Okay fellow school nurses, I have an awesome 5th grade kid who has been out of school for going on 2 weeks (9 days so far) for vomiting. He's a high anxiety type of kid, but hasn't had anxiety related absences or nurse visits since 3rd grade. He hung out in my office a few days ago while mom had a meeting with his teachers about sending his work home, in the hour he was with me, he vomited 6 times.
Mom is feeling like her concerns aren't being heard by his pediatrician-no tests have been ordered, no anti-nausea medication. When he became very dizzy over the weekend, she took him to the ER and they did labs and dx with dehydration r/t psychosomatic emesis. I sent him home today because he was vomiting and urged mom to seek an opinion from GI. Even if it is anxiety related, a kid can't just keep vomiting for days on end without negative health effects, right? Feeling a bit helpless with this one, any ideas?
Not a school nurse, but from my experience: If the pediatrician is still dicking around with this kid, mom needs to go park in the ED of the nearest children's hospital until she gets a GI referral/ consult.
So my friend came to school today, yay! He spent an hour in my office in the morning and again in the afternoon, but it's progress! He saw a GI doc and mom said that if he is still vomiting frequently, they are going to schedule an endoscopy. They started him on prilosec for now and gave him some anti-nausea meds(not zofran, a supplement-mom couldn't remember the name). He hasn't vomited in 2 whole days, but still isn't eating much. He still feels crappy, but at least he seems to be heading in right direction. Thank you all for your input. GI suspects abd. migraines/cyclical vomiting, but because there's no pattern yet, they can't make that diagnosis. Mom said GI echoed what we all said-no matter the reason for vomiting, vomiting several times daily is going to cause major problems.
meanmaryjean, DNP, RN
7,899 Posts
Not a school nurse, but from my experience: If the pediatrician is still dicking around with this kid, mom needs to go park in the ED of the nearest children's hospital until she gets a GI referral/ consult.