My son has for a while (mostly at bedtime) been saying that he doesn't feel good. He never throws up, he never has a fever, and I've never given him any medicine for it. My gut response is that he was just tired (becuase he is!) and I tell him to relax and go to sleep. I don't give him extra cuddles or water or anything at the time. Sometime this happens in the middle of the day after he's been playing hard and comes in and sits down. Sometimes he says he doesn't feel good when he is laying on the couch reading.
My question is, what would you do? I feel like as his mom, I should do something because he is telling me something is wrong, but I really don't have any symptoms to take tp the doctor.
I don't see how I am rewarding this behavior, so I don't think I am encouraging it with extra attention or anything.
I honestly think he may just be trying to express that he is tired and his body feels worn down, but what if...
you can ask him a lot of pointed questions to get to the bottom of it. Where does it hurt? How bad on a scale of 1-10. is it all the time? what do you think caused it? when did it start?
I feel as if I would be remiss as a mother myself after hearing a case so familiar with my oldest daughter's problem. She was born with cardiac distress and was close to being a c-section if she had not delivered when she did. I wasn' allowed to use the birthing room b/c of the high-risk pregnancy and the cardiac distress she went into before she delivered
She was utlimately diagnosed with paroxysmal atrial tachycardia with an irregular heartbeat. The heart actually beats in a cycle. In my daughter's case, her heart's cycle would restart before the previous cycle ended - thus causing her to be tired, exhausted all the time and generally feeling bad.
Three monthus on a Holter monitor showed everything and it allowed her to go on the right medication for her problems. Now there is still a chance she may one day need surgery to go in and short the node much like you'd short out a breaker box or a car's battery. The end result, if successful would mean the end of the heart problems but could cause others. It's a risk either way but so far, she responds great to the heart medication and it's helped her feel better, not fatigued, and nobody teases or calls her "lazy" anymore b/c she wasn't lazy, her heart was pulling double, triple, and even quadruple duty.
I don't know if this is what is happening or not but at least it's somewhere to start.
Best of luck and all my best wishes,
Paise
Our daughter was in her pre-teens before it was definitively diagnosed, approx 10-12 yrs old had symptoms for years before then only they wouldn't occur at the peds or in the ER; they'd stop then come back. DH's uncle was a lifesaver b/c this condition could have ultimately cause her to have an enlarged heart from the double, triple, & quadruple overtime it was pulling over those years.
My middle son's stomach has hurt on and off for a few years, but he never seemed sick at all. I felt kind of silly asking his ped about it because it didn't really seem like a concrete problem, my son still played well and didn't seem too bothered, just stomach hurting but acting pretty ok. I finally asked the ped about it and he made me feel much more at ease about the pains. He said there are a lot of nerve endings in the stomach, and sometimes between around 5ish and 10ish, these nerve endings go a little crazy for no apparent reason, making the stomach hurt. Sometimes they think it can be caused by stress and the kids don't know how to express that, but sometimes there is no cause, it just hurts. I would start keeping track of the aches, and bring it up to the ped at the next appt, but not worry too much in the meantime unless it starts to affect his play.
Both of my sisters boys did that. It eventually just stopped. Kids are weird!!!
i would tell the doctor that there are no symptoms, but that your child says he does not feels well; let the doctor run what tests may seem appropriate. if those tests come back negative, then maybe a counselor can try to get to the bottom of the issue. I think that you should investigate further. I agree that you do not appear to be rewarding the behavior, which suggests that there may be an underlying cause.
I am sorry he is not feeling well at times, but I figure when a child says they do not feel well, it is not just for attention. I would especially not think that in the scenario you present - lying on the couch reading, etc. Perhaps have him work on being a little more specific about HOW his stomach or whatever does not feel right? I would not make a big deal of it when asking, just be nonchalant.
It is interesting that it is always when he is lying down or sitting after being active. Perhaps he has some stomach acid coming up? Maybe he is feeling some blood pressure change? The doctor can check his blood pressure and heart rate standing then lying then getting up again.
My younger daughter who often complained about her stomach would often do it when she had downtime - like your son - when the child is not so active is when they will bother to mention it. The rest of the time they just live with it unless it gets too severe. In my daughter's case, it was sometimes severe. The pediatrician suggested giving her Tums. I think it sometimes had a placebo effect. Then we were told her complaints were "mental" (www.ItsNotMental.com). She turned out to have problems with certain foods, but by the time we figured this out there was a lot of damage done.
you dont say whats not feeling good. stomach head what? if its stomach and its around bed time i would say it could be worms
