<p>My poor 15 yr old daughter has been hit hard with severe diarrhea and nausea that seems to hit after she eats and then also sometimes in the middle of the night. She does not have a fever but says she feels hot. She looks pale. Apparently, this has been going on for about a week but I was only made aware of it yesterday. </p>
<p>When she was younger she seemed to have a bit of lactose intolerance but it seemed to have lessened over the years. Could it have flared up again? </p>
<p>She stayed home from school today and she is eating a bland diet with no dairy. If she doesn’t feel better by tomorrow, I plan to take her to the doctor. </p>
<p>I’m concerned that this might be IBS - or something less controllable than lactose intolerance. Does this sound like the symptoms of IBS?</p>
<p>Your daughter needs a full checkup by a gastroenterologist. It could be an infection or it could be Celiac or something else. Time to give your doctor a call.</p>
<p>Added: sorry I see you already made an appointment for her. I hope you quickly figure out what it is.</p>
<p>My D suddenly became lactose intolerant a few years ago, and after seeing a GI doc, we found out she probably has IBS. He told her to get a blood test to rule out Crohn’s and gave her acidophilus tablets to take daily (as well as avoiding lactose).</p>
<p>Definitely see the Dr. My son had gas and vomiting after eating when he was about 5. They tested him for giardia and it came out negative, but when they treated him for this, the problem went away. It could be a number of things with your D, but you want to see a Dr at this point, not us.</p>
<p>Mine had the same symptoms at just about the same age. After a few visits to the gastroenterologist and an endoscopy that was fairly unremarkable, she was put on Nexium for a period of months (6, if I recall correctly), small, frequent meals, and the addition of probiotics. For the probiotics, he recommended “Align” brand in particular, which, BTW, is considerably less expensive at Costco. By and large, that has done the trick, though she does take a Nexium, typically for a week, now and again. Best wishes to you and her. P.S. My daughter told me to share that the endoscopy wasn’t “that bad,” though she was given a little Xanax before the procedure, and was sedated during the procedure - I recall that the sedation was not covered by insurance, which was the insurer’s was of adding insult to injury!</p>
<p>I don’t mean you should stop talking to us for support, but that you should make a Dr appt too. My son would seem better for a day or so and then it would come back.</p>
<p>This sounds like what I got sick with sophomore year of college. It started off intermittent, sick one day this week, another day next week, then it became more frequent. Unfortunately I just got sicker and sicker and didn’t get any medical attention for the first year, and ultimately was very ill for two and a half years before it started getting better. I had endoscopy, colonoscopy, and all that and they didn’t find anything. Never figured out what it was, and the catch-all diagnosis was IBS.</p>
<p>As I understand it, these days there are several treatments for IBS-- frankly I’d rather have that than lactose intolerance. I likely have IBS AND a dairy allergy, and the dairy issue made a massive lifestyle change necessary. I have to make almost all my food from scratch, which was not easy as a dorming college student. Think of how many foods are made with butter, milk, or cream.</p>
<p>If it has only been a week, it could be a virus or a bacterial infection. I have had IBS and dairy intolerance. The dairy issues come and go. Sometimes I am fine with it for years and then it comes back for a while.</p>
<p>Thanks everyone. I am actually hoping it’s the flu…as apparently it is going around right now. (Although this has lasted longer than is typical for the flu, I think.) Either way, it’s off to the Dr. tomorrow if she is not feeling better by then.</p>
<p>If it does seem to develop into something chronic, the best way to learn what her triggers are is to semi-fast, try a liquid diet for a day or so, something she feels good about ingesting. Then after she has had at least 24 hours with no issues, introduce a particular group of food to see what is reactive and what is okay.</p>
<p>my D had giardia as a 2 year old. Only reason it was diagnosed without problems is that our next door neighbor was a pediatrician ( I didn’t use him except for consultation, too easy to abuse a neighbor) At that age she had severe pain with gas that was very smelly. antibiotics cleared it up quickly.
she has since been diagnosed with ulcerative colitis and treated with lots of meds she didn’t like. As she wasn’t happy with the dr, we switched her to the adult doc who decided it was IBS. She had pain, bloody stools and nausea. the switch came about as colitis usually stems from a stressful event and IBS just happens (or maybe it was the other way around)
Either way, I’d see a doc soon. Better treated early when it’s easy to treat. If she’s felt bad for a week, then get her to a doctor. flu bugs don’t last a week, other issues do.</p>
<p>I was just reading about food-borne illness and the sources said that symptoms usually appear within 1-6 hours, but that it could be days or months! So many possibilities. Including a reaction to wheat or dairy. Start looking now.</p>
<p>Have you considered that this might be related to the recent outbreak of listeria that was spread through cantaloupe? The symptoms can take weeks to show up.</p>
<p>Back from the doctor. Their best guess is that it is a virus…but advised that we should keep her diet bland until the symptoms disappear then add things in slowly, such as dairy. If it doesn’t clear up by Friday, we are to return to the Dr.</p>
<p>We have had tummy flu viruses that took weeks and weeks to go away. Late summer / start of school tends to be the time they hit, tho not always. I never had one of these 'till my kids were in school. Then it became a once every couple of years kind of thing. Can feel like someone punches you in the gut every few minutes, or like cramping in the gut in waves. Comes and goes for longer than you want to bother with it. Some days you can go about your business with it and others it just knocks you down. Just saying we’ve had tum bugs that last a long time. </p>
<p>On another note, my lactose intolerance seems to be better since switching my daily vitamin to a melts-in-your-mouth type. I wonder if pills lodged in the digestive tract might hang around long enough to create irritation???</p>