Hi,
I'm asking for help here because i'm very concerned about my 2 year old son but my ped does not seem concerned. For about 8 months my son has been frequently complaining about knee and leg pain. He usually says one side but occasionally switches to other. Then about 4 months ago he started to have low fevers often for 10 days at a time...around 99.6 or so...my ped says that isn't really a fever and is within normal for a kid his age, but i know he used to not ever be that warm because i'm with him all the time and i can tell by touch when his temp is elevated. He also seems tired and has some purple circles under his eyes. Then recently he started to have these episodes where he wakes up at night crying really hysterically that his leg, foot, knee or hand or all of those hurts...he squirms and we cannot console him....and even if he falls asleep he whimpers in his sleep and wakes very easily to the same behavior. When he does this he won't sleep most of the night. He also has periods of sweating a lot where his head gets slick from the sweat.... I told my ped all of this and he did a blood test to check blood cell counts and some blood screening test that apparently is generic and just shows if something is going wrong in the body...both came back normal...but that is all that has been done. I'm still very worried because he seems to be in a lot of pain when this happens and he gets very pale and you just cannot calm him down. I have not been able to get any clues to what might be wrong.....i'm just hoping someone has seem something like this and might have a suggestion. Thank you!

I've not heard anything similar at that age, but I do know that you know your child better than any doctor, and your instincts are usually right. If you think there is something wrong, don't feel guilty and don't stop looking for an answer. That doesn't sound normal at all.

Could he have injured it somehow? I would ask for x rays and MRI's. Now that I think about it, I did hear of a toddler that had stress fractures in his leg and hip that they didn't find for months. Rule out any bone or soft tissue damage. You also want to rule out immune disorders like rheumatoid arthritis.

Go with your gut. I just want to encourage you not to let the docs blow you off or brush you aside as an "over concerned parent." I've had a few instances where I was told nothing was wrong with my son, but I knew in my gut something was. Eventually I was proven right.

My oldest son has similar symptoms to that. His legs hurt alot, sometimes swell, and sometimes he has a low grade fever. My doctor is fixing to test him for MD.

HI! There is nothing wrong with your son. He is perfectly normal and healthy! My oldest 2 children are both boys. My oldest is now 10 and when he was about 2 he went through the same thing. Him being my first child, I was quite freaked out. The leg pains, the screaming from the pain, waking in the middle of the night, fevers...I took him to the doc and she said not to worry. Still freaked out months later she sent him to the childrens hospital for xrays, ultrasounds and to see a specialist. As it turns out she was right...there's nothing to worry about...all it was (and still is) growing pains. Doctors swear there is no such thing. But there is. If your child is growing fast he/she will have the pains. My son is 10 now and is almost 5' tall. He just turned 10 I might add. My 6 year old son just started having these pains. He's half a head shorter than my 10 year old.


This is what I did to help my son: I would give him some tylenol or motrin for children and I would hold him and talk to him and rub his leg where it hurt. Sometimes I would help him "stretch" out the leg that was hurting. The specialist said that these pains are ofter like "charlie horses" or cramping of the muscle. They will get better in time. As your son goes through growth spurts the pains will be worse than other times. Time...and paitence...everything will be fine!

Lisa

Hey momma/i don't know if i would tell someone that their is nothing wrong with their child based on just your experience alone.although this 'may" be the same exact thing that your children had, there is absolutely no way that you know for sure,so i think that that statement might be just a little premature at this point.i am sure you are just trying to be reassuring but with the type of symptoms that this child is having, there could be many many possibilities here as to the cause.

i think you need to ask the ped for a referral to an internist for an eval.Obviously if you feel this strongly about something being wrong with your child, by all means, follow it.and don't stop until you find some solid answers.like you stated,no one knows our children better than we do and we KNOW when things are just not right.You just never know what could be causing this to occur,It could be some sort of a virus or it could be some strange genetic weirdness.we thought we had a totally normal happy healthy child until he just out of the blue(at age 13), vomited blood one day while at school.He never even appeared to be sick but by the end of that week, we found out that he had some strange kidney disease(it ran in our family but we did not know it)and on top of that, he was down to onl;y 20% of his liver function left as he was in liver failure,and would end up needing a transplant(which he did in 2000 and is doing wonderfully with it)wow, this was a shocker to say the least.I am not telling you this because i think this is what is wrong with your son,believe me.I am telling you this as an example of just how you never know just what is going on in anyones body without actually being able to 'see'it.there are just so many possibilities of what could be the cause of your childs symptoms,so you need a good internist to get started with.Don't let yourself feel intimidated by the "specialists" and some of their additudes.You are a mother trying to help your son and he needs you to be there for him and advocate for him.hang in there and don't give up until you get the answers you need.Good luck,Marcia

Honestly i woudln't take anybody elses experience into account here...it could be growing pains, it could be something else. I would want to have x rays to rule out anything abnormal. That way you know what you are dealing with and there is no doubt or worry that it could be something else. There are lots of illnesses ect with the same symptoms so you can't go from someone else's experience untill you've had the tests to confirm that there is nothing going on other than growing pains. If you can try at the very least to get an xray, the fact that the blood work came back normal is encouraging, but i would still push for the xrays. I think 8 months is a long time to be having growing pains.

I have restless leg syndrome since I was little and the Dr. told my mother it was growing pains. I'm 38 and just founf out what my pain has been. So i cringe everytime I see "it's growing pains" It can be painful when the bone in the legs are growing but to have it that bad and for a long time doesnt seem normal. Keep us updated.

Thanks everyone..i'm relieved to know it 'could' be nothing..that helps to ease my mind, but i'm still following up. I talked to our ped again and he's seeing my son next week and i'm going to ask him if there is further testing we can do to make sure he's ok. I don't want to put my son through unecessary tests but i do feel that we need to make sure this IS nothing. I like our ped and i think he's a good doc but he really tend to take the wait and see approach. I wish doctors would be more supportive. I hate when they tell you that if it is something 'bad' you'll know eventually because more symptoms will show up. I don't know how a mother is supposed to live with that.

HI,
I took my oldest to the doc recently for similar problems. Doc said it was growing pains. Kids grow so fast at times that the ligaments have to stretch themselves to catch up. The stretching causes the pain. Our doc said if there is no redness, swelling, and the area is not "hot" to the touch. Then more than likely it is growing pains. Usually a dose of Tylenol and a really hot bath do the trick. I don't know if this sounds like what your child is experiencing, but take this as a suggestion. It can be pretty painful. I had it growing up and so did my father.

Also swimming helps the most. Non impact movement that works the muscles seems to do the most. As long as we keep our son in the pool for a couple hours a week, he seems to have less episode.s

My 5-year-old has the same problem. Last night he just screamed and screamed because his knee hurt. It's always the same knee that hurts and he's obviously in major pain because he's cool and clammy to the touch. I like the suggestions to get an x-ray so I'll be going that route next. good luck figuring this one out!

Hi,
I'm asking for help here because i'm very concerned about my 2 year old son but my ped does not seem concerned. For about 8 months my son has been frequently complaining about knee and leg pain. He usually says one side but occasionally switches to other. Then about 4 months ago he started to have low fevers often for 10 days at a time...around 99.6 or so...my ped says that isn't really a fever and is within normal for a kid his age, but i know he used to not ever be that warm because i'm with him all the time and i can tell by touch when his temp is elevated. He also seems tired and has some purple circles under his eyes. Then recently he started to have these episodes where he wakes up at night crying really hysterically that his leg, foot, knee or hand or all of those hurts...he squirms and we cannot console him....and even if he falls asleep he whimpers in his sleep and wakes very easily to the same behavior. When he does this he won't sleep most of the night. He also has periods of sweating a lot where his head gets slick from the sweat.... I told my ped all of this and he did a blood test to check blood cell counts and some blood screening test that apparently is generic and just shows if something is going wrong in the body...both came back normal...but that is all that has been done. I'm still very worried because he seems to be in a lot of pain when this happens and he gets very pale and you just cannot calm him down. I have not been able to get any clues to what might be wrong.....i'm just hoping someone has seem something like this and might have a suggestion. Thank you!



Hi. My son is now 7 but since he was 4 he complains of the leg ache ALOT.
At first I thought It was muscular, but , I noticed he does it about 2 or 3 hours before he has a bowel movement. I just wonder if it doesn't have something to do with gas pains. Sometimes, If i have gas pains I get the left arm ache, and I wonder if they can't make legs hurt as well.

Just a thought. I hope everything works out for you and your child.

My husband hurt his back, my son is getting repeated eye infections, I have my own issues, and I wasn't about to post my daughters issues on these boards too (LOL) but since you brought it up~ my just turned 4 year old daughter is going through the same thing. Doctor said it was growing pains. I have done a ton of research and it could be many things but most likely it's nothing. My son went through this too, both my children are VERY VERY tall, but the difference is although my son cried alot that it hurt, he didn't freak out in sheer terror like my daughter does, she kicks, and jerks her legs trying to do anything I guess to ease the pain. It breaks my heart. I massage her legs, I gave her Tylenol and after 4 hours, she finally fell asleep. This happens a few times a week, then maybe nothing for a week or two, and then it happens again. Some days she's very active, like more than others. Also, I read if it's only at night, that's most likely growing pains, but if they complain during the day, have fevers, etc...that is might be worth it to look into it further. Regardless of what anyone says, you know your child best and have to ease your mind. My husband tends to be like our pediatrician, although he's great, but most take the wait and see approach. As mothers, that's harder to do!
So, do what makes you feel comfortable to ease your mind and hopefully help your son too! It's so hard b/c so many conditions have multiple symptoms that point to alot, so...it's hard for us mommies! Best of luck and keep us posted!