Do my son's symptoms sound like Crohn's?

On Dec. 31 my son started complaining of stomach pain. He described the pain as sharp and stabbing right around his navel. A couple days later he started having diarrhea but only three times in two days. On Jan. 11, we finally took him to the Children's Hospital ER. They did x-ray, CBC, ultrasound and everything came back neg. They kept us in the hosp. for 2 nights for fluids and onservation. The GI team came in and diagnosed him with gastroenteritis and post-viral gastro-paresis. They put him on zantac and miralax and sent us home. His pain still persisted and his appetite was slowly decreasing. Since then we have been back to the ER where they sent us home saying he was just constipated. Our dr. scheduled a CT scan and that came back normal as well. He has been living off of crackers, pretzels and sprite or gatorade. He says eating sometimes makes his stomach hurt worse. He is constantly complaining and has become very frustrating for the whole family. All he does is lay around and moan. He missed 2 weeks of school and the past 2 weeks we have made him go and he is completely miserable. He doesn't want to play with his friends all he wants to do is lay his head down. We are going to a GI dr. on Wednesday. After reading several of these posts i have decided to eliminate his sugar and make him drink water instead of sprite and gatorade. Oh and he also gets dizzy at times.

Any ideas????

Thank you!!

My son had an episode like that at the E.R. right before he was diagnosed. They said he had mesenteric lymphadenitis. This is just a virus and I think they were probably right. He got the same thing about a week later although not as severe. They told us the CBC was normal but once I requested the records there were several flags (numbers out of normal range). We had been waiting to get into a G.I. because my son had been losing weight for some time. He was 97 lbs at his 9 year check up 95 at his 10 year and 92 at his 11 year check up. Even though it is not a lot of weight it is still not normal for a child that age to be loosing weight. They also ran a stool test and found protein in his stool which suggested that he had "leaky gut" or an inflammation that was causing protein to be lost out of his body into his stool. This normally would be completely absorbed. His blood tests also showed his protein levels in his blood were low. There are markers in your blood that show inflammation also. His were elevated on the day of his colonoscopy but to my knowledge had not been checked before that.

I would look for weight changes, and changes in height percentile. From what I know these usually show up before symptoms start. A blood test with inflammation markers, IgA will check for celiac disease (gluten allergy) check vitamin deficiency. (my son would have small red cracks around his mouth that would not heal from vitamin deficiencies.) Also the stool test is helpful. These could point in a certain direction but the only way to know for sure is to have a colonoscopy and upper endoscopy. I would want my child referred to a Pediatric G.I. if there were any weight loss/ growth issues. If there are not I would talk to your pediatrician because if his stomach pain continues that is no way for him to live. Just try to avoid Ibuprofen, it can cause a flare in crohn's.

Hope this helps. And hoping your son is feeling better soon.

Tiffany

Thank you for your reply. It was actually very helpful! My son will be 11 next month and weighs 64 lbs. when all this started he weighed 66.5. He hasn't lost much but he doesn't have much to lose! Tonight I noticed a cut on his lip. I asked him if he knew what happened but he doesn't remember doing anything. Do you think that could be part of a vitamin deficiency? I'm very anxious to get some answers. I can hear him in his room right now just moaning. It is so pitiful! Nothing helps the pain either. We have tried OTC pain relievers to prescription pain relievers including Levsin and nothing controls the pain!

When my son was in pain I would have him sip gatorade, use a heating pad on his stomach and give him 2 tylenol. You can use tylenol with codeine which I have heard you can ask the pharmacist for without a prescription but I have not tried that personally. If you can't get him to a pediatric G.I. soon I would get him admitted to the E.R. for them to do a scope. My Pediatrician has done this before for patients who can't get into a G.I. in a timely manner. Call his Pediatrician and ask for his/her help in this. The weight loss should concern them. I would keep pressing this until someone pays attention. Your son should not be in pain like that. I got to the point I was calling, emailing, going to the E.R. It is one way your Pediatrician knows there is something seriously wrong so don't feel bad doing it. I hope your son feels better soon. I know it is hard to watch them in pain. (((((hugs)))))

My sons was not so much a cut as it was a red crack in the corner of his mouth that wouldn't heal. Also has your son's weight loss be recent or over months or a year? I would look for differences from one check up to another.
Tiffany

Amh72 said:

On Dec. 31 my son started complaining of stomach pain. He described the pain as sharp and stabbing right around his navel. A couple days later he started having diarrhea but only three times in two days. On Jan. 11, we finally took him to the Children's Hospital ER. They did x-ray, CBC, ultrasound and everything came back neg. They kept us in the hosp. for 2 nights for fluids and onservation. The GI team came in and diagnosed him with gastroenteritis and post-viral gastro-paresis. They put him on zantac and miralax and sent us home. His pain still persisted and his appetite was slowly decreasing. Since then we have been back to the ER where they sent us home saying he was just constipated. Our dr. scheduled a CT scan and that came back normal as well. He has been living off of crackers, pretzels and sprite or gatorade. He says eating sometimes makes his stomach hurt worse. He is constantly complaining and has become very frustrating for the whole family. All he does is lay around and moan. He missed 2 weeks of school and the past 2 weeks we have made him go and he is completely miserable. He doesn't want to play with his friends all he wants to do is lay his head down. We are going to a GI dr. on Wednesday. After reading several of these posts i have decided to eliminate his sugar and make him drink water instead of sprite and gatorade. Oh and he also gets dizzy at times.

Any ideas????

Thank you!!

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Try getting tested for Celiac Disease......getting pains after eating something (with wheat or some form of gluten) could be the problem......do not change diet before getting tested or you could get a false positive......