Stomach Virus or Something Else??

Well I recently had this problem with my 3 year old as well. I think that she was going around the house and picking it up all over again. Even though she is three, she still likes to put things into her mouth, even if only by habit. The only thing that worked for me was going around the house with a can of Lysol, scrubbing and disinfecting everything which is a daunting task, I know. But my advice to you would be to try the Lysol before moving on to thinking it is something more.

It may not be a bad idea to seek out a pediatric gastroenterologist. Depending on where you live and who your insurance carrier is, both University Hospital and the Cleveland Clinic have excellent specialists available. When you do call, if you cannot get in soon, advise your physician to call on your behalf and try to get a sooner appointment. Good luck!

hello,

that is not sounding like a 24 to 36 hour virus because to me if it was it wouldn't reaccure..my suggestion is to take her to another pysician..one that specializes in the stomach are let them examine your child to see if it something else..

hope this help

You need to get her back to the doc and if he/she blows you off again, you find another doc. Track food, check environmental things, but this almost sounds cyclic. Either way, a medical professional should be steering you in the right direction.

Try tracking what your daughter has ate before her syptoms start. Our oldest loves Golden Grahams but everytime she ate them a mysterious "virus" would have her totally wiped out vomiting and passed out. Turned out to be a food allergy.

Could she maybe have IBS(irritable bowel syndrome)? Has this been mentioned by the doc? From the sounds of it, you might need to bring it up.

My daughter had similar vomit and sick for say 1 day but I figured it was this automatic air freshner thing I had and it seemed a certain fragrance did her in.
It was about 4-5 month intervals with her, but I really took notice when I changed the fragrance and forget which it was, but as soon as I changed it she got sick again.
If your daughter is doing this every say 3 months sounds like you may be updating you air freshners also or possibly a routine cleaning that the chemicals used affect her.
Just my guess.
Hope it may help trigger something that changes on or around that time she gets sick.
R.

Hi S.,
I read your request and wanted to share my story..My daughter at 3 also had the same thing. I took her to our fam. dr. and he kept putting her on different antibiotics. It wasn't until I finally (at her worst) packed up my stuff and went to Childrens. They evaluated her and took her right in to stay. She ended up having Rotovirus. And everytime she got sick, she was throwing up then dehydrated..then her stomach was building up with acid and making her sicker. Even on her good days she wasn't her usual self. Anyway...there they gave her some IV antibiotics and 2 bags of saline and after that she was fine. If your gut tells you its not right..then it isnt. Good luck.

My last son did this around the age of 6. He would go through the same cycles with the same response from the doctors as you have received. To this day, I do not know what it was, but he seemed to outgrow this. I always attributed it to his surgery as a baby for pyloric stenosis. Unsure if it was related, but he no longer does this. Hope that helps a bit??!! M.

Hello!
I'm so sorry for your little girl, that sounds so miserable. Even though food poisoning sounds like a serious problem, I have heard many times that 99% of what is called a "stomach virus" is actually a mild case of food poisoning / allergy. I would definitely keep a diary of what she eats and record each time this happens, because with an ailment that is so specific to her belly, it is very likely a response to something she is eating.

S.,

My daughter who is now 15yrs old also went through this very frequently at that age. It would be fever, vomitting, and intense pain for 24 to 48hrs every two months or so...if it helps my ex is a trauma doc and it really was a virus every time. She has rarely experienced it since she was five. If you feel the need to have your child checked out each time, DO SO...never feel bad about that. But from my own experience, some children are more likely to get sick quickly, but gladly recover just as quickly....hope this helps...

K.

The same thing happened to my son too and everytime doctor told me the same thing that it is stomach virus.once i cleaned the oven with bleach(somebody dear to me suggested bleach as a good oven cleaner),it was the first time i think it happened.I think ,its harmful to clean with chemical ,when u have kids around.Anyway whenever it happened,i started trying to keep my house more cleaner and free of germs.Just use harmless cleaners.

Wow, I've never had the displeasure of experiencing anything like this with my kids (thank Heavens). The only input I can add, is perhaps get a second opinion. If it were me, I would. Sometimes doctors can be too sure of their own expertise to actually LISTEN to what a patient or parent of a patient is trying to tell them. Good luck.

I'm not sure what is causing this but I do have some advice where the doctor is concerned. When I was little I suffered from severe stomach cramps. My mother took me to the doctor and she basically made my mother and me feel really stupid and said it was just gas. Well unfortunately for me it was something worse that I had to suffer with until I was an adult at which time I finally got over my fear of being made to feel like I was stupid and brought it up again. My doctor listened this time and sent me to a specialist. I was diagnosed with IBS and a severely spastic colon. It's very simple to control through diet and medication which is great. The point of this rambling is that if the doctor in my youth would have simply listened to me and did some tests instead of blowing me off because I was a child and I couldn't possibly know that something was wrong with me I would not have had to suffer for years with something that is easily manageable. If you think something wrong, go with your instincts and make the doctor examine other possible causes. It is a much better idea to rule out other things than to just take the easiest way out even when it doesn't make total sense. Good luck and I hope that your child gets better very soon.

Well, I know this post is 4 years old but I hope anyone reading this with a child with these symptoms take my thoughts into consideration. My daughter (3 also) had the very same symptoms (5 times in 6 months) and I was very concerned. I took her straight to a neurologist and GI doc as the episodes always started at 5am, never had diarhhea and caused her to vomit 5-10x an hour. Once it was over (usually 2 hours) she was magically cured. I knew it was not a virus. My neuro mentioned Cyclic Vomiting Syndrome. We are not certain and her case is mild but it makes sense. It is not something made up and very real indeed. It is said to be related to migraines and is sometimes called abdominal migraine ( which is another disorder but closely related). It is characterized by recurrent
vomiting episodes that follw a pattern usually every so many days, weeks or months. Or even, like my daughter, the same time. It usually begins with stomach pains that can go away or last the episode. Severe vomiting follows lasting from 1 hour to sometimes days. A period of recevery that can be very quick follows and then an illness free interval. I encourage anyone with a child who has these symptoms to research this disorder and see a neuro or GI. They believe many of the kids will outgrow this or go on to develop migraines. And if you have a history of migraines in the family it is worth looking into. Hope this helps anybody!!