Chronic Nausea/Headache/Extreme Exhaustion in 13 Year Old Male

Posted by mbmama @mbmama, Jun 28, 2022

My 13.5 year old son has been sick for the past five months. He has missed an incredible amount of school. He loves school and is normally an A+ student - in fact he has been able to maintain his grades doing his schoolwork at home. His days primarily consist of sleeping, doing homework, and going back to bed.

His symptoms started at the end of January following a bout of the stomach flu with nausea and vomiting. The vomiting only lasted for two days. He has not vomited since.

His ongoing symptoms include:
• Extreme exhaustion (sleeping 13-16 hours per day)
• Intermittent fevers (spiking fevers most days in the past two
months - up to 101 F)
• Constant nausea (since January)
• Constant headaches - sensitive to sound (since early February)
• Complaint of sore muscles/joints in arms, neck and legs (lately
his legs hurt when he walks)
• Decreased appetite - drinking Boost primarily
- easily winded when walking up stairs or walking even short
distances

Our pediatrician has ordered:
• Bloodwork (including monospot and Lyme, RH factors – all
negative), CRP and ESR normal
- consistently low WBC (3.1-3.3 since January)
• CT head showed "something" and recommended MRI which was
normal
• Abdominal ultrasound (enlarged lymph nodes and appendix –
R/O appendicitis as no other indicators of inflammation)
- Abdominal CT normal

We did a trial of Amitriptyline for 6 weeks as his pediatrician thought it was possible he had migraines, including abdominal migraines. There was no change.

A pediatric surgeon that was consulted on his abdominal u/s followed up with us via phone 2 weeks ago. She referred us to gastroenterology and a blood specialist. We have an appointment with gastroenterology tomorrow. A nurse from hematology phoned me today and said they would not see him because his bloodwork was "not that bad." We also have an appointment with a rheumatologist in September.

All Covid tests in January were negative. He tested positive for Covid in April that only exacerbated his symptoms.

Wondering if anyone has experienced anything similar?

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sarahjane826 | @sarahjane826 | Oct 28 9:23am

We are experiencing nearly identical symptoms with our 13 year old son. I would love to know if anyone who has commented in this thread has found any answers or solutions. We are pursuing using a new migraine device called Nerivio and are hopeful that it provides support and prevention. We also have a sleep study scheduled for February. Others have suggested testing for Type 1 Diabetes but only a couple of the symptoms are similar. I also feel like the doctors think this is something our son is faking which has been very frustrating. He is also Autistic, so I think they chalk it up to his neuro-divergence. Thank you to anyone who has updates or other ideas.