[mom2ibs]

From the time she was 11 months old she had trouble with her stomach. The pediatrician ruled it as a reaction to milk but never did anything to find out for sure. I put her on soy milk and she did okay. Eventually she stopped drinking or eating milk products and took supplements to get her calcium. For the last two years she has been out of school off and on with what appear to be the stomach virus. I would take her to the dr and they would say, well the stomach virus is going around the schools and she has it. They never really offer much help and I stopped taking her in everything she had the stomach virus because they would do nothing for her. Starting January 3rd she got sick with what appear to be the stomach virus. My other two daughters also had the virus but they got over it in a day. At first I thought that maybe she just had a worse case of it. Friday came around and she was not much better so I made an appointment with our pediatrician. Honestly I did this so I could get a dr excuse for our wonderful school system since she has already missed over the 9 days allowed for the year. I never dreamed that she had something wrong with her. When we got to the pediatrician she started to examine her. As she felt her stomach she could feel a large mass on her left side of her colon. This is where the pain was starting up. The dr sent her to the hospital immediately to have x-rays to make sure there was not a blockage. Then she refer her to an allergists to rule out food allergies. We had the x-ray on Friday. Days went by and she was getting worse. The pain more severe and she was hurting a lot. During this time her bm was every two days but she was not straining and they were normal. Tuesday we finally got in to see the allergy specialist and he pretty much ruled out food allergies, celiac disease, UTI with tests. He also pulled her xray up for me that I had not been able to get the pediatrician to do and was told it was normal. No blockage, no build up of poop, etc. He refer her to a pediatric GI at the Nemours clinic in a nearby town about an hour away from here. We have that appt on the 28th of this month.

She went back to school on that Wednesday but I ended up having to go get her at noon because she was hurting. It was almost a week before she would go back. Meanwhile the blood work came back okay. Still not knowing what was going on and hating to see her in pain I was at ends. She had been in school for about a week and manage to deal with the pain and then on a Wednesday after school she got worse. She barely made it to the car in the carline. I made an appt on Thursday with the Pediatrician for her. Once again I felt like I was hitting a brick wall. The dr told me that she was constipated and that there was nothing they could do for except put her on miralax which makes her very sick. I asked her if she could prescribe something to help her with the stomach pain and her exact words were that if she would go to the bathroom she would feel better after a couple of days. I left the office mad as a hornet because once again I felt like no one was listening to us. My daughter had been going to the bathroom. She didn't seem constipated. So on Monday I called my doctor and got her in to see him. He prescribed bentyl and order a CT-scan. The bentyl did not do anything for her. We had the CT-Scan on Wednesday. She was so sick during the test and before. She spent several times in the bathroom because her stomach was upset. The CT-scan was not too bad but they had to stop halfway and put her in the waiting room to make sure the dr was in the hospital. When they finally took her back there she was ready to go. They hooked her up to the IV and started the test. I have to admit she did really well. Better than me.

Wednesday she was really weak and her stomach was really cramping. Thursday I was going to the hospital with my dad for his heart cath so my mom kept her and she was really out of it in the morning. Mid morning she did seem to feel a little better but by afternoon she was really in pain. We were waiting out at the hospital with my dad waiting for the results. She laid in the waiting room on two years curled up in the fetus position. Once I knew that my dad was okay I took her home. That night was a nightmare. She laid on the couch in the same position she was in at the hospital waiting room. The pain was not only going up her left side but was moving toward her back. Around 8pm we got in the car and headed to the church to pick my youngest child up. She sat in the back seat and was moaning and groaning. My 13 year old brought my attention to the sounds because they were very low pitch. I arrived at the church and checked on her. I knew she was in bad shape. She would not answer me except groan here and there. I ran into the church and got my youngest child and headed back up the street. I asked her if she wanted to go to the er and she said with a moan yes. We got to the ER and they said her ct scan looked good and said that she probably had IBS or IBD and need to get into a Pediatric GI. They gave her loratab to help with the pain and sent us home. The loratab took the edge of the pain but she said it didn't help completely. Exhausted we both hit the bed around 1am. Both of us slept till 6am. My mom had my other two daughters. The next day we saw the dr and he pretty much gave us a diagnose of IBS. He said the CT-Scan show a large amount of poop in her colon and that she needed to be on fiber and mirlax twice a day with the adult strength. She only weighs 65 pounds, 10 years old, and stands 4'5. The miralax gives her severe stomach cramps. I tried to tell him this but he said she needed to take this. And then he told her in the rudest voice that she needed to go back to school now and that she was using this to stay out of school. Then he turned to me and asked me why I was letting her get away with this. She was just using this to stay out. I have to admit I was confused because I have never seen him act like this. We both left the office frustrated and confused. I know she is hurting. I know she is not using this as a way to stay out of school. She wants to go back to school. She likes school. She makes straight As and she doesn't like to get behind in her classes.

We do have an appt on the 28th with the specialist. I have heard good things about him and hopefully he can help us. Even though we have a diagnose of IBS two different dr we have seen (the ER doctor and the allergist) are both worried that she could have IBD/crohns or ulcerative colitis. I have crohns and I have to admit that my started out just like hers before the damage was done to my colon. I could not get a doctor to listen to me at all until it was too late and I was already very sick. I do not want her to end up like I did. I want her to be able to go back to school and not be frustrated with it all.

Also is there a website for kids her age to go to and talk to other kids who have IBS. She would love to read other stories by kids her age and talk to them. She might be 10 but she is like a little adult. Very mature for her age and has a great understanding of things. She knows she is hurting and she did not like what the doctor said to her. She told me that she is tired of the doctors acting like she is making up the pain. It hurts. It hurts bad. Why would I want to miss out being around my friends? Why would I drop out of my competetive swim team? I just want to help her. I can relate to her pain but I am at odds right now till the 28th.

I forgot to mention when we were at the ER for over five hours the ER doctor examine her and said that not only did the CT Scan look good but she said her tummy was soft and not hard. I asked her about being constipated because that seem what the pediatrician and my doctor were saying and she said she seem okay. Bowels sounds were normal and good and her tummy was not hard but soft. Contradicts what the pediatrican and my doctor said.