Building friendships through support groups - Part 6
My child complains of physical ailments that have no obvious cause.
Many of the moms nodded in agreement because their children also complain of physical ailments when there is no identifiable cause, not even after repeated trips to the doctor. “For months Neil would double over with intense stomach pain every morning before school,” Joan told us. She and her husband had consulted numerous doctors and also tried alternative dietary approaches – more acidophilus, less junk food. More fruits and vegetables, no dairy. Vitamin supplements. “I’m willing to try anything,” says Joan. “Anything that would help Neil get through the day without any physical discomfort.
“The problem is – he’s not faking it. Neil really does feel awful. His head is pounding. His stomach is hard and hollow. Sometimes I am certain that other parents, and even Neil’s teacher, think I am heartless when I don’t respond with sympathy to his latest physical complaints. Their attitudes usually annoy me, but then that little guilt devil creeps in and I think, what will happen if Neil actually is sick with a life-threatening disease? How would I feel if I ignored it only to find out later that it was too late to save him? When the guilt overcomes me, off we go to the doctor who by now thinks that Neil and his mother both need their heads examined.” Joan chuckles. “Well, it wouldn’t be the first time.”
Read Part 1.
