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Hollei

Joined
Aug 14, 2012
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5
Hi all. I am writing here because my 9 yr old daughter had a GI appt today for her stomach pain and had a guiac positive stool from a rectal exam. She has Hashimoto's thyroiditis so in the back of my mind I always knew that her belly pain could be indicative of IBD. The GI ordered labs and we decided no scopes just yet. Going to see what labs show and how she does over the next month. He started her on levsin for the pain/cramping. I am so worried. I hope she doesn't have to travel the IBD road especially from the age of 9. However, I know we need to get her belly pain and cramping under control. The pain is so bad and constant that she hugged me before we started getting ready this morning and thanked me for taking her to a belly doctor.
I have a question for all of you also. She had a rectal exam today. There was not any frank blood, just the stool was guiac positive. Tonight she had another painful cramping bowel movement and there was a decent amount of blood. Could this be from irritation from the rectal exam?
Thanks for listening and for any responses. I really appreciate it.
 
Oh, the poor girl! I'm so sorry that she is having so much pain. I'm so glad you found this forum - I'm sure you'll find lots of info, advice and support here! There are some incredible parents who will offer their help and support to you!

As for the blood, and this is just my 'guess', but if blood has never been present with bowel movements before, I would assume it's related to the exam, especially if it only happens once or twice. However, if it continues, then it may be a new symptom. :(

As your daughter hasn't been definitely diagnosed yet, please do some research on Enteral Nutrition. It's a very safe treatment (no side effects), provides all necessary nutrition, allows bowel rest and has anti-inflammatory and healing properties. With Crohns, it's success rate at inducing remission is comparable to steroids (I believe it may not be as successful with UC??). I'm not sure where you are but, while it often the first treatment option for children around the world, it seems to be much less common in the U.S. If you are in the U.S., you may have to initiate the conversation re EN with your GI. There's lots of info re EN under the treatment section, as well there is a thread called Kids on Enteral Nutrition in the Diet subforum within this (Parents) forum.

I really hope she begins to feel better soon!!! Please let us know how she's doing! :ghug:
 
Hi Hollei and :welcome:

I am so very sorry to hear that your daughter is having GI issues and pain, bless her, and particularly heartbreaking when our children instinctively know that something is wrong. :( What a very difficult and worrying time for you. :hug:

You will find many kindred spirits here hun, there are many parents with young ones of your daughter's age, or very close to it.

Is this the first time your daughter has had frank blood with a bowel movement?
If so then I wouldn't rule out that the rectal examination has caused some trauma to the anus/rectum and therefore bleeding when opening her bowels.

I hope the Levsin calms the pain and cramping down and that the GI issues are a passing anomaly but either way we are for you Mum.

Good luck! and please keep us posted on how things are going.

Dusty. xxx
 
Oh what a little sweet heart! ... thanking/hugging you for taking her to the GI. I hope you get answers and something to help her pain soon. Good luck!
 
Hugs to you.
My girl is still undiagnosed.
She also has painful passage of stools.
We have to use glycerin suppository's to help move the stool along.
Their might be damage being done in the rectum if she's having painful BM's.
My Grace had a prolapse that has started to show again.
Trust me you don't want her to have one.
I hope you get answers soon.

How old is your girl?
 
Hi everyone and thanks for all of the support. This was not the first time we saw blood in the potty. It's happened multiple times before. It's not large amounts of blood, but enough. We got her labs back and they were all normal. I am very happy and encouraged with that. The labs included a sed rate and crp. Also an IgA. Still can't explain the guiac positive stool or the relentless belly pain. Our next appt with the GI is in the beginning of November so I guess we will treat the pain as best we can for now.
 
I don't want to make you worry any more but Ellie's crp and mcv were both normal until she was dx with IBD. She had terrible symptoms for almost a year before her colonoscopy. If she's still having pain and blood there is something going on. Maybe talk to her dr about a colonoscopy? Hope she starts feeling better.
 
Ditto that.
DS is always normal blood work , stomach pain and not much blood but was inflamed from end to end .
 
Hello and welcome. But ofcourse I am sorry that you have had to find us. I hope that you can soon get some answers for your daughter.

I just wondered if she might have any perianal issues? My son has perianal fissures and regularly has a swipe of blood on the toilet tissue after wiping.

Just thought I'd throw that in!

I hope that it is not long until your next appointment and you have a plan of action. I know it is a very hard time at the moment, living with all the unknowns is very scary. Take good care of yourself.

Warm wishes,
LilyRose
 
So sorry about your daughter's tummy problems! It is very hard to see them in pain. Levsin is a great medication. It has helped my son alot when he wasn't feeling well. Only a few times did it miss the mark and we moved on to zofran.

I would keep an eye out for a continuing pattern on the blood. It could be irritation from the exam. Even if she has a fissure, the exam could have opened it back up for sure. They are a booger to heal.

Hugs and hope she feels better soon!
 
So sorry about your daughter! I just wanted to pipe in and say my daughters labs also are never really abnormal. I highly recommend asking for a colonoscopy. Also if she is in that much pain they should not be pushing her appt off until November. That seems an awful long time to wait. I did not see where you are. Are you in the states? Can you ask to get in sooner?
 
Hi Hollei, I would agree with Kimmidwife in regards to the colonoscopy - any persistent (even intermittent) rectal bleeding should be properly investigated. A really good non-invasive test while you're waiting is a faecal calprotectin, this measures the level of inflammation in the bowel, if it's high, then you could well be dealing with Crohns or Ulcerative colitis, however, if it's normal that would be very reassuring, much moreso than a normal CRP.

Another thought is could your daughter be constipated, that might explain all her symptoms?

Best wishes.
 
Hi all! I know it's been so long and I REALLY appreciate all the thoughts and support. School and activities have kept us crazy busy.
We went to Madison's follow up today. She is going to have an Endo and colonoscopy. We just have to wait for MD office to call to get day/time, but it should be soon. The MD did say that the area of pain she is describing in addition to the pain around her belly button is where the terminal ileum is and he said he is concerned that it could be Crohns especially since she already has another autoimmune disease (Hashimoto's thyroiditis). Nervous and worried. I don't want it to be crohns, but I want it to be something that can be treated because of the pain she is in daily. I hope they schedule her soon. She and we need some answers. Again, thank you all for the previous responses.
 
That's good that they are doing the endoscopy and colonoscopy -at least then you will know for sure, rather than worrying about what ifs. Hope it goes well.
 
Thanks for the update Hollei...:hug:

Good luck with the scopes! I hope they scheduled soon and you have solid answers and lasting relief Madison, bless her. :heart:

Dusty. xxx
 
Hey everyone! Maddie is having her scopes this Thursday. We were not really expecting it to be this soon. Children's in Pgh doesn't mess around, I guess. Thank all of you for your thoughts and support. I will update on Thursday.
 
Good luck on your scope.
The prep is the worst .
The scope itself is very easy .
Lots of Popsicles after wards help
Avoid red so you don't mistake it for blood if she pukes.
 

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