Anxiety, hives, and stomach cramps. Oh my!

My sweet little Sarah has been taking piano lessons for almost two years now.  She loves to play and she even seems to like to practice.  I usually have to remind her but she always does it willingly (most days).

In February, she brought home a note after one of her lessons that said there was going to be a recital in April.  She was thrilled!  She picked out her recital piece and we shopped for a new dress and new shoes, and Aunt Cathy was going to be able to attend the recital.

Sarah was on cloud nine.  She practiced the recital piece along with her other weekly music and life progressed as normal until a couple of weeks before the performance.

She started complaining of stomach pain usually at bedtime.  I figured this was just an excuse to stay up later or to get me to stay in her room for a while.

Also right around this time she had a sleepover with Cheyanne (she's slept at her house too many times to count) but had to come home at midnight because her stomach hurt. 

A week later she had a 2 night Brownie camp out and on the 2nd night complained about her stomach aching and missing me.

Anxiety?  Separation anxiety?

This past Wednesday night she complained that her stomach hurt at bedtime and I asked her if she was worried about anything.  She said her teacher would be out the next day and she was worried about having a substitute who wouldn't know the right way to do things.  She also admitted (after I did a little prodding) that she was nervous about the recital.  I was volunteering at school the next day and told her I would be there all day.  That seemed to calm her down and she went to sleep with no problems.

On Thursday night she had what I would call a mild panic attack.  She complained that her stomach hurt and she was going to throw up.  She started freaking out because she did not want to throw up.  (We all suffered through the stomach bug a month ago and I think that was fresh in her memory.) She complained that she felt like she had throw up in her throat but she never threw up. I finally got her calmed down and her stomach stopped hurting and she went to bed.

I sent her to school on Friday because I just knew all of this was related to the stress of the piano recital.

Of course, I got a call from school on Friday.  She was crying in the office because her stomach hurt.

I whisked her off to the doctor where she was diagnosed with acid reflux.  (Which can be brought on by stress.)  They based this diagnosis off the place her stomach pain was coming from and the fact that the night before she felt like she had something in her throat - acid coming back up.

So we got a prescription for some meds and she felt great for the rest of the day.

My sister-in-law arrived that afternoon, I went out to dinner with some friends to celebrate Jennifer's 40th birthday and the rest of the family went out to eat as well.

When I got home from the birthday dinner, my family was eating their dinner from take out boxes.  Apparently Sarah started crying in the middle of the dinner that her stomach hurt and she was going to throw up.

Cathy had a conversation with her where Sarah revealed she didn't like to be away from me.

More separation anxiety. 

As she was getting ready for bed she broke out in hives!  She had about 15- 20 hives on her back!  We gave her Benadryl for the itching.  I did some research online and found that stress can cause hives.

On Saturday evening, she got a few new hives and the hives from Friday night flared up again. 

FINALLY and Sunday arrived.  Sarah was nervous most of the morning but no stomach ache and no new hives.  She focused most of her attention on her hair and her dress and her shoes. 

We made it to the recital and she was WONDERFUL! 

And for the rest of the day on Sunday she had no stomach problems and no hives.

I am praying that all of her ailments are gone for good now that the recital is over.