morning vomiting in teen boy

[KatC94]

I am writing on behalf of my son.  He is almost 17 and has had issues with morning nausea and vomiting for several years.  It comes and goes and lasts 3-5 days.  It will wake him up in the morning for several days and he will either vomit (most often only once) or feel nauseous for an hour or so and then is perfectly fine the rest of the day.  When it ends he is fine for several weeks before it starts again.  He is otherwise very healthy and active although quite thin, even on the edge of being underweight.  He normally has a good appetite except during these episodes when he seems to get full very quickly.

I am hoping for some insight on what could be causing this or how to help with it.  I strongly believe it is NOT linked to stress (I have been doing a lot of online research and this has come up often) as he is a very confident person and not at all a worrier.

thanks so much for any help.
Kat

[sjselin]

I forgot to mention: he is not terribly tall - may be 5'6''.

[sjselin]

Hi, Several of you have mentioned weight and I am wondering if/how being underweight or even on the lower end of the weight scale might contribute to this? Also, low blood sugar? My 15 year old son vomited out of the blue the other day at breakfast time and has been fine ever since, but I am trying to figure out what might have caused it. He does not have a stomach bug. He is very thin, has a healthy diet, but has always been a picker eater with a strong gag reflex, and just doesn't eat enough, in my opinion. Thanks in advance.

[rameshs33]

I see this thread is almost a year old, nevertheless I'll share my experience. I'm 46 now, and I too went through the morning nausea phase between ages 16-29. I did not seek any medical treatment, it just vanished without any rhyme or reason. I was physically active and learnt to handle that 1 hour of discomforts. My son , who just turned 18, is experiencing the same thing. It might just be a temporary genetic annoyance.

[Atally82]

Did you throw up yellow bile and sometimes food

[rameshs33]

Ocassionally yes. Any strong odour in the mornings would trigger the vomiting, smells from the kitchen, deodorant anything almost. After throwing up once in the morning, the rest of the days were fine.

[specialmom]

This is usually associated with low blood sugar in the morning.  Not uncommon.  My son has this as well.  The thing to do is to actually eat something to bring your blood sugar up.  Not probably what you feel like doing but it often WILL remedy the situation.

[Clinicaesperanza]

I am a school nurse. Generally I can see these symptoms in boys from the 4th to the 12 grade. The endocrine system is so interconnected and delicate. One small hormonal fluctuation sets off a firestorm or symptoms. Cortisol levels and inadequate sleep is a key component.  I did a informal albeit direct history of some of these boys families. For some of the boys fathers they remember stretches of nausea and vomiting episodes. The events went unnoticed because A. Boys were more independent thus weren´t under a microscope B. Their Moms, perhaps  with good perception rules out viral, or bacterial causes.
  Unrelated to this thread but relevant,  a Childrenś hospital pain center nurse discussed not asking children with headaches and pain, if they are having headaches and pain !  Finally carefully consider if this happens when they are away from home? What days of the week? If its all about missing work at school, schedule a meeting with Guidance and administration to adjust schedule and get the work done. His doctor will accommodate with written orders. No 504 if its for the a quarter to test the adjustment.

[sjselin]

Hi, I'm just curious how hormonal fluctuations could cause nausea and vomiting and how does lack of sleep fit into all of this? Could you elaborate a bit more? Thanks in advance.

[TheLorax13]

Just as an FYI

Info on CVS:
https://www.niddk.nih.gov/health-information/digestive-diseases/cyclic-vomiting-syndrome

http://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/cyclic-vomiting-syndrome/basics/definition/CON-20028160

http://www.medicinenet.com/cyclic_vomiting_syndrome_cvs/article.htm

I'm still struggling with my son's issue. He's had this for the last month and missed too much school. Now we're having to look into getting him into a Section 504 plan. :/

http://www.greatschools.org/gk/articles/section-504-2/

[TheLorax13]

I would also suggest searching for the Cyclic Vomiting Association website. They have a lot of good information and a forum where you can communicate with other people with CVS.

[TheLorax13]

Just as an update, we are STILL struggling with this issue. His nausea finally stopped being daily late in 2017. Then in about April of this year it started up again. We are still pursuing testing including genetic testing and we're going to go seen an endocrinologist. As usual, his blood work shows him to be perfectly healthy. This is such a frustrating disorder. He is doing online school again this year and started off feeling nauseous right around the start of the year and then had a week long bout of vertigo to cap it off.  Once the vertigo was gone, he's been nauseous pretty much all day every day. He is still eating and keeping a positive attitude and we're looking into it but it's very worrisome to his mother and I.  

[Syberchick70]

My son is 10. He's thin, but not tall and he doesn't have long fingers or anything. He is having trouble sleeping, he is feeling nauseated and gagging in the mornings and apparently he just hallucinated, although I'm wondering if that isn't due to lack of sleep. I do not want to subject him to the torturous process of lots of testing. He is hyper sensitive to needles and gags on most liquid meds. He has also had something going on for a long time. He says it burns when he pees (no issues found by Dr). I gave him an antacid this morning and that seemed to help after he managed to get it down. I'm hoping someone has ideas. :/