14 yr old daughter with anemia/very low ferritin - nausea, stomach pain and vomiting...help!!!

[shorty1967]

Hello - wonder if anyone has been through the same?? Daughter is 14 years old and was given high iron tablets some time ago as very low hb.  Was put down to very heavy periods and was given meds to reduce bleeding which worked really well. Whilst on iron had bad stomach ache and sometimes pain to the right side of the stomach - more often than not associated with eating. Was given meds to reduce acid in stomach and told to stop iron tabs as doc thought may have affected stomach. Daughter then started to lose weight dramatically - approx 1.5 stone in about 2 months. Blood tests done for caeliac disease, crohns and h pylori which all came back as 'insignificant' - but hb still low - 9.6 and ferratin is 3!! Has had ultrasound of abdomen which showed small mass on small bowel that radiographer was 90% sure was a piece of poo!! but has referred for mri scan to rule out 10% of doubt. Daughter is now hardly eating, has no energy at all, has stomach ache still at least once a day for a few minutes, diahorrea, nausea and vomiting. Some days is fine but other days food doesnt even have chance to reach her stomach before comes back up. Has sickle cell trait also. Paed docs have now transferred to specialist childrens hospital in view of upper and lower gastroscopy in view of IBD. No blood in poo and poo only ever black when on iron as would expect. Nothing to suggest blood in poo as brown/normal colour.
At wits end as seem to be going from doc to doc who do not know so pass on to another doc!! Just wondered if anyone has similar experience that may know what is the cause?
Help!!
M

[trace70]

A related discussion, bally pains and low feritin levels was started.

[prettyboater]

I am 58 years old and have had chronic anemia for several years. I've also been diagnosed with GERD and have been taking Nexium for several years (when needed, not constantly).  After doing research online, I just found a lot of information that anemia is sometimes CAUSED by stomach acid inhibitors (i.e. Nexium, Prilosec, etc).  Evidently, they cause your stomach to have TOO LITTLE ACID, which causes anemia.  See if you can do some research about this, because rather than taking those stomach medications, your daughters should possibly stop them and try to build up their stomach acid naturally.  Also, for my anemia, I take Floradix, an over-the-counter liquid, which does not disturb the stomach like iron tablets do.  See if that works better.  I would investigate a more holistic physician to see if you can control these problems naturally.  Good Luck and let us know how your daughters are doing.

[nymaddie]

Hi,
When I read your post, I honestly thought I was reading about my own 14 year old daughter.  Her symptoms, tests diagnoses seem exactly the same as you have described with your daughter.  We still do not know what is going on, as we are waiting for the results of her endoscopy biopsy and her second round of blood and stool tests. My personal feeling is that my daughter's problems were caused by the heavy duty iron supplements she was given.  As with your daughter, they first believed the iron deficiency was caused by heavy periods.  She went through this about a year and half ago after taking 65 mg of ferrous sulfate 3x per day.  At that time, she began getting chronic diarrhea and had stomach pain.  They stopped the iron and put her on 3 different probiotics, as well as a rice drink.  It worked very well, but eventually the iron deficiency came back, and they put her on an iron supplement called Chromagen, which also worked very well as far as bring her hemoglobin and ferriten levels up. However, she then developed constipation problems, severe stomach pain, acid reflux and constant nausea.  She has already missed a day of school in just the first week!!  She continues to lose weight and eats nothing put plain crackers, and every now and then I literally force her to eat a couple of ounces of some plain chicken or beef.  She takes Prilosec in the AM, Zantac in the PM, as well as two probiotics and aloe vera juice, but nothing seems to be working.  Please, as soon as you know more about what is causing your daughter's problems, please post.  I will do the same.
Madeline

[shorty1967]

Thanks for your message but dont think its any blockage - on the ultrasound wasnt showing as blocked - more just swollen at one point on one side. Also think if was blocked would have had more serious outcome by now as this has been going on for months and months.
Has been referred to a paed ibd doctor in view of performing upper and lower gastroscopy - they are looking more towards Crohns - symtoms arent typical but gp says will always be patients that dont present typically.......
Just playing a waiting game but not very nice watching your child lose more and more weight by the day.
Thanks again for your message and for taking the time to read mine and reply to it.
Will post again when find out what it is as would love to help someone else in the same position  - hopefully in the end will be able to save another parent alot of time and worry.
Shorty

[Bhupinder Kaur, MD]

Hello,

The symptoms that your daughter is having may be due to abdominal mass. The radiologist is right in saying that it can be mass of faecal matter. Obstruction of the small bowel causes symptoms shortly after onset: abdominal cramps centered around the umbilicus or in the epigastrium, vomiting and diarrhea.

Diagnosis can be confirmed after MRI.

Treatment involves I/V fluids and by resection.

Pls consult a GI surgeon to make a confirmatory diagnosis and treatment.

Take care and do keep us posted on how your daughter is doing.