What should I do? Question about my son -

So, just a bit about me - I was diagnosed with Crohn's when I was 34ish. Never had symptoms until one day my stomach just started killing me. Was diagnosed pretty quickly and have been taking Pentasa ever since. I am relatively symptom free and have basically been in remission for some time. The only ill-effects I get are serious localized stomach pains which typically last a day or so.

My son who is 14, has recently started getting bad, bad stomach pain. I know it could be a million things, one of the things could be that he just has a "bad" stomach due to the fact that he suffered as a youth from constant ear aches and was treated with antibiotics forever. I understand long-term antibiotic use has now been linked to stomach problems.

I don't want to take him to the doctor. I know that's crazy. I love the kid. I don't want him have this diagnosis. I know the diagnosis is troublesome (scope, etc.). I don't know what to do, honestly. My wife isn't willing to believe it and thinks maybe it's just diet related or something else. I don't know.

Am I harming him by letting it run undiagnosed? He doesn't seem to have any other symptoms, but i didn't either. Really, I just need some guidance.

Thanks.

Stevo, I have been in your shoes. My oldest daughter had terrible stomach problems right around the onset of puberty and I also did not want her to go through invasive diagnostics. I talked it over with her pediatrician at great length and she agreed with me that unless and until her stomach problems interfered with her school work or health we would not undergo any diagnostics. We talked about diet and sleep and hydration (my daughter was 9 around this time) and watched her closely.

At age 10 her stomach aches got so bad that she stopped eating, almost completely. She plummeted off her growth curve. We got a referral to the pediatric GI practice closest to us and she ended up having an upper endoscopy. At that point her GI diagnosed gastric esophageal reflux, which we treated with a powerful ppi, Dexilant. She felt a lot better.

The GI continues to see her because we are not quite out of the woods. My daughter is almost 14 now and occasionally has blood in her stool. We all agree that we do not want to do a colonoscopy unless and until her situation deteriorates to the point that her school work or overall health is impacted. We are not there yet, but it is something we are aware of.

I would encourage you to visit your regular pediatrician and have a conversation, including your son, about all of this. I'm glad you found the forum.

It could be a ton of stuff, lots of it easily solved. They might fix it before even needing to do a scope. I say take him in- it will not be fun, but neither is being in pain w/o knowing why. Scopes are unpleasant, but represent a finite, known quantity when it comes to suffering. Whatever he's got is unknown, and could be infinite, if left untreated. You need to have more information, and the only way to get that is to go to a doctor.

Edit: Also, as others mentioned, include your son in the conversations. He's old enough now to start to understand about his medical care. He might not be ready to handle it on his own, but he should certainly have a voice in his care at this point. I was diagnosed at 16, and my parents talked to me, gave advice, and ultimately let me make the final decisions (though we have a habit of forming consensus about such things). That was, I think, VERY important for me developmentally. It gave me... a sense of comfort and control. I knew exactly what was happening, why, and how it was supposed to affect me. All the while, my parents were there, being supportive but not controlling. I still like to drag them along for the more serious procedures, like my surgery last year.

Post Edited (Bane) : 10/8/2013 6:20:24 PM (GMT-6)

Stevo68

You're not alone and we all understand. I do not have CD. My son was diagnosed at age 11 after showing symptoms for a year. He is now 21 years old.

The philosophy in regards to meds has changed drastically in the last 10 years. The old thought process was to treat the disease once flare up symptoms started. Now the approach is to treat kids early in a more preventative approach. Studies are showing that this approach is more successful in the long run.

If your son has CD wouldn't you want to know what his options were to avoid long term damage to the GI tract

Please don't let him go undiagnosed. When I first started to get sick I didn't want to see a doctor either and I was super scared of the scope. But you know what? Even though this diagnose sucks I was still glad it had a name. And when it has a name it can be treated. And that's when it gets better. Hopefully it's not CD but if it's ongoing, please take him to the doc. I hope you have done this already.