Joint Pain and Mood Swings in 12-Year-Olds: Potential Causes & When to See a Doctor

Question
My 12 yr old daughter is constantly saying her joints are hurting, making her very moody and crys alot! She started her periods 3 mths ago and has just finished her 2nd bleed which lasted 16 days! She is not happy and keeps saying she wishes she ws dead, so its upsetting me, any help would be good thanks

Answer
From a medical standpoint, I think she should see her doctor for a hemoglobin/hematocrit.  She may be anemic from all the bleeding and it may be totally wiping her out and causing muscular pain, which an adolescent would handle with probably a lot of emotion, like what you are seeing. As a former psychiatric nurse, I think you should make sure she has no plans of suicide and possibly ask the school counselor (or someone qualified) to assess her to see if she may need counseling to handle this.  It's possible that she's also depressed or experiencing wildly fluctuating moods, but I would start by making sure she's not anemic.  I would start with investigating that because you could try counseling or antidepressants, but if she doesn't have enough red blood cells, the underlying fatigue will persist.  
Thanks for your question!
--Maggie, RN, MSN