depression and abdominal pain related?

Do you think that depression and abdominal pain might be related? My 16 year old daughter suffers from chronic abdominal pain that are usually followed by appetite loss and fever, she recently has lose weight drastically and she is depressed it is so obvious to me but I don’t get it how I could help her. And I would really like to know are depression and abdominal pain related? Thanks.

I am not that young like your daughter but anyway I know that any kind of a pain that is frequent or chronic like in your daughter’s case may cause a depression. If you feel any pain for longer period of time it is more likely that at some point you will get depressed. And the best way to treat depression here is actually to find the cause of her abdominal pain and treat it on the right way. I am not sure but those symptoms you’ve described regarding your daughter’s abdominal pain might have something to do with some colon disease such as Chron’s condition or something like that. She might even get prescribed some antidepressants just to relieve those symptoms of depression and anxiety and also might try to take aspirin or ibuprofen to reduce her abdominal pain but it’s not likely to be enough for solving this problem. I am sure her depression is related to some physical health condition and she better run to her doc and find out what’s wrong with her so she could get proper treatment and proper medications for if not treated depression might become chronic also meaning increased frequency of depression relapse.

hi, to answer this question, many years ago, my daughter suffered the same symtoms, dr. after dr. i took her to, only to be told, there was nothing wrong w/her. finally one dr. sent her for an mri-cat scan, and found out a part of one of her kidneys were not functioning normal, so they did surgery, cut the bad part out, and she was great after that. but, like i said, for over a year, she slept all the time, lost a lot of wight, and just seems depressed. i even started to think it was all in her head. hope this helps.

Hello to all here at steadyhealth
First off, i would like to point out, please to not take an aspirin or ipubrufen for a stomach ache, because if the pain is due to acid peptic disease/gastritis, these drugs are going to make things worse. Aspirin and Ipubrufen are Non Steroidal Anti-Inflammatory Drugs(NSAIDS) which do considerable amount of damage to gastric/duodenal mucosa . This is a cause of stomach and duodenal ulcers in those on chronic pain medications.
Back on topic, depression, in my opinion, is very related to chronic pain which is why even a friend who can listen to problems and find amicable solutions may prove useful.
But, this diagnosis of psychosomatic causation, should be made only after a thorough medical check exam and investigations.
For empirical treatment, try Famotidine 20 mg twice daily for 5 days or so, Omeprazole and Epidosin can prove useful too.