My kids have been so sick this year. My high school senior has horrible allergies, he is always stuffy and congested. He had a pretty good case of pink eye that lasted for almost 3 weeks. He has had two back to back sinus infections and is probably on the way to a third.

My high school freshman has a whole bunch of problems, she has had abdominal pains since early December. Had an ovarian cyst, that went away but left a lot of pain. She has had 4 ultrasounds, an xray, a CT scan, blood work to rule out glutein intolerance, and now we are trying lactose free. Even though she has been eliminating regularly, the xray showed a large backup of stool in her colon. We are dealing with that with some laxatives. On top of this, she has had a fungus in her ears since Thanksgiving. We have been going to the ENT pretty much weekly since then. Now she has come down with a barky cough that makes her feel like she is going to puke every time she coughs. She is so stuffy and congested. Both are complaining of a sore throat, but are not strep.

We have been to more doctors and more often this school year probably in our last 5 yrs!

My problem is that I am not very sympathetic. I know she hurts, but I can only do what I do, take her to the doctor and try to make her follow the doc directions...she is famous for doing something for a day and then saying it doesn't work, still hurts. She doesn't get that things take time to work. But it is super frustrating to see her in constant pain. She is trying to keep up with her activities, but they hurt to do them.

My son being a senior is a little more contientious about missing school. He suffers through, its a little easier for him, as he only goes in the morning, then leaves to do his co-op at the elementary school. He has missed that a few times, but he is ahead of schedule on that. My daughter, not so much....even though she complains about missing school, she is much more likely to beg to stay home. I honestly think the problem is that she is so over tired that she just needs a day of full rest.

I tell ya its wearing on me....I am trying to be a nice parent, but every day someone is complaining that something hurts. And I cant do anything about it!

Thanks for listening!

Regarding daughter with sore throat...not showing up as strept...I had that all through high school...come to find out...Epstein Barr Virus - Used to be called Syndrome (mutation of Mono). Wouldn't hurt to check that next time bloodwork done. Just a thought...
And so so sorry about all your families medical woes...
SD

How frustrating!
I wonder if you could get a partial day for your daughter, are there some subjects she could do independent study on? It sounds like she's just overwhelmed wtih the symptoms and school work as well.

Stomach issues are the worst, and accompany some really frustrating and potentially embarrassing symptoms. And High Schoolers do NOT want to talk about them! Until that's under control, they might be taking a higher place in her mind than anything else, especially during a school day when bathroom access is a little more limited.

I get the wearing on you bit. The older they get, the harder it is to do anything real about it. At least when htey were little, a few minutes of snuggling would have that placebo effect. (Also wearing, but at least it felt useful)

Can you engage your daughter in finding solutions? Keep a food and symptom diary, or download one onto her device so she can easily keep track of what she's eating and symptoms and maybe see a connection? (I have been looking for a good one, different apps have different symptoms highlighted so look around. I can't find one that incorporates a menstrual cycle, but keeping tabs on that with symptoms might help, too.)

My dd has gluten intolerance and gets debillitating migraines. I figure my role at this point is to help her learn how to function with or despite her symptoms. In high school, it was a lot harder because as much as I wanted her to self advocate they needed/wanted parent advocacy. Grr. Anyway, I tell her that I will support her in trying to feel better if she cooperates. But if she takes dumb chances or put herself at risk just to fit in (eating without double checking things are safe for her dietary needs) I don't want to hear anything about it.

I had to reply. I had epstein barr virus too in High School. I have never heard of any one else having it! It was a lot like mono, I had that at one point too.