Joint Pain...from Gluten Or Just Growing Pains?

[salexander421]

How can you tell if your child is having gluten related joint pain or growing pains? My daughter who is 3 1/2 is always complaining of her ankles hurting. Usually it's just one ankle, the other night she said it was both ankles. She'll cry and say she can't walk. I just don't know if this is growing pains or gluten related joint pain. She is already on a strict gluten free diet. Our house is now 100% gluten free. We went to a wedding Sat and, though we brought all our own food, my 2 year old ended up with diarrhea and a tummy ache and my 3 1/2 year old complaining about her ankles. I already know our 2 year old is super sensitive but not sure about our 3 1/2 year old since her symptoms are a little different. Any thoughts would help!

[domesticactivist]

We were told our son's joint and bone pain was growing pains or transient pain so not to worry. It was after fluid filled his hip and he had surgery at 10 that we correlated it to gluten. He has grown tons since then... Without pain!

If the pain is there when she is exposed to gluten and resolves after a period of really being gluten free, I'd say it's the gluten. We noticed for our son that "gluten free" wasn't good enough. Many of the gluten-free flours we got seemed cc'd (or had corn, which he is allergic to) Packaged stuff, stuff from bulk bins... We've had to cut those things out.

[weluvgators]

Our children's "growing pains" were gluten related. Once we better understood the precautions that we needed to take as gluten super sensitive people, the growing pains abated. An incident with the "less sensitive" child eating "gluten free" processed foods (that her more sensitive sister and mother would not eat) ended in two hospitalizations for crippling joint pain (the first hospitalization ended in surgery . . . recurrence of the joint pain in the other hip ruled out that it was a "septic" cause originally). I have had the bone pain indicated as peripheral neuropathy in some of our medical consultations. The joint pain I suspect is more of a direct assault of the joint from gluten exposure, but finding understanding and guidance in the medical field has been a struggle.

I hope you are able to find relief for your child quickly. The quickest "fix" for our bone and joint pains was to buckle down and become more diligent about eradicating our gluten exposures. One of my children would refuse to walk after getting glutened, as her legs hurt so badly.

[salexander421]

Thank you so much for your replies! I think my suspicions that it's gluten related are probably right. I knew they were sensitive but I didn't realize just how sensitive! We already don't eat any prepackaged foods other than applesauce, almond butter, coconut milk, and oils etc. I make everything from scratch, we eat only whole foods. No grains, no dairy. The only flours I use are almond flour and coconut flour and have not had any issues with the brands we use. We basically eat a paleo diet. We have been strictly gluten free for about 7 or 8 months now (gluten free before then but not as strict). I went through my kitchen and tried to get rid of all the sources of cross contamination...toaster, utensils, etc. The only gluten we had in the house was my husband's bread and chips. Our two year old was still having diarrhea and started complaining about her tummy hurting after being strictly gluten free for this time so we decided to try making our house 100% gluten free. We took the bread and chips out of the house and I cleaned really good again. Within just a couple days I noticed a difference in both of our girls moods and sleep. Within several days our 2 year old's poo started to get better and within about a week it was solid and no more complaints of tummy pain. She had been doing really good until the wedding this past Sat. It was an outdoor wedding and reception and we brought our own food. I guess just being around so many people and other kids eating gluten loaded foods was enough for a reaction. I guess I need to get more active on the super sensitive board. I've been able to deal with it pretty good so far but I think I'm starting to get to that overwhelmed point. I really don't want to be afraid to leave our house for fear of getting glutened. Thanks for letting me vent!

[frieze]

I have no citation for you, but i know somewhere i have read that there is no such thing as "growing pains", that it should not hurt to simply grow. and when i have heard the term used it was almost always in early adolescence.....not a three year old.

[salexander421]

I have no citation for you, but i know somewhere i have read that there is no such thing as "growing pains", that it should not hurt to simply grow. and when i have heard the term used it was almost always in early adolescence.....not a three year old.

Thank you! I will definitely be googling that one