Pretending to Be Sick?

My older daughter was sick a few days ago. Stomach bug. Throwing up all night. Not pretty. She recovered quickly, but just to be on the safe side, we kept her home from school another day. She keeps complaining that her tummy hurts, but I'm not so sure it actually does. I think she's doing it just to get the attention. Another reason I believe she's pretending is because of her sister who, because of all her health issues, sees doctors all the time. I don't think my daughter will tell us she feels okay again until she sees a doctor.

Thursday's she doesn't have school; instead she goes to gymnastics. My younger daughter has a class on the same day, but she's legitimately sick, so she stayed home. My wife actually left work to watch Grace while I took Quinn to gymnastics. She seemed fine. She ate a bowl of cereal for breakfast. She was excited to get in the car. She ran right into class and did her warm-up. But then, half way into the class, I see her go over to her teacher, then head toward the door. I figured it was just a potty break, but when she walked up to me, she started in again about her stomach hurting. I took her to the bathroom anyway, but she kept on complaining. We ended up leaving class and coming home.

So now I'm not sure what to believe. My gut tells me she's pretending, but I would feel terrible if her stomach is actually hurting. Each day she's been home so far has consisted of sitting on the couch and watching TV. When we got home today, I told her no TV..., for the rest of the day - straight to bed. I don't want her to think she can just fake a stomach ache, then sit home on the couch watching Hi-5 for the rest of the day. She also keeps asking if she needs to see a doctor. I keep telling her that if she goes to the doctor, they're going to do tests on her that might hurt (figuring the fear of a painful visit to the doc might make her think twice about faking it), but I don't think it's having the affect I hoped for.

She's due for a physical anyway. Maybe if I just schedule that, she'll get over this need to see a doctor. Or maybe there really is something wrong? My daughter is a very good actress - it's hard to tell.