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Child Has Abdominal Pain, Vomiting, Losing Consciousness

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Posted on Sun, 23 Sep 2012
Question: During this last week my 7-year-old daughter was sent home from school because she vomited. The school nurse stated there was no fever. She was fine and normal for the rest of the day and was sent to school the following day with the same occurrence. She complained about her tummy being sore but was fine and we went about our day as normal. Early the next morning around 2 am she vomited while in her bed.

Past medical history that I feel is important:

2 years prior both my daughter and I had stomach pain. During a car ride my daughter lost consciousness and she could not be woken up. By the time I was able to pull the car over on the highway, try to call 911 (no mobile service), tried to get her to wake by yelling her name and patting her cheeks, released her from her car seat, went up the highway to where there was construction she finally woke. I would approximate it to be about 5 minutes. She was extremely pale and her lips were almost blue. She was breathing fine when I brought her out of her car seat and therefore did not administer cpr.

My daughter has passed out 2 other times in the past. One was very brief while riding in the car. The last recent one was about 2 weeks ago that started as a headache and tummy ache no vomiting and low grade fever. She was feeling better so we went shopping for school supplies. She complained of tummy and headache. I asked her to sit down a bit, which she did. Then she got up and started walking towards me and said mommy I don't... and lost consciousness. We took her to Urgent Care which the doctor thought she had Strep. Both the quick strep test and the 48-hour culture came back negative. Now she presents with the above.

Today her pain is in the exact area of my pain. Midline above the belly button and slightly to the left but not much. The pain is right in the aorta area but you have to press fairly XXXXXXX

Since then, I've had some very painful abdominal pain with intermittent diarrhea and one time bowel incontinence. These occurrences come intermittently, and I can't seem to have any correlation to a food sensitivity. My son has intermittent diarrhea as well as bowel incontinence as well.

My husband and stomach pain but no diarrhea and was diagnosed with acid reflux.

I have had my stools sampled and blood work which were negative to tested pathology.

doctor
Answered by Dr. Aparna Kohli (9 hours later)
Hi,
Thanks for writing in.
I think we are possibly looking at 2 independent scenarios here. First is your child losing consciousness which I think needs to be investigated thoroughly. We'll need to rule out seizures, heart disease, severe dehydration, arrhythmias etc. We need to start with an through evaluation and a chest Xray, echocardiogram , ECG and an EEG is required. The Streptococcal infection is definitely not related to losing consciousness.
Now, as far as the abdominal pain with diarrhoea is concerned, it could be colitis which can come back with totally normal tests. In this case, we'll also need a sonogram of the abdomen and possibly a sonography. While the abdominal pain may be related to the fainting, it's imperative to test her as it can prove to be quite XXXXXXX
Please see a physician. A thorough examination followed by some tests are required.
Let me know if you have any more questions
Regards
Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Chakravarthy Mazumdar
doctor
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Follow up: Dr. Aparna Kohli (14 minutes later)
Thank you for your response. Her abdominal pain coincides with her fainting. She always has abdominal pain prior to her fainting. I've taken her to the doctor in regard to these symptoms and tell me it's motion sickness or because she has been playing too hard etc. She does not lose her bowels or anything else. The reason I think this may be connected because we both had abdominal pain in the same area 2 years ago when she lost consciousness for the long period of time and her face drained of colour and her lips were almost blue. The strep test came back negative and the doctor did not order anything else. She only wanted to know of this one instance.

My husband has a history of fainting with seeing his own blood and also the vagus nerve from urinating. Also, my step daughter has a history of motion sickness when she was younger. The 5-9 year-old age.

With her first episode my first thought was seizure. No known history that I know of. Currently since the negative strep and flu like symptoms a week later she has been vomiting once per day for 3 consecutive days with feeling normal in between and intermittent mild abdominal pain.

Is it possible that she catches a bug, gets lightheaded and dizzy and faints from the motion sickness?
doctor
Answered by Dr. Aparna Kohli (19 minutes later)
Hi,
Thanks for writing back.
Even though vasovagal syncope( where pain etc can cause fainting) could be a reason for your daughter's fainting episodes, there is no reason why we should not rule out the other causes considering that an investigation like echocardiogram would do her no harm. Also, this is not transmitted in families. Its extremely unlikely that she catches a bug on and off. She would not faint from the motion sickness.
Please take a second opinion. Since your child could possibly fall down anywhere, we need to be careful here.
Regards
Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Chakravarthy Mazumdar
doctor
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Follow up: Dr. Aparna Kohli (27 minutes later)
Yes, I agree. The last incident I caught her because I knew she was going down. Thank you for your time.

Healthy Regards to you and your family!
doctor
Answered by Dr. Aparna Kohli (6 minutes later)
Hi
I am glad I could be of help.
Take care
Please close this discussion if you have no more questions
regards
Note: For further queries related to your child health, Talk to a Pediatrician. Click here to Book a Consultation.

Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Chakravarthy Mazumdar
doctor
Answered by
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Dr. Aparna Kohli

General & Family Physician

Practicing since :2009

Answered : 983 Questions

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Child Has Abdominal Pain, Vomiting, Losing Consciousness

Hi,
Thanks for writing in.
I think we are possibly looking at 2 independent scenarios here. First is your child losing consciousness which I think needs to be investigated thoroughly. We'll need to rule out seizures, heart disease, severe dehydration, arrhythmias etc. We need to start with an through evaluation and a chest Xray, echocardiogram , ECG and an EEG is required. The Streptococcal infection is definitely not related to losing consciousness.
Now, as far as the abdominal pain with diarrhoea is concerned, it could be colitis which can come back with totally normal tests. In this case, we'll also need a sonogram of the abdomen and possibly a sonography. While the abdominal pain may be related to the fainting, it's imperative to test her as it can prove to be quite XXXXXXX
Please see a physician. A thorough examination followed by some tests are required.
Let me know if you have any more questions
Regards