Growing Pains?

[covsooze]

Both myself and my sister are coeliacs. My son was tested a year ago and his bloods came back negative. The drs aren't concerned for him as he's big for his age. He often complains about his tummy hurting and has fairly loose stools on a regular basis, but isn't a sickly child, so I don't know if I'm just being paranoid being concerned about him. Believe it or not, the GP says his stomach pains are most likely due to him eating + drinking too fast! Anyway, that's me going off at a tangent..

What's concerning us at the moment is he often complains that his knees hurt, and his foot has started hurting today as well. Sometimes he'll wake up in the night crying like mad cos his knee hurts. It's not swollen or anything and he's never sustained anything more than the usual bumps and scratches. So my question is, do small kids really have 'growing pains' for no reason other than they're just growing, or could this be something to do with celiac disease, or indeed something else? I feel like if I asked the GP, he'd think I was wasting his time...

[Carriefaith]

I remember having knee, hip and mild ankle pain in the months leading up to my diagnosis. My knee and hip pain were the worst by far. I had trouble walking sometimes and had a bit of a limp by times because of the knee pain. All this greatly improved after being gluten-free for a few months, the hip pain bothered me for at least 3-4 months after going on the gluten-free diet. I do get knee pain every once in a while, but never as bad as it used to be!

[nikki-uk]

Suzie, I would consider getting him tested again as this was what my son most complained of.

My son's first coeliac panel was neg, but came up high positive around 11 months later.

My hubby was dx 2 yrs ago and it was only this that made me look for symptoms in my kids.

My middle son never complained of stomach ache but did have pretty loose stools (but we kind of got used to that!)

It was his complaining that his leg hurt (or has he described it 'my bone is broke' !) that made me pursue testing.

In the last few months before his dx we really noticed a downturn in his overall wellbeing - and he didn't want to walk anywhere as his legs hurt too much and was now overly tired.

IMO it can't do any harm to get him tested.

Good Luck

[Nancym]

I have an autoimmune disease called Akylosing Spondylitis. It can affect people pretty early in life, especially boys. It is connected to Celiac disease, as most autoimmune diseases are. But I've read that some people with this disease had a lot of bone pain in their teen years that doctors always blew off as growing pains. Hopefully it isn't AS but it is something to be aware of. Since I've gotten off of wheat and dairy and been taking Sulfasalazine for my AS it really has been MUCH better.

[FeedIndy]

My older DD often complained of pain in her shins and her knees. Her ped at the time called them growing pains, too. She would wake up in the night screaming in pain. Through this board, I've become aware of some other issues with her that could be signs of celiac, rather than just how she is which is what we always thought.

We started the older two on gluten free yesterday and either I'm looking real hard or things are already improving! If you are getting negative test results, but still feel like something is going on a dietary trial is the way to go. I really think it's the only real way to know for sure.

[covsooze]

Thanks everyone. I think we will have him tested again in the new year. He is complaining of his stomach hurting quite frequently now. I'll let you know how it goes.

Susie x

PS Nikki - yes please to one of those mince pies