My 7 year old daughter is suffering from functional abdominal pain syndrome which is Chronic.
The pain is centered around 1 to 2cm above the belly button. She has done endoscopy, CT scan, stool, urine, blood & xray test still nothing has found.
We are currently managing it but we are looking for medicine that can reduced\stop the pain.
Has anybody or child suffered faps? I'll like to hear from you. Thanks
Such a shame a little one if going through this! Do you mind me asking what kind of pain it is?
It's very difficult for us to understand the pain. Her description varies a lot but it's like something poking her in the stomach
That sounds a little like the pain of trapped wind. Could it be an intestine that sometimes twists, or blocks? Possibly, something to do with the navel itself a it is located so close?
Thanks for the reply. We don't know what it is. This has been going on for almost 7 months. We've been to many doctors, it seems there are all money grabbers. All we want is something that can relief the pain or make it go.
OK, but has the area around her navel been properly examined? There may be an internal inflammation or infection there. Just a thought, as it is very close to the belly button. Have you tried cold compresses, such as a bag of peas with the towel over the area? If it relieves the symptoms, it could point to something around the navel.
Hi have you found any relief for your daughtet? Im having the same issue with my son
Hi!
I am so sorry that your little child has to go through this, you can try homeopathy and see if it works for her.
Since nothing has been diagnosed, you can consult a good homeopath and have treatment.
Homeopathy remedies are based on symptoms and not findings.
That might help..
Thanks!
Hi,
I'm very sorry to hear about your daughter.
I'm an 18 year old suffering from chronic functional abdominal pain syndrome, and have had pain for almost 10 years now. I have had every test you can name along with an appendicectomy in 2008 and a diagnostic laproscopy in 2014. I have still not been diagnosed with anything and am managing the pain with medication, as far as opiod patches.
I have tried even altrnate medicine like homoeopathy and even ayurveda. It didn't really work for me but I would encourage you to try everything before ruling it out.
I encourage you to not stop looking but at the same time make sure you don't take any quick decisions about surgery or any intrusive procedure.
I hope you can find some medication to reduce her pain, even the slightest bit can bring some relief.
I also would like to say that please never let her feel like you or anyone else doesn't believe she is feeling her pain, no matter how hard it is to diagnose the issue.
I wish you alll the best,
Please do feel free to contact me if you need to know anything else.
Hi. Thank you for your reply to this post. I commend you for your compassion and willingness to share your experiences. My son is in the midst of a diagnostic nightmare right now...meaning he has had all the tests (endoscopy, colonoscopy, CT scans, HIDA scan, ultrasound, xray, bloodwork, etc...) and I am fighting the doctors to continue until the bitter end with no more testing options available. They have tried to label him with Functional Abdominal Pain about eight tests ago but I have insisted that is unacceptable. The only thing left is the pill cam for him to swallow and film his entire digestive tract.
I tell you all that to say that I completely believe that this is a real syndrome with VERY real pain. I am fighting this diagnosis because they are telling me the only thing they can do for FAPS is counseling and teaching him to deal with the pain. At this point I have a really hard time with that since we can do such things as remove someone's heart and lungs and replace them with someone else's but they can't help my son's pain? The doctors expect me to watch him writhe in pain for hours and tell him sorry, there's nothing I can do? That's not an acceptable answer to me.
When you were intially diagnosed, how long did it take for your doctors to agree to help you with medication for the pain? I am obviously considering finding another doctor but I just wondered what your experience was?
Thanks again for your candor and the empathy you have shown here.
I can relate as have guto dismotility....Medsfor this beenwithdrawnIcanonly use paracetamol and often doesnothelp...itsliketobewindwhich gpdoesnotmention.
Trylowfibreandpureedveg.warmbottlewarmwaterherbteas and rubeing abdomen,
Gooduck.
Hi. Any luck on diagnosis? My 13 yr old DD is in the year long testing phase you described. They keep talking to her about stress and FAPs since all results are normal. Have had the scopes and scans. Next is a specific CT with more contrast. I wonder where to stop but feel like there must be an explanation for this pain! She refuses to eat half the time because she doesn’t want to hurt.
My son is now 14 and has been in constant pain for three years now. Does the opiate patch work and how were you able to get it? I am desparate. He's already had to repeat 7th grade and is failing again due to absences and inability to concentrate on schoolwork at home.
Hi,
I am sorry for your son. I am also in the midst of this with my 11 year old daughter. We have been dealing with it since June 2016. Every doctor and test under the sun and were just told today there is basically nothing else except for counseling.
Please let me know if they have been able to help your son (and you too)! It's terrible to watch your kid in pain. Take care
My 12 year old started pain 4 months ago when she got a stomach virus that just consisted of bad stomach pains, headache, and fever. The headache and fever went away within 3 days but the stomach pains never did. They are from the time she opens her eyes in the morning till she goes to bed. Pain seems more intense in the morning and night. We have done X-rays, ultrasound, endoscopy, blood test, lactose test, celiacs test, everything comes back normal. My daughter had so much life in her, she was my crazy one, and now she just wants to be in her PJ's and lay on the couch. The doctor keeps asking about anxiety, but honestly she is the most unstressed kid besides the occasional worry here and there. So frustrating and heartbreaking and I feel like we are coming to the dx of FAP and I don't think I can accept that diagnosis. It just seems like there has to be answer.
Hello, my son has grown into the same thing. Went from completely normal to pain, not related to food and no other digestive issues. He is now 12. His first start was at 8 years, very bad, 5 months, then it was tolerable for 2 years. It became bad for another period of months, we did scopes, tests, all normal. This year at 12, he's back to bad in a 5 month cycle. We see a pattern, 2 bad days, gets better, gets better, gets better, goes back to bad, 2 bad days, and on same cycle. Nothing that helps ibs makes it better, and some things, ppi, peppermint oil make it worse. I have taken him to neurologist (thinking abdominal migraines) endocrinologist, gi's, gis say ibs, but it is not ibs. The pain does not occur while sleeping, it comes on within a few minutes of waking up and then from that point forward it remains basically at that level until he sleeps again. I started noticing hot showers make it worse. What has just happened this week though, and why I write is I started to try to get him into a pain program, and in the corse of that, a nurse a luries children's just said on the phone has he tried acupuncture yet while I was making an appt trying to get in. I couldn't get into luries in Chicago, so went somewhere else and asked the pain clinic md about it, he said oh yes, for sure try it, I do it myself., and he gave me a name and number. We went to a person who would treat children, and it was completely amazing. He said he has too much heat and like a cold headache centers in you head, heat can do the same. He started pressure points on his elbows and knees and my son was feeling relief. He did one session and my son sighed with relief when he got off the table. The next day, after 5 solid months of pain days from 9 down to 3, he was at a 1. My son was so happy. The next day though, he was back up on the pain, but we went back that night, and he was relieved of the pain again. The treatments should teach his body to retain the right reaction. and eventually we won't need to go. We are going forward, it really was amazing and they do see this! Doctors don't know. I just talked to my pediatrician today and she's very interested to look at it. It's a parasympathetic nervous system thing, and that people grow into it and out of it makes sense (to me)when they're growing, they just can't quite regulate something. I hope something works for you. !
My 8 year old son was just diagnosed with functional adominal pain. It is so hard to see him suffer! Have you had any solutions to help your child?
Hello, Yes try acupuncture. See my reply directly above if it seems the same as your son.
Yes our doctor basically said they just don’t know yet what the answer is. They only know some things to look for and that might help. We got no relief this last time from ER pain meds. Ended up basically making her comfortable with morphine and zofran only because it knocked her out enough to rest. The episodes have been resolving with time is the only good thing. SO this last time we decided to go detective ourselves. We started a pretty good daily journal of symptoms, food, and events to try to find a pattern. And we went gluten free. Just to make sure even though the celiac test was negative. We thought we may have to do dairy etc at some point too while investigating. Well she went two months only hurting twice for one day each. Then she’s stopped the gluten free and had another episode. However it was only a four day which is an improvement. I got her back on Gfree because I really want to see if it is related. SO that’s what we are doing. If nothing else she’s had definite improvement but it’s only been just under three months.
Hello, I jyust wanted to provide more feedback. My son thinks he is definitely benefiting from acupuncture. We started three weeks ago, 3 sessions a week. He has moved away from chronic pain to no pain, but now just nausea which we are taking as progress. In addition, I found gut-directed hypnosis for trials, the numbers are much better than drugs. It is also called medical hypnosis, there are trials on the on https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov. The short and long term results for reduction in pain and number of pain days between hypnosis (HT) versus Standard medical treatment (SMT) are quite amazing, we are trying that also.