My 6 year old tested positive for strep on Friday. She had two doses of her antibiotic that day and her fever was gone by Sunday morning. That night, she started complaining of her legs hurting and Monday morning she woke up crying and refused to walk. We carried her everywhere on Monday and called the doc, who asked about swollen joints or rashes, which she does not have either. The doc said muscle pain can be experienced after recovering from strep and to alternate Tylenol and Motrin and give it a day or two. Today she would not get out of bed again....she was crawling out of her room. As the day has gone on, she has finally been able to walk but now she is coughing and sniffly and grumpy and her temp is 99.6. What do you think is going on???? I'm worried sick. Taking her to the doctor tomorrow....
My girl was diagnosed with mono this morning. Thank you to those who were helpful in their answers in a non mom-shaming kind of way. ;)
A simple answer could be she is dehydrated. Muscle cramps can be caused by dehydration. Try to push fluids maybe a little Gator-aide to replenish electrolytes.
If this doesn't help she needs to see her doctor.
I heard of a case once where an 8 yr old child simply stopped walking.
Doctors couldn't find anything wrong.
After many tests a doctor tried a different test and the result was the child had come down with a rare bone virus for which there was no treatment.
For all this time the family carried their child everywhere he needed to go.
And then one day about 6 months later - it suddenly cleared up - and the child just stood up and walked like there had never been a problem.
Sometimes a kid can come down with something that doctors just don't have a lot of experience with.
Keep working with your doctor and I hope she feels better soon.
I'm no doctor, but it sounds like it could possibly be Benign Acute Childhood Myositis, which is a viral infection, usually brought on after coming off another infection caused by a virus. It can occur after strep throat. It temporarily effects the Childs calf muscles, making it super painful, almost impossible to walk. The same thing happened to my 5 year old son as he was coming off the flu. He woke up one day, stood up and started screaming that he couldn't walk. After having to carry him around for about an hour with him having no relief, I took him to the doctor. He was fine after about 24 hours, but I hear it can last up to 3 days or so. Apparently from what I've read, as long as their walking gets better, there shouldn't be anything to worry about. However, if you have other concerns, please check with your doctor. Blessings!
Viruses can affect the neurological system. A girl in my daughter's class had what seemed to be a normal childhood cold and ended up paralyzed in a wheelchair for about a year after that.
No one here can tell you what is happening. I don't understand why you are taking her to the doctor tomorrow and not right away. I wouldn't wait...
A.
welcome to mamapedia.
My son had strep in January (he was 17). It actually moved to his joints and he was in a boat load of pain.
Please take your child back to the doctor and have her blood tested and ask for a bacterial joint inflammation test
https://www.healthline.com/health/bacterial-joint-inflamm...
that will help you a LOT!!
Call the doctor back and say, "I'm worried sick. I carried her around all day yesterday, she crawled out of her room, and only was able to stand later today. Are you sure she shouldn't be seen at Urgent Care rather than wait until tomorrow?" There's no reason to be agitated and resort to the internet if your own pediatrician doesn't share your concerns. There's a 24 hour line - use it, especially during regular hours. But if the doctor said muscle pain is normal, what is it that makes you distrust your doctor? Perhaps you need a physician you're in sync with.
Coughing, sniffly, grumpy all sound normal for any type of virus or a bacterial issue like strep. The low fever is probably because you are medicating her with Tylenol and Motrin.
The other possibility is that your child needs extra attention and sees that you are getting agitated by her not walking, so she's playing to that. Is that possible? I don't know if you normally get very anxious about illnesses so I don't know if this seems out of the ordinary to your child and perhaps she is reacting to that as much as to her aches.
It is possible she was just sore from being sick, or it could be more. My son had strep and an ear infection when he was two and stopped walking. After running tests they determined that the illnesses had triggered an underlaying autoimmune disorder (or possibly it was activated by his infant vaccines and we just didn't know yet) called juvenile rheumatoid arthritis or JRA. JRA is a disorder where the immune system attacks the joints when the child is sick, and sometimes there are flare ups where he will get a fever and sore joints even when no underlaying illness is present. Nothing causes JRA, you don't catch it, you are basically born with it and it will lay dormant until a large immune system response activates it. They can not officially diagnose JRA until the child has had more than one episode so the thing to do now is wait and see if it happens again. There are varying degrees of JRA, some kids can end up with very deformed joint, while others have very mild forms and only occasional flare ups. Many children outgrow the disorder about the time they hit puberty, and with our son (who is now 12) we have noticed episodes of flare ups becoming less common, he only had 3 or 4 last year.
The key is not to stress too much about it right now, you won't really know anything unless it happens again and then they can refer you to an autoimmune specialist. My son has had a very normal childhood, he is active in sports and skis and plays soccer. Just like with regular arthritis the more active he stays the less stiffness and pain he tends to have in his joints. He does have to take anti-inflamitories when he has a flare up or a more painful day, but it has not been hard to manage. Another side effect of the disorder is skin issues such as eczema and what is basically cradle cap. We have found rose salve works very well on the eczema and for the cradle cap he brushes his scalp with a bristle brush to loosen any dead skin before he showers and if he gets scabs we treat with oil and gently peal them up, but those skin conditions have also lessoned with age, he stopped getting the cradle cap a couple years ago and has only mild eczema on occasion or in respond to certain chemicals like chlorine. My point is, even if it does turn out to be something more like JRA it is not the end of the world and you will manage just fine, but for now just deal with this first illness.
If you do decide to take her back in now they can run blood work to see if her inflammation markers are elevated which can point to possible JRA.
I think calling to see if your child needs to go in is a great first step - especially if you've already been in, and they give you that instruction as a follow up.
However, with something as serious as having to carry her around - I think going in and having her evaluated is the best thing to do - so glad you are going in today. I would have found it hard as a parent to determine if it was simple 'muscle pain' (you probably did too). Some things are hard to decide yourself - I think best left to a doctor.
We've seen this question on here before. I wasn't aware of it before but viruses can lead to potentially pretty scary stuff. Glad your daughter is now walking. Good luck today and keep us posted in the SWH. I hope she fully recovers from her strep.
without knowing your child, i don't know the answer to this and neither does anyone else here.
if your daughter is prone to drama and you are prone to baby her, it could be nothing more than her not feeling well and being extreme about it.
if that's not her and she was genuinely unable to walk, that's a pretty big red flag, don't you think?
if it were one of my boys, who didn't like to lay in bed, i'd have had them to the ER. but that doesn't apply to all kids.
khairete
S.
Have her checked at a children's hospital for scarlet fever. That happened to my sister. She was misdiagnosed with a virus and antibiotics weren't started quickly enough (in other words, she had strep longer than they realized.) It went into her joints and she didn't walk for several weeks.
Her skin also peeled. I swear, if The Walking Dead had been on tv back then, I would have thought she had turned into a zombie...
My son had a similar reaction to the meds when he had strep. But he also broke out in hives. He was in the worse pain I had ever seen him in. I am glad you are taking him back to the dr. hopefully they will run some blood tests. They said for my son it was an allergic reaction to the meds but I still wonder if there was something else wrong.
I had strep in my 20's. I waited too long to go to the doc so when I did go they gave me a shot of antibiotic plus oral to take. The next day it was like my whole body had arthritis. I couldnt move a single joint without excruciating pain. That's when it was discovered I was allergic to penicillin, even tho I had never been allergic to it before. Anyway, within a few days at the hospital, the pain went away,
