My 6 yr old has been complaining of both arms hurting for weeks. Now she is complaining of one arm hurting along with her legs. Pediatrician finds nothing wrong at this time and said to wait if other symptons appear. I am concerned about the cause. Could it be growning pains?
It could be growing pains, if the pain is in her joints it could be arthritis or lyme disease that went unnoticed (not everyone gets a bulls eye rash)
I would assume growing pains, I had them bad when I was a little girl. My mom would have me lie down on the cool kitchen floor and she would massage me for a few minutes.... it seemed to always magically work ;)
both of my sons periodically complained of the same thing and one of their pediatricians suggested that it was probably growing pains. It occured for both of them first when they were about 5 or 6 and again when they were about 8 or 9.
If it is growing pains, try some milk in the evening. I used to get these bad (go figure, I'm short!), and milk was the only thing that helped. I hated warm milk, but warm or cold, doesn't matter.
I would check into strep. Get a rapid throat culture and have them do a 72 hour culture as well. Strep can manifest in arm and leg pain in children- especially centering around knees and elbows.
Here is a list of other symptoms that may suggest that she is having an autoimmune response to strep:
http://www.webpediatrics.com/pandasclinicalcases.html
The autoimmune response to strep is called PANDAS (pediatric autoimmune neuro-psychiatric disorder associated with strep) and is actually pretty commonly missed by pediatricians, but believed to be common.
My daughter was diagnosed with this last year after YEARS of limb pain.
Let me know if I can help you more!
M.
Sounds like what my 4 year old is doing.
I posted a question a couple of days ago and got some good ideas.
I have tried the heating pad that you put in the microwave to work just fine, plus massage the areas where it hurts. It stopped the crying in the early mornings and she went right to bed. Motrin and tylenol are good too, but I' m not to big on giving it to her everyday. Good luck!
In my family, my father had leg pains as a kid and so did my brother and I. My father would come in my room at night when they hurt the most. It would wake me up in the middle of the night. I grew out of it around 15 years old when my growth slowed down. (I grew almost 10 inches in one year.) My dad or my mom would rub my legs to help with the circulation. Some times they only needed to rub it for 15 or 20 minutes and occasionally longer. My leg pain was horrible.
I never had arm pains. Only one or two of my kids had the leg pains and it occurred when they had growth spurts. I rubbed their legs for them.
Good luck to you and yours.
A couple of questions come to mind for me...
1...Where exactly is the pain in her limbs? Is it in the long bones, the joints, the muscles?
2...Is there any swelling or redness?
3...If the pain is in the joints, does she experience any stiffness with the pain?
4...Does the pain seem to be worse at any point in the day or night?
These are all things that are associated with juvenile rheumatoid arthritis (JRA). If she has these sypmtoms, you should be sure to tell your pediatrician about them. A simple blood test can tell you if she is positive for JRA.
I would guess growing pains. They are really uncomfortable, but we all have them....so maybe give her some ice cream and let her watch a movie or take her to a park to run it off so she doesnt think of it :).
