since the pain in his abdomine was his only symptom.  They put him on Maalox & Previcid.  The pain which was described as "stabbing" pains worked like contractions: high peaks, low peaks, sometimes disappear for hours and then came back stronger for six to twelve hours at a time.  He stayed in hospitals a total of seven days in  a  two week timeframe. Throughout this whole time, he had CAT scan, x-rays, ultrasounds, celiac, h-polyeri, merkels radiation procedure done, urine, blood, stool to check for parasites/bacteral , allergy testing-- all came up negative.  I am so afraid it is going to come back. The pain for my son was unbearable - he is still getting back to himself. One thing, within that two week period, the pain moved from center abdomine to lower left side.  The Pedatric Gastroentologist had no answers for us and could not diagose.  Any ideas?

[mtribble]

Hi,
Was there any diagnosis for your son?  My 5.5 year old is having identical issues - severe abdominal pain, worse at night, 2 weeks in/out hospital + nosebleeds every other day or so.  All tests showed nothing.
thanks!

[AnnieBrooke]

Someone just posted about Nutcracker Syndrome, you might google it and see if it seems to fit.

[cat1973]

Yes, he has food intolerance to corn and nuts - not allegies.  I have been trying to find out more about lactose/gluten/yeast intolerance and how/if this is a problem for him.  This is something I am really going to check on.
And yes, they did check his urine/no infections.  They would not do a colonoscopy or gastroscopy - they thought it was too invasive for him - being that he went through so much already.  I know if it comes back that will be the next step.  As far as appendix - would they have seen that on the ultrasound?  They really looked at everything.

Thank you for replying back to me and giving me all your words of wisdom!

[zazou]

Does your son have some form of food intolerance? That may be a reason e.g. lactose, gluten or yeast intolerance. I would usually think he had a stomach virus or parasite but his stool came negative, although that doesn't rule out a virus, there are so many and numerous strains out there which cannot be tested. What about a urinary tract infection? Wsa his urine OK? Did they perform a colonoscopy or a gastroscopy? Perhaps having a look in there would not be a bad idea or to perform a biopsy.

This might sound strange but what about his appendix. They are some cases of the appendix being on the left side instead of the right hand side.

Good luck!