9 year old

[Taylor4211]

Hello,   My 9 year old son has been having stomach problems for about a year now.  Shortly after he eats he has severe stomach pain and then diarrhea. And he is tired all the time.  Some days are worse than others.  It really doesn't matter what he eats. It happens with all types of food.  He has had a lactose tolerance, a lower GI series and  a colonoscopy and endoscopy.  All of these tests showed nothing.  The doctors keep telling me that is is probably a stomach bug that he is just taking a while to get over it.  But a year????  That seems crazy to me.  He has lost about 8 pounds already and is starting to become scared to eat because he knows he will have pain afterword.  The other thing is that he was diagnosed with Mono right before this whole thing started.  Im just wondering if anyone has any imput on this.  

[lizziecee]

Not sure if this test is done in the US, but you might ask your gastro about it - calprotectin stool assay test. Non invasive and cheap. If the calprotectin level is out of range (norm is 20, mine has been as high as 80), this shows inflammation somewhere in the GI tract. If high, the gastro can then go ahead with other invasive testing to rule out Crohn's, ulcerative colitis and coeliac. I have Crohn's and have this test done regularly.
Children as young as 6 yrs are now being diagnosed with IBD, and this could be the cause. Hope you get a diagnosis soon and your young son gets appropriate treatment.
Liz.

[hawckeye]

My son is now 34 years old and was finally diagnosed with Crohn's disease in 7th grade when his blood count was so low they thought he had leukemia.  He had symptoms like your son's for 2 previous years, even had surgery for anal fissures and skin tags.  I had him to the emergency rooms so many time I can't even remember.  Finally I found a great internists that looked at the same x-rays as others and said I think he has Crohn's disease by the ileum.  He was correct.  Don't know if this will help - but the pain was so intolerable.  Let me know if I can answer any of your questions.