Leg Pain And Negative Bloodwork

[jcfraun]

I have a question that's been nagging at me and I want to get opinions from people with some more experience.

My 4-year-old daughter is a very picky eater (often eating only the gluten options that are offered and the forced bite or two of protein and veggies) and has a history of fairly frequent leg pain, sometimes to the point that she "can't walk". She's quite the dramatic child, so it's hard to ferret out what's exaggeration vs. what's real. All-in-all, though, I do believe her.

Since my 10-year-old daughter was recently diagnosed with celiac via blood test (TTG>100) and I suspect myself, I had my other two girls tested, both of whom came back negative. Now that two of us are gluten-free, my 4-year-old has had less exposure to gluten than ever and I did notice that her leg pain has been pretty much been gone. Last night she was up with it again and she did have Kraft mac and cheese for dinner, but there is not a definite connection between the pain and the gluten ingestion. She's eaten regular pizza with no pain.

Does this sound like it could be gluten even though the blood results were negative? I don't want to get her the biopsy - too risky at too young of an age, but it's hard for me to justify going completely gluten-free just yet with no actual reason to do so. Or is there? I'd like to hear people's experiences with leg pain.

Thanks!

[birdie22]

It could be gluten. Could also be growing pains. It's quite common at her age and if I recall correctly it tends to peak at night. It might be worth keeping a food and symptom log and see if you can correlate the pain to gluten consumption.