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Joint Pain In Children?

mimommy

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mimommy Contributor
mimommy
Posted

Hello. I am new here and am so very happy to have found a place to ask questions and share my concerns! I would like to know if any of you have noticed that your child, like mine, complains of stiffness and/or pain? My 8 year old has been diagnosed with celiac disease recently, but has complained of tender achy pains in her legs for years. From the onset of her worst celiac symptoms (1 year ago) she had ankle pain for months, and told me today that she has pains in her finger and leg. When I was growing up I had awful pain in my legs--my dad called it "growing pains". As it turns out, inflammatory issues have plagued me my entire life (I have not been tested for celiac yet.) My heart breaks to hear my daughter--who is so young--talk about being in pain.

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Fiddle-Faddle Community Regular
Fiddle-Faddle
Posted

My 16-year-old student would scream "celiac!!!!" in answer to your question (as would I).

She went faithfully to physical therapy for three YEARS, and was on various meds for the pain that they said was some variant of juvenile rheumatoid arthritis. After 2 weeks gluten-free, her pain went from 8 (on a scale of 1-10) to 0-1.

Turns out, she does have the genes for celiac--but none of her doctors even thought of celiac, even though it turns out that she also has (surprise surprise) intestinal issues.

I'm not saying that celiac is the one and only cause of joint pain in children. But it IS the first one I think of, and should be ruled out (or in).

shayesmom Rookie
shayesmom
Posted
Hello. I am new here and am so very happy to have found a place to ask questions and share my concerns! I would like to know if any of you have noticed that your child, like mine, complains of stiffness and/or pain? My 8 year old has been diagnosed with celiac disease recently, but has complained of tender achy pains in her legs for years. From the onset of her worst celiac symptoms (1 year ago) she had ankle pain for months, and told me today that she has pains in her finger and leg. When I was growing up I had awful pain in my legs--my dad called it "growing pains". As it turns out, inflammatory issues have plagued me my entire life (I have not been tested for celiac yet.) My heart breaks to hear my daughter--who is so young--talk about being in pain.

One of the students at my dd's school was just dx'd with Celiac (and egg and dairy allergy) two weeks ago. She has suffered for YEARS with joint pains. Already, it is getting better.

So yes, it is totally possible that this was one of those "non-classic" symptoms at work.

I hope your dd starts feeling better soon!

Amyleigh0007 Enthusiast
Amyleigh0007
Posted

Yes! One of my 8 year old son's main symptoms was leg pain. He would have muscle cramps and knee and ankle pain. He would sleep with a heating pad every night. Everyone told me it was "gowing pains". The funny thing was he was not growing. The pain has gotten much better now that he is gluten free. I can't remember the last time he complained. And, by the way, he has grown more in the last 10 months then he did in the previous 3 years.

climbmtwhitney Apprentice
climbmtwhitney
Posted

Hi.

Yes!!!

My 5-year old who's been diagnosed gluten intolerant used to get terrible leg pains. Poor little guy--they would wake him up out of his sleep. I used to have to stay with him and gently rub his legs until the Motrin kicked in and he fell back to sleep. We were also told they were just "growing pains". But, since he's been gluten free he hasn't had them--I can't even remember 1x since going gluten-free.

And, I, who am Celiac, was tested a couple of times as a child for rheumatoid arthritis because my pains were so bad. And, as an adult I would get random shooting pains. For several hours they might be in my foot every several seconds. Then later they would move somewhere else like my chest, leg, knee, arm, etc. Mine, too, are gone!

I hope your daughter feels better soon. :)

Jill

debmom Newbie
debmom
Posted

My daughter had similar issues with leg pain, joint pain and restless leg syndrome. All are better on a gluten free diet. Occasionally she complains of pain, but not nearly as often.

mimommy Contributor
mimommy
Posted
  • Author

"as an adult I would get random shooting pains. "

That is EXACTLY how my daughter described it. She has been on a strict gluten free diet since last August, with a few mishaps and accidental contaminations. I have been rechecking and rereading all food labels again to be absolutely certain there is no hidden gluten. Just the thought that we could help her avoid the inflammatory problems in my family is compelling. I am seriously thinking of going gluten free myself. After joining this forum I have realized I may be contaminating her in the process of preparing foods for the rest of the family. Thank you all for sharing these experiences--my nearest support group is about an hour drive from where we live.

Does anyone get stabbing pains under their fingernails? Like needles?

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Rondar2001 Apprentice
Rondar2001
Posted

Count my daughter in for these symptoms. She's 8 now and still complains once and awhile about muscle aches, but much less than before going gluten free.

jmjsmomma Apprentice
jmjsmomma
Posted

Yep, leg pains here too. My five year old had almost nightly leg cramps for the last couple of years. We were told they were growing pains too, which made sense to me as I suffered terribly with leg cramps as a child (although my celiac panel just came back negative). After being gluten-free since Jan 9, my son has had only one leg cramp!

CeliacMom2008 Enthusiast
CeliacMom2008
Posted

Add my son to the list of Celiac's who had leg pain. He was tested as a toddler for arthritis. We were told he was getting us up at night complaining of leg pain for attention. We were told his arches weren't formed yet and that was causing ankle pain. We were told he was having growing pains. All of these were told to us by his various pediatricians. Then a little over a year ago he was diagnosed with Celiac because of intestinal issues. And wouldn't you know it...gluten free and leg pain free as well. He also stopped having dark circles under his eyes so frequently, allergies got much better, started going to bed at a normal kid time instead of right after dinner, his mood swings disappeared, and he grew 4 inches in one year. So yes, I believe Celiac was the cause of my son's leg pains as well as a whole laundry list of other problems!

mimommy Contributor
mimommy
Posted
  • Author
Add my son to the list of Celiac's who had leg pain. He was tested as a toddler for arthritis. We were told he was getting us up at night complaining of leg pain for attention. We were told his arches weren't formed yet and that was causing ankle pain. We were told he was having growing pains. All of these were told to us by his various pediatricians. Then a little over a year ago he was diagnosed with Celiac because of intestinal issues. And wouldn't you know it...gluten free and leg pain free as well. He also stopped having dark circles under his eyes so frequently, allergies got much better, started going to bed at a normal kid time instead of right after dinner, his mood swings disappeared, and he grew 4 inches in one year. So yes, I believe Celiac was the cause of my son's leg pains as well as a whole laundry list of other problems!

Interesting--the dark circles under my daughters eyes have gone away, too!

conviviality Newbie
conviviality
Posted
Hello. I am new here and am so very happy to have found a place to ask questions and share my concerns! I would like to know if any of you have noticed that your child, like mine, complains of stiffness and/or pain? My 8 year old has been diagnosed with celiac disease recently, but has complained of tender achy pains in her legs for years. From the onset of her worst celiac symptoms (1 year ago) she had ankle pain for months, and told me today that she has pains in her finger and leg. When I was growing up I had awful pain in my legs--my dad called it "growing pains". As it turns out, inflammatory issues have plagued me my entire life (I have not been tested for celiac yet.) My heart breaks to hear my daughter--who is so young--talk about being in pain.

Most definitely this pain can be due to celiac. I now know my lifelong pain was due to celiac disease. It also led to a severe case of fibromyalgia. I was able to control the fibromyalgia by reprogramming my body to deal with stress differently, but continued to suffer from chronic fatigue and other celiac symptoms over the years. I seriously doubt these are growing pains. Especially if its been ongoing for years.

sugarsue Enthusiast
sugarsue
Posted

This thread is very interesting for me! My 7 yr old dd who has negative celiac and gluten intolerance testing, but has been gluten free since december is someone who has had a history of leg pain. She also often slept with a pillow under her legs and cried herself to sleep and we wrote it off as growing pains. I've taken her to the Ortho Ped. since there have been 2 times that she could not even walk and she had to wear a boot for the pain for a week at a time and they could never find anything wrong with her. But now that I am thinking of it, she has not had any leg pain since going gluten free!

ryebaby0 Enthusiast
ryebaby0
Posted

Add us in too -- my son was "dx" with JRA about 2 months before his celiac dx. (I cry, thinking of how he limped to the bus stop and we kept trying "better shoes") The phantom/pins/numb pains in his legs did eventually go away as well (although when it's really hot, they seem to reoccur in a less-serious way) A multi-vitamin is sometimes helpful too, I've read it's an absorption issue in the first months/years of gluten-free life (my son has been gluten-free for 5 years now)

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