Son being sick/feeling sick before school every morning!

[Smowball]

My son started secondary school in September, and around the same time, in fact slightly before this, he started to feel sick whenever he woke up, and sometimes was actually sick. After a week or so if this he was seen by the doctor who found nothing wrong. Still it persisted so he had blood tests, eye tests, kept food diaries and still nothing came to light. This only tends to happen on school days although admittedly he was sick last wkend out of the blue. He is adamant there is nothing wrong at school. I have got the school to monitor him discreetly and they say he is a happy, popular child and very bright. Still it goes on. This week there was no school Monday for inset day and he was fine. Schhol on tuesday and he is in tears sayinng he feels really sick but managed to get him to go in. No school yesterday due to strikes and he is fine. This morning he is sobbing with headache and being physically sick to the point I had to keep him home. He slept solid till noon(very unusual) and is now fine! I am at the end of my tether as to what on earth is wrong. He has now cut out breakfast totally because of this and is as thin as a rake. Any help would be gratefully received!!

[Smowball]

this only started in August, it never happened before.He says the same to his step father - that he just cant help it, he wakes up and feels really sick and doesnt know why. he has already told me that he know he is going to feel sick in the morning, even though he is now perfectly fine. maybe the brain is so suggestive he is actually being sick because he tells himself he will be??

[hellywelly4]

My daughter used to come home from school with a blinding headache, then be sick, then go to sleep for a couple of hours, then she was fine. The doctor in the end put it down to the fact that she was conscientious and didn't like that some days she couldn't get on with her work because of the noise. (I'm going back 20 years). I wonder if this is a similar sort of problem, if the class is disruptive, then he can't get on with his work. Just a thought for you.
However, I would be seriously inclined to think about changing schools as the discipline seems virtually non-existent.
Sending best wishes to you, (and a hug).

[China Doll]

The mind is a powerful thing and I guess he could well be stuck in a certain mind frame if he always thinks that he knows he's going to be sick. I wonder if paying attention to it helps, so since you both know he's going to be sick and you give him the option of a cereal bar to eat as he won't have brekkie then that be that and no more discussing it... that sounds terribly harsh and I don't mean it like that at all! I'm essentially trying to say that focusing on it too much might not be helping either.

I'm exceptionally grumpy in the morning, this has remained a consistent fact my entire life, maybe some things you learn to live with :c)

[Smowball]

I think becaus he is so thin thats why im worrying about the food - he is 12 and wearing boxers for a 7 yr old yet he is 5ft4! He weighs 6 st 5lb

[Dee Sa]

this started happening to a pal of mine's boy when he started Uni, they had him in hospital as sometimes the vomit was black, hospital discharged him couldnt fnd anything wrong and suggested he went home to recuperate, once home he was fine a has been since but did not go back to Uni and the symptons he never returned.

[missprim]

That's a good thought from hellywelly4.If your boy is affected by the disruption in the class then this would be one of the reasons he is sick on school days.If your boy is usually fairly quiet and well behaved, he won't be happy in a class of unruly kids.

[Smowball]

helly/mussprim - yes you may have a point. He may be dreading the chaos of the lessons. Well I will give it a couple of weeks and see if the head teachers meeting has had any impact on the behavious issues

[Smowball]

*missprim lol

[firewatch]

poor chap, sounds stress related as every one has said. He may not be being bullied by pupils but by teachers, it happens. My sports teachers where the worst as I was the least sporty-rather be in the library lol. Does he have friends over much? Dont over pressure him to talk about it, but may be see if he has a teacher he can confide in like his form tutor? See if they can fathom out the problemxx

[Smowball]

Yes he has friends over every weeked. He seems to get on with most. Think you are all right, it may be stress, bless him.

[tenrec]

Have you taken him to your GP for a check up?

[tenrec]

Sorry, just read opening post again!

[erin-x]

My cousin was quite similar to this... He would complain of tiredness and sickness and ended up leaving school altogether by 3rd year. They tried to find out what was wrong with him but he refused to have a blood test. Even without the blood test they diagnosed him with having ME. Turns out that he was staying up on his playstation all night and would make himself sick in the morning so he could stay at home and sleep.

I am not by any means saying that your son is lying so please don't construe it as that. Your post just reminded me of my cousin and I thought I would share..

[EvianBaby]

Is he not eating properly the rest of the day? Missing breakfast shouldn't be making him worryingly thin if he is having decent meals the rest of the day.

Has he got facebook? If so, spy on him. You need to look at his inbox messages and see if there is anything going in there.

[Eve]

Do you see him be sick involuntarily? I'm not saying it's anything like this but my eating disorder went back far further than I realised as it took me a long time to realise I had a problem (a good while even after a doctor trying to refer me to an eating disorder specialist and friends telling me I had a problem). All sorts of strange behaviour around food can crop up - I went vegetarian then vegan in an attempt to further hide things and used to hide food in various places and all kinds of things.

Worth keeping an eye on any strange behaviour around food. It can often be a control mechanism, when you feel like you can't control other things around you you turn it inwards so can be heightened by stressful situations.

If he is feeling ill then this could lead to issues surrounding food in itself - bit of a vicious circle.

My cousin had a lot of problems with being ill all the time (fainting and headaches) and missed so much school she had to go back a year. From uni onwards all seems to have been fine.

Are there any problems at home or anywhere else he could be picking up on?