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Night Terrors & Leg Pain

angie315

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angie315 Apprentice
angie315
Posted

My daughter has only been gluten free for 2 months. Last night she took a bath (I used California baby body wash by regular shampoo). She was playing in the tub and putting water into her mouth and spitting it back out. About two hours after she was asleep she woke up screaming and didn't respond to my voice. She only woke up after she peed herself. It happened again later in the night and she then awoke a third time moaning that she was having "growing pains" in her legs. Is night terrors and muscle aches/pain a sight of ingesting gluten? She has never had the typical GI symptoms (no diarrhea) so I wasn't sure if this is how her body reacts to gluten now. Anybody has seen this?

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Aleshia Contributor
Aleshia
Posted
My daughter has only been gluten free for 2 months. Last night she took a bath (I used California baby body wash by regular shampoo). She was playing in the tub and putting water into her mouth and spitting it back out. About two hours after she was asleep she woke up screaming and didn't respond to my voice. She only woke up after she peed herself. It happened again later in the night and she then awoke a third time moaning that she was having "growing pains" in her legs. Is night terrors and muscle aches/pain a sight of ingesting gluten? She has never had the typical GI symptoms (no diarrhea) so I wasn't sure if this is how her body reacts to gluten now. Anybody has seen this?

I know that the leg pain definitely seems to be and when I searched on google for "night terror celiac" it came up with almost 80,000 links to do with that... I read a few and it does seem to be a symptom

debmom Newbie
debmom
Posted

My daughter had insomnia and restless leg syndrome until she went gluten free. She still has some problems occasionally, but not nearly what she had before the diet.

2kids4me Contributor
2kids4me
Posted

My son had leg pains and wet the bed almost every night til he went gluten free after we found out he was celiac. The bed wetting took about 6 weeks to resolve - it gradually got less and less til none at all. He was 9 (almost 10) when diagnosed.

The leg pains took about 3 months to disappear totally. They went from every night to about once a week to very couple of weeks before being gone altogther.

He gets leg pains if he gets cross contaminated.

My daughter used to have night terrors as well - they can be related to celiac but are also known as common issue with children under age 10.

Night terrors on the same night as leg pains - may just be the body responding to the pain (?) That's just my theory.

Ursa Major Collaborator
Ursa Major
Posted

It sounds like your daughter got glutened by whatever was in the bath water. There must have been gluten in the body wash!

Kaycee Collaborator
Kaycee
Posted

Just to say as a child I had night terrors. They were very scary, and I would wake the whole house screaming and then not remember what had upset me. Sheer terror. The last time I had a similar attack was when I was in my late teens, by then, they weren't very regular. I was a very nervous child and maybe just scared of my own shadow. I'm sorry but I can't say whether they were related to gluten or not. Hope this is not what your daughter has.

What I can say, is that many years later,and now glutenfree, when I get glutened I have pretty graphic dreams, some are terrifying others are just so graphic. So I think gluten does affect my sleep. But I never wake up petrified.

Cathy

ryebaby0 Enthusiast
ryebaby0
Posted

My oldest son (not the one with celiac) had night terrors several times a week for about 18 months when he was little (like 5-6y.o.). They are not uncommon in children, and aren' t a sign of anything in particular, usually. They almost always go away just as mysteriously as they arrive. They are more common in children who's parents had them, or were sleepwalkers (I was)

We found if we got to him when he first started one (which was generally about 1 hr. after he fell asleep) it would be a little shorter. Occasionally he would sleepwalk, too! It surely is freaky! He would have absolutely no recognition of us, and no memory in the morning of having done anything but slept soundly. Our pediatrician said to not try and wake him, just keep him from getting out of bed.

As everyone here will tell you , leg pains are often a celiac symptom. Whether she was glutenated or not is anybody's guess!

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RiceGuy Collaborator
RiceGuy
Posted

The first thing that comes to mind is if there was any gluten residue in the tub. Especially on or under those rubber grippy non-slip things. I do know that muscle twitching can be from a nutrient deficiency, magnesium in particular. But in this case it just sounds like either a reaction to gluten or other offending substance.

jhow32000 Rookie
jhow32000
Posted

The California Baby is not the problem. She probably got contamination from something else. I have to say that I have been plagued by these leg pains for years and we always thought they were growing pains. Now everytime I eat something contaminated I get them almost immediately. I believe that night terrors are from dairy allergy or intolerance, which of course is common with celiac disease. I know that the lactase enzyme is the first to disappear from the damaged intestine. Perhaps you should cut out all dairy if you haven't already and check everything for a source of wheat or dairy. These things will happen throughout her life, I still get the stupid leg pains and they are a KILLER. Just retrace your steps to find the issue.

Lizz7711 Apprentice
Lizz7711
Posted

My daughter gets leg pains and occasionally wets the bed when glutened, or also I think from corn...still trying to track it to be sure. No night terrors though.

Liz

My daughter has only been gluten free for 2 months. Last night she took a bath (I used California baby body wash by regular shampoo). She was playing in the tub and putting water into her mouth and spitting it back out. About two hours after she was asleep she woke up screaming and didn't respond to my voice. She only woke up after she peed herself. It happened again later in the night and she then awoke a third time moaning that she was having "growing pains" in her legs. Is night terrors and muscle aches/pain a sight of ingesting gluten? She has never had the typical GI symptoms (no diarrhea) so I wasn't sure if this is how her body reacts to gluten now. Anybody has seen this?
CeliacMom2008 Enthusiast
CeliacMom2008
Posted

I'm so sorry you had to go through a night terror! I think every parent should be told about night terrors BEFORE they happen. The first time my son had one we were at my parents and it scared all of four of us adults tremendously. We had given him an asthma breathing treatment for the first time that night and we were all convinced it had done something to his brain. It was just awful! I still hate going through them, but at least now I know I don't need to call 9-1-1. The staring "through" you still turns my stomach when it happens though. For us, at least our son never has any recollection of them occuring.

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