DS has pain in one leg, what could it be?

[wigglylines]

DS has woken at night with pain in his leg occaisionally for a good while. It seemed to really hurt but has only happened a few times, I put it down to growing pains.

However it happened just now and we had a chat about it. Writing this partly to make sure I remember what he said. It turns out:

• the pain is in just one leg, he pointed to his shin, thigh and posdibly knee (will ask again in the morning)
• he has the pain every day
• it hurts when he walks, runs and especially when he bends it
• sometimes it's worse and wakes him up
• it's been like this for a long time.

It's been a couple of years since he first complained of pain at night, but I had no idea it was hurting him all the time.

He also says his tummy is sick. We all had a nasty tummy bug a few weeks back and he's been telling me he's still sick since then. As the rest of us all got better quickly, I assumed he was making it up (he makes up all sorts of stuff!) but now I think he's serious about that too. Possibly unrelated to the D&V maybe coincidence we got that too?

I will make an appointment tomorrow, but Abu advice would be much appreciated. I had put the leg down to growing pains, but i didn't realise it was still ongoing, just one leg and in the day too.

*any not Abu!

I feel awful. I should have asked him more questions when he first got pain at night, not just put it down to growing pains.

Hopeful bump

Hi wiggly. Hope your DS is feeling brighter this morning. How old is he? GP is the best next step. DD2 had pain in her knee when she was about 7 - went on for weeks and eventually admitted to hospital as she could no longer walk. She was eventually diagnosed with 'irritable hip' which is basically a build up of fluid in the joint possibly caused by a virus. She has had further joint problems (hips, knees, back, shoulders and feet) and has been diagnosed with hypermobility (also has stomach problems too). Rest and NSAIDs. Hope you get some answers soon - it is horrible to see your child in pain.

Thanks for the reply.

The thing is, apart from theoccasional waking in the night with rely bad pain, I had no idea he was experiencing pain every day. It hurts when he bends it, but is fine when it's straight.

I think SIL might have hypermobility, I'll ring and check later. Is it hereditary I wonder? Aren't you supposed to be extra bandy if you have hypermobility though? DS isn't particularly supple or extra-bendy, he's solid and I've noticed, not very bendy.

He's 5.

Bendy not bandy!

Sorry for typos, on phone.

He's been having the night wakings with pain for over a year. Two maybe. They are really infrequent though, I had no idea he has pain every day

Last night, he was in my bed, unusually. (DP is away and DS wanted to come in with me and baby DD).

He woke and was complaining a little as and i asked him what was wrong. He wasn't crying out though. Had he been in his own bed I wouldn't have known, I now suspect he has pain in the night quite a bit, but we have only known about it when it's been really bad.

DD's irritable hip was also mainly a night problem - apparently hip problems cause referred pain normally in the knee.

And according to the doctor we saw at Alder Hey Hospital - there is no such thing as growing pains!

DD was also checked for Perthes - again a hip problem that can cause referred pain

My dd2 was 4 when she started limping, complaining and waking up with pain in her knee. It turned out she had Perthes Syndrome, where the ball of the hip loses its blood supply and the bone fractures and crumbles. It then regenerates, and at 10 she's now fine but was very restricted in her movement for 2-3 years, and wasn't allowed to run and jump until 18 months ago. Very easily diagnosed with a full leg/hip x-ray. It's very common for the pain to be referred to the knee and ankle.

Hope you can find out what's going on, and get him out of pain, it's awful watching your child suffer x

X-post with hells!

Glad your DD is fine now weegie :)

Thanks for the replies everyone :)

The thing is, I would have had no idea he's in pain everyday if he hadn't been in my bed last night. When he's woken up with pain, it's been sudden sharp pain, he's been half asleep but crying out, we've given him calpol and in the mornings it seemed to have gone, he's never complained of pain during the day. Turns out it's been hurting for ages.

He has been complaining of feeling sick for a few weeks though, but only as in "I'm still sick Mummy, you know" when ever anyone else mentioned being ill. He makes stuff up quite often (just all sorts of make believe stuff) and I thought that was made up too. I need to get better at listening to him.

Got an appointment for Sunday (our GP surgery doubles as the walk-in so they do appts 7 days a week).

OK, I looked il Hypermobility and it doesn't sound much like DS. He isn't particularly bendy, and you wouldn't describe him as having "low muscle tone". He's well built and very strong. He loves doing physical stuff, he never tires of running about like a loon! The pain must be pretty low level most of the time, with some acute more painful episodes, like he's been having at night.

When I asked him where it hurt he pointed to his shin, knee and the top if his leg. He didn't mention the hip. But when I asked directly he said they did hurt, and it sounded convincing. But he then veered off into silly make believe nonsense. Aargh! Everyone praises his imagination, he's always inventing stuff. But then when it comes to serious stuff like this it's hard to distinguish fact from fantasy.

I absolutely believe him about the leg and the sickness. Will ask again about the hip another time, in another way.

Sorry, the "top of the leg" might be a bit confusing!

I don't mean the top of the leg if he's standing. I mean the top half of his leg, above the knee and upwards, and at the front, not the side/thigh particularly.

Irritable hip & Perthes, although they are problems with the hip, actually cause referred pain elsewhere - normally in the knee and above the knee (so I was told).

Oh for goodness sake, I don't know what to think! DS earlier said actually it's not his right leg that hurts, it's it's his left leg and he got it wring last night. This is clearly nonsense as I absolutely believe the pain last night was real, I was in bed with him when he woke up in pain, in his right leg, that was definitely real.

Now he's changed it again, and says when he's bending and walking slowly his left leg hurts, but when he's running or scooting really fast, or doing football it's his right. I have no idea if this is the truth or fantasy, he does make stuff up, especially when he finds something hard to explain.

He does scoot a lot. Could that affect his hips I wonder? He always scoots the same side IYSWIM, if carrying bags on one side is bad, how about scooting?