Continuous tummy pain post covid

Posted by preocupada @preocupada, Sep 18, 2022

My 13 year old tested positive for COVID on the 1st of May 2022, symptoms were: nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, tummy pain, headache, sore throat, caugh, flem. Around the 10th day her tummy started hurting more, specifically in two areas left and right of bellybutton, took her to A&E sent home with pain killers, no tests; week later returned to A&E, tested for Multisystem inflammatory syndrome, came back negative, sent home with more pain killers. Pediatrician did number of tests: boold, urine, stool, porphyria, helicobacter & tomography all seem to be fine or negative. Sent to digestive Dr, Dr did additional stool samples to test for blood and inflammation in intestines. Faecal calprotectin was 62.3 (normal values 26 - 50). Digestive Dr did no more tests. Told to see a psychologist so they could train her to increase her pain tolerance. 1 month later returned to A&E as pain intensified, on the third day in hospital had ultrasound, signs of fluid and partially swollen appendix, appendix removed se day, more tests done in hospital all seemed normal. Since then had tummy infiltration as Dr's believed tummy problems due to abdominal wall, only caused more pain that subsided after 5-6 days, initial pain still remains. Referred to Digestive again, Dr doing more tests, pending endoscopy. My daughter is in continuous pain all day long, when she eats or drinks her pain intensifies, ends up vomiting due to the pain

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Has she been tested for SIBO? And Gluten allergies.
Try the FODMAP diet.
Helped me. But waiting for the SIBO test. Cut out sugar and wheat products.
Hope it helps. 🙏🏻

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@murphnsurf

Has she been tested for SIBO? And Gluten allergies.
Try the FODMAP diet.
Helped me. But waiting for the SIBO test. Cut out sugar and wheat products.
Hope it helps. 🙏🏻

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Thank you for the suggestion @murphnsurf. She was tested for Helicobacter but I don't believe SIBO. I will ask her paediatrician

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@preocupada

Thank you @darladarla for your kind words and glad to hear you are doing so well. She was already put on antibiotics after having her appendix removed. I'm having the same problem, some Dr's don't take it seriously, buy luckily a few do. She is pending some more tests with another digestive Dr but just a long wait for tests,...

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I’m having what sounds similar: extreme stomach burning for hours after I eat, and diarrhea 5-7 times/day. I didn’t have this before Covid. I just retired in May and no way could I teach high school with these symptoms!

I also “had” extreme thirst that could not be satiated. I read doctors think the thirst and stomach pain may be related to Ace receptors that Covid attaches to. Apparently there are many of them in the mouth and the gut.

I also read the Ace receptors might become inflamed and that might affect the gut bacteria negatively.

I’ll look for links to those articles and try to post them here. I’m sure her Dr. is on top of it, but it doesn’t hurt for patients to also know and ask questions. I think they take you more seriously

I’m so sorry to hear of your daughter’s pain. I can’t imagine how she feels. When it starts, I’m literally on the sofa for hours. IDK if it’s Dr. approved, but a heating pad has eased my pain a little. I take Fentanyl for my RA and it doesn’t even touch the stomach pain, so I totally agree that pain meds don’t help. I’ve also been through counselor pain therapy. Not helpful.

My Covid headache is gone now, thankfully. It was brutal and unrelenting, way worse than my migraines. If that’s the same headache your daughter has, she’s in a ton of pain. That kid is dealing with a lot. Sending hugs.

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It won’t let me post links, but do a search:
(Read about 5 paragraphs down.)

newsnetwork.mayoclinic.org/discussion/long-covid-and-the-digestive-system-mayo-clinic-expert-describes-common-symptoms

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Here’s the info for the extreme thirst symptom and the ACE 2 receptors, if you want it. I was not sure if your daughter had this symptoms. It makes sense there might be a connection.

“Study shows how SARS-CoV-2 infects cells in mouth, possibly leading to oral symptoms”
I found it at ada.org, but you can probably just Google the title.

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@preocupada

@ilean, thank you for all the info, sorry to hear all you are going through. While I'm waiting for tests I'm going to try alternative medicine, some of the Dr's are continuously suggesting mental problems that is just putting her down, also saying she has low pain tolerance - really doesn't help. She hasn't had a endoscopy yet, hoping they will call us soon, the first GI she saw didn't bother doing more tests than 2 stool tests and said she didn't have a GI problem. Hoping this second GI takes it a bit more seriously. I have explained numerous times that just eating and drinking causes her more pain, she always feels nausea and generally vomits when in a lot of pain. Also she continuously has a headache, if her tummy pain is really bad it becomes a migraine and she gets dizzy. She had a tomography but with no contrast as this is all the paediatrician could send her, only the specialist can send her more detailed scans

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This is NOT in her head. My Electrophysiologist seems to be the only one taken ng POTS seriously. My second GI just told me yesteray my GI issues have nothing to do with POTS! I don’t think he knows much about it. I see him a second time this week and will hopefully find out some more moves to make.

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@isaratex

Here’s the info for the extreme thirst symptom and the ACE 2 receptors, if you want it. I was not sure if your daughter had this symptoms. It makes sense there might be a connection.

“Study shows how SARS-CoV-2 infects cells in mouth, possibly leading to oral symptoms”
I found it at ada.org, but you can probably just Google the title.

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Thank you @isaratex for that info, she never suffered taste loss and blistering. I always thought maybe it was something she ate that had the virus and it went straight to her gut, but it sounds quite logical that it came directly from the saliva and travelled to the gut that way

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@ilean

This is NOT in her head. My Electrophysiologist seems to be the only one taken ng POTS seriously. My second GI just told me yesteray my GI issues have nothing to do with POTS! I don’t think he knows much about it. I see him a second time this week and will hopefully find out some more moves to make.

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@ilean I do hope you have more luck with your appointment this week.
Her paediatrician is one of the only Dr's that is taking her problems seriously, but she is limited to what tests she can send, most must be sent by specialists. She has another ultrasound on Thursday and I'm going to try and push forward her endoscopy. It's all a nightmare, she can't even get up in the mornings for school.

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I am so sorry for her and you navigating her care. Mornings are rough for me My best time of the day is from 10 - 2. I read that this is the most common in young females. I couldn’t imagine going to school. I have so much frustration with this because I literally know more about POTS than all of the doctors I have seen with the exception of my Electrophysiologist. You really have to be your own advocate. I will be praying for you.

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Look into SIBO a lot of people are getting this post-Covid.. I got it!

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