Causes of chronic nausea?

core0 · Feb 27, 2009

I'm an OB nurse, so this is not my specialty. What would you all think of an 11 year old with chronic nausea? No other symptoms except maybe some fatigue, slight dizziness, but mainly just nauseated, especiallly after eating. Doesn't seem to matter what he eats. This happened a year and a half ago and lasted about a month, now is back and has been going on for almost 2 weeks. No vomiting, no diarrhea, no other medical hx.
Love to hear your thoughts!
thanks!

If this is your kid then you need to see the appropriate health care provider (TOS). The differential is long but Celiac Disease, Peptic ulcer disease and eosinophilic gastritis would have to be on top of the differential. Peds GI would be the way to go. The dizzyness would also make me worry that there wasn't some neuro or otology cause.

David Carpenter, PA-C

Booty Nurse, BSN · Mar 3, 2009

My son had a mysterious GI issue when he was 10. His symptoms were mostly pain, but also had nausea, headache, and dizziness. We went through several diagnoses, many drugs, a barium enema, and a colonoscopy & EGD. He missed almost six weeks of school. It was so horrible to watch my normally rambunctious son doubled over in pain for hours every day. All tests came back normal. His final diagnosis ended up being recurrent abdominal pain disorder, a functional disorder similar to IBS but higher in the GI tract. It went away by itself after about two months, thank god.

I would begin a workup with the least invasive tests first. Good luck and hang in there!

mama_d, BSN, RN · Mar 3, 2009

My twelve year old step son is going through this. He just had an EGD and colonoscopy done, which just showed some esophagitis. He got started on Nexium, but it hasn't helped much yet. On top of that, he's going through a growth spurt (two inches in two months!) which is causing severe musculo-skeletal pain. It's so frustrating, especially as a nurse, to watch him go through this. We've tried Zofran, which didn't help, so we trialed him on Reglan, which also didn't help. So, no advice, besides to try a peds GI specialist, but I feel your pain. He's had GI issues since he was a baby, but usually just constipation and test anxiety manifested as nausea/vomiting, it's taken this long to find docs who would listen to us that there was indeed a problem.

ana tomy · Apr 19, 2009

I know that when my son was about 8yrs old..he was always bent over with abd pain before school and at night when he went to bed. Took him to DR because son was not the type to fake it/complain. he said it was very real. He had a teacher that was intimidating the kids..His bowels were "in knots". Bentylol really helped along with adressing the issue of the teacher. Other parents also reported their kids with stress symptoms. Just a thought. I know that vertigo can cause nausea..stemetil seems to be the only med that helped us(unrelated to first situation) Good luck.

melleroni · Feb 17, 2010

I know this post is older, but my 7 year old daughter has had nausea for over a year now, had a barium swallow that was normal, and we are waiting for celiac test results. So far everything, even blood work is normal. She also gets strep throat alot, and over a year ago had Henoch Schonlein Purpura. She also has sore joints at night and sometimes in the morning. She has abdominal pain after she eats, but also when she hasn't eaten. We are going to get her tested for food allergies too. Anyone have any ideas what could be going on? Any similar stories? What were your outcomes?

allnurses Guide · Feb 17, 2010

I'm going to close this thread, we are unable and it would be inappropriate to speculate about what could be going on with any of these children, these symptoms need to be investigated by primary health care providers.

Thread closed