Seeking Help with Medical Question

I am a 40 year old woman who takes amitriptyline for a bladder condition. I was taking 50 mg but have backed it down to 25. It makes a huge difference in my ability to sleep. If I take the pill too late then I drag the next day until after noon, then I wake up. If I take it at 6 pm then I can barely make it to bed before I fall asleep at 8:00. While I can't address any of the other questions, I do know that the timing of the medication makes a difference.

I don't know what she has been tested for but I wanted to mention some things to consider.

Low vitamin D can cause "growing pains" and trouble sleeping, and is increasingly common in our society due to sunblock use and time spent indoors. I've had personal experience with aches and pains and insomnia caused by low thyroid.

Sensitivity to gluten can cause migraines and gastrointestinal symptoms. Also a higher percentage of those with migraine disease have low vitamin D and celiac compared to the general population. For me, getting my vitamin D levels in range and going on a gluten free diet reduced my migraine frequency and intensity.

If she were my child I would want at least a vitamin D test and celiac screen. And maybe a thyroid screen too.

I would also suggest counseling for the anxiety and any issues that might be stemming from the divorce. If money is an issue many churches have free or reduced programs for kids.

Good luck.

Get her into couseling now. Depression can manifest itself into all of that an more. She is young enough that you can get it worked out and avoid a dependency on medication for sleep.

I would definitely pursue counseling. While it is completely possible that she has a physical/medical condition, this could also be psychosomatic (unbeknownst to her; she isn't knowingly doing this on purpose) where her mind is telling her body that she is ill as a way for her to cope with some of the stressors in her life.

IF this was my child the medication would go FIRST. Then I'd find out what is causing so much anxiety. All the things you mentioned going on in the family could affect her but I would talk to her again and again and then help her deal with issues she can't or won't. I had a very good life but I hated school when I was in second grade and would not wake up and missed the bus and started having pains in my chest ( they did EKG's ), pains everywhere, worried about this and that and finally I got over it all when my mother made me walk to school with her, late, and the humiliation did it for me. You don't know what is bothering your child, maybe something much worse than my problem. I think having to face it helped me, if I'd been on medication I'd still be on it most likely. Find someone at a good church or counselor who could listen to her and see what the problem is. It's not physical evidently if all tests came back fine.

I'm sorry I don't have any advice, but me heart goes out to you and your family.
I think the counseling idea will be worth a shot. If it doesn't help her physical ailments, it will certainly help her gain coping skills. Illness, divorce, and moving? That's a lot for anyone to deal with.
My thoughts are with you!

Might think about restless leg syndrome too. Had a friend who's son had it, he seemed to have a lot of pain in other places too.
I would definitely think about taking her to a councelor, she probably needs someone to talk to also. My granddaughter went to one for a while it helped her tremendously, the things she was stressing over were things you never thought would bother her. The councelor just played games with her gave her a lot of praise and just talked about things, she seemed so much better after about a year of this. She was actually about the same age as your daughter when she was having the anxiety.

My son had a 5 month chronic pain ordeal when he was 13. I know from that experience that people can have pain when there is nothing physically wrong with them. I spent 5 months researching every disease on the planet.
My son took Amitriptyline and a zillion other drugs and supplements.

You might want to have her tested for Lyme disease, but if the tests comes back negative then it's probably negative (even though many people will try to convince you that something is Lyme even when multiple tests have come back negative.) Other than that, her emotional issues following divorce CAN cause actual pain.

It's a good thing that the pain is in different places -- when chronic pain is in the same place all the time it makes it harder to cure.