Teen: frequent waves of nausea, dizzy, bloated feeling

[Kindra178]

There is a tremendous gut/brain connection. So many doctors won’t acknowledge or value. Coming out of lockdown number 2, ds went through a period of significant gastro distress brought on by anxiety. What helped:

frequent yoga (at home) - sometimes he did yoga before 6 am basketball tryouts

Acupuncture

What didn’t help - giving up dairy, wheat or gum


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[mommytoalyssa]

The first thing I thought of with your post was gluten intolerance due to the bloating and your success removing gluten. I've found that when something helps me it often helps my kids (due to genetics) if they have similar symptoms.

My daughter has had nausea due to anxiety and it is heartbreaking! When it was really bad she lost 10 lbs and we were trying so many different foods just trying to find anything that she could eat without feeling sick to her stomach.

I stumbled upon a supplement by BrainMD that helped me called "Calm My Brain". I started giving it to her with her doctor's permission and guidance. She is the least anxious she has ever been taking it with breakfast and dinner--and her nausea is gone and her appetite back to normal. I'm shocked at how well it has worked--much better than Zoloft for her so doctor is slowly decreasing her dose and a few months later it is still working
!

[wendibird22]

Thank you all for keeping the thoughts and experiences coming.

DD did terribly at her "all county" track meet Friday night because she said her stomach was bothering her. We made sure she took the weekend off from any other obligations so she could catch up on sleep and just relax. This weekend she alternated between nausea and bloated feeling. She said that she seems to feel nauseous (and sometimes dizzy) when she's hungry and at night when she lies down for bed, but feels uncomfortable (stomach hurts, bloated, in the upper stomach between belly button and ribs) an hour or so after she eats. Saturday she had a headache all day.

Dogmom, very much appreciate your thoughts. I agree that trying to track down cause of GI distress is a long process. It took me over a year to get a gluten intolerance diagnosis. And yes to also being dismissed. My PCP tried to tell me my symptoms were because I was an exhausted mom of two (baby and toddler) and my clothes were probably too tight. Yes, she actually asked me if my pants/belt were too tight as a cause of my heartburn and bloating!! So, I'm prepared to be assertive and patient.

[chlobo]

Thank you all for keeping the thoughts and experiences coming.

DD did terribly at her "all county" track meet Friday night because she said her stomach was bothering her. We made sure she took the weekend off from any other obligations so she could catch up on sleep and just relax. This weekend she alternated between nausea and bloated feeling. She said that she seems to feel nauseous (and sometimes dizzy) when she's hungry and at night when she lies down for bed, but feels uncomfortable (stomach hurts, bloated, in the upper stomach between belly button and ribs) an hour or so after she eats. Saturday she had a headache all day.

Dogmom, very much appreciate your thoughts. I agree that trying to track down cause of GI distress is a long process. It took me over a year to get a gluten intolerance diagnosis. And yes to also being dismissed. My PCP tried to tell me my symptoms were because I was an exhausted mom of two (baby and toddler) and my clothes were probably too tight. Yes, she actually asked me if my pants/belt were too tight as a cause of my heartburn and bloating!! So, I'm prepared to be assertive and patient.

It is wonderful she has you to help advocate for her as it sounds like you have also been through a tough process before. My only additional advice is to not let them take anything of the table because it's not "typical symptoms of..." In my experience, especially with GI stuff there can be a wide range of symptoms for XYZ so while it may not be the "most common (typical)" it might still be a symptom of Xyz and deserves exploration.

[KpbS]

Is she taking a daily probiotic? Getting enough fiber? I'm still thinking migraine, but I'd look into these also.

[Gracemom]

I had symptoms like that when my gallbladder was acting up. Sorry to hear she's not feeling well!

[hbridge]

Dogmom, very much appreciate your thoughts. I agree that trying to track down cause of GI distress is a long process. It took me over a year to get a gluten intolerance diagnosis. And yes to also being dismissed. My PCP tried to tell me my symptoms were because I was an exhausted mom of two (baby and toddler) and my clothes were probably too tight. Yes, she actually asked me if my pants/belt were too tight as a cause of my heartburn and bloating!! So, I'm prepared to be assertive and patient.

It took me 30 years to get a celiac diagnosis. Before that is was severe anxiety and IBS. It all started in College!

Please make sure they test for everything. Reflux may be playing a part too!

[LBW]

I posted before about my youngest who was dealing with nausea, vomiting, headaches, and exhaustion for more than a year after having Covid in December of 2021. He finally got a Celiac diagnosis earlier this year, and his symptoms resolved after eliminating gluten from his diet. With your history, it’s definitely a possibility, and depending on how much her life is being impacted it might be worth going gluten free immediately to see if she feels better.

[wendibird22]

Here's my updated list to explore:

1. stress and anxiety manifesting as physical symptoms
2. acid reflux
3. food intolerance (I'm gluten free and my main symptoms were bloating, heartburn, nausea, among others, and I carry 1 of the 2 celiac genes, but tested negative for celiac)
4. low blood sugar
5. a combo of the above with the nausea having one cause which then causes the anxiety
6. abdominal migraine
7. H. pylori (I know not common, but I had recalled H pylori was on the increase some 20+yrs ago when I was a med tech and looked at the symptoms for children and she checks most of the boxes, especially the timing...at night and an hour or so after meals)

She has daily bowel movements and says they are normal (not too hard, not too soft, now strange color, not foul smelling). She's eating but isn't always hungry. Says when her stomach "hurts" it's not pain but discomfort...pressure/full. She says her stomach doesn't look physically bloated when this happens. When she feels most discomfort she'll get some burping and some gas. Gas-x type med brings some relief.

[MSWR0319]

Not the likely cause but just throwing this out there in case everything else checks out ok. I get a lot of those symptoms (minus the dizziness) when I have an ovarian cyst. I can tell by how my stomach feels when I have one. Again, I doubt this is the cause but did want to share.

I also feel like she’s describing when my reflux is bad. It it causes pressure in my forehead that makes me feel dizzy. My reflux is usually caused by a cyst pushing in my stomach or by too much dairy. So if she gets a reflux diagnosis, finding the underlying cause would be helpful.