4 1/2 year old son with lower leg pain

[tamgess]

My 4 1/2 yr old son has had lower right leg pain on & off now for about a year. It always seems to happen at night. It used to happen couple times a week, but now it's maybe once or twice a month. This pain wakes him up in the middle of night, sometimes 2 or 3 times, & he can't get back comfy because he is in pain. He whines & tries every position but nothing helps. It's on the front of his leg, not the back where all the muscles are. He just keeps saying that it hurts, it hurts.  He will toss & turn for about 10-15 minutes until he finally gets comfy & goes back to sleep. At first, when this started happening, I thought it may be growing pains, but now I'm rethinking that. I don't think growing pains would be like this. But the thing is, some mornings when he wakes up, his leg is fine, & other mornings he says it still hurts.
Has anybody out there had or have a child that goes through this? Or do you know anybody who has? This is mind boggling for me & my husband.  Please help me out if you can!!
Thanks
Tammy

[Sil144]

My son is 5 y/o and at least once a month he wakes up screaming in pain bcs his lower leg (sometimes the right, sometimes the left) hurts so bad. He just says help me help me. I wanna cry. I heat a bean bag that I have for pain in the microwave and put it in his leg and always seems to help.
The doctor said it was growing pains. But after so long I'm not even sure.

[bubbles95]

Ya well I feel for everyone. The Drs have told me my son has RSL. Im note so sure. Its not just a night that he gets the pain. We have been to all the Drs. It makes me sad to see my son hurt. My Mothers Day card said he loves me because I rub his legs. What 6 year old would think of that. I had growing pains as a kid. I still get them sometimes. This is not the same.

[Hayleyjessie]

I also have this problem. It all started when I was younger, it only happened at night, and I think it usually happened if I did lots of exercise that day. But at night I would wake up with pain in my lower leg, it's not like any other pain I can describe to compare it with. It feels like the bone in my lower leg is throbbing constantly, my pain is in the middle front part of my lower leg. When I was little this use to wake me up at night, ad I use to start crying because the pain was bad. Sometimes it would happen once a week, twice a week or sometimes
Only once a month. What helps is heat rub. Buy some from the local pharamcy and apply it to the leg, it really does help. Dulls down the pain so you can get back to sleep. I am now 16 years old and I have assosiated this pain with lots of exercise, I walked a considerable amount today and I woke up with that throbbing pain again, what my parents call "growing pains" definatly put some heat rub on it, works wonders. If your in the uk I would reccommened a brand called "transvasin" you can buy any other deep heat cream but I find this one is the hottest. I am awake at 3 am writing this because of my leg pain LOL. But I think we have the same problem here.

[mykidsaremyheart]

I went through the same thing with my 2 year old at the time. To make a VERY long story short, he would wake up in the middle of the night screaming in pain, he started to cry in the middle of something, then it would go away like nothing happened. It was either head hurting, knees or feet. It was hard to get a specific with a 2 year old. I kept bringing him to the dr's. I brought him to the ER at one point and he had a spinal tap and was admitted. But they couldn't find what was wrong. Then he had gotten speckles on his butt and bruise like marks that wouldn't go away. From that his Dr. diagnosed him with HSP (his immune system was attacking his intestins and kidneys, and triggers artheritis and headaches)  which he did have. Confirmed with blood work. It was supposed to go away on its own within like 8 weeks, and at the time it was 4 months. He had his urine tested. His back hurt in his car seat. But to make the story shorter, I figured out he was allergic to MILK of all things. And he would have a reaction 4 hours later. I had bought new carseats out of despiration. I wouldn't have ever thought in a million years milk would give a reaction like this. Since then I read all labels and he has been a new child. He no longer screams in pain, unless there is some sort of cross contamination, from a friends house, or something. But I wished someone would have told me this to save the heartache and sleepless nights and so much worry. I do hope things have gotten better for you. I just had to share from one mom to another. There was so much more in detail with head pain, behind the knee pain. sweating, temprature droping (i thought my thermometer was broken) so much more that I could get into detail. ALL OF THAT GONE GOING DAIRY FREE! I could not believe it! I have three kids. It's been almost a year. and I've also noticed no more ear infections, sinus infections. And when they do get sick, its unbelievibly just runny noses for a couple of days and that's it. And my husband used to take omeprazol (?) 2x a day for acid indigestion, and he no longer gets it. My oldest used to get migrains and no longer has them either. Not in a million years would I have guessed things would have changed for the better with no milk. I hope this helps somebody. (sorry if you read this more than once, I'm finding it easy to copy and past in discutions I feel might help)

[tamgess]

Well I took my child back to the doctor & we figured out what is wrong. It's NOT growing pains. If you're child is active (runs alot, rides bike alot, etc) it wil contribute to it. What happens is their legs are  active during the day & then when they go to bed, their legs can stiffen  which makes it very uncomfortable.And that's what wakes them up at night because of the pain in the legs. I was told to keep an eye on him when he is very active, & after dinnertime give him 1/2 tsp of motrin - THIS HELPS!!  When my son tells me his legs hurt (before bed), I will give him the 1/2 tsp motrin & he doesn't wake up at night from the pain. Try giving him motrin about an hour before bed & see if that helps. If it doesn't help, then go back to the doctor. But with my experience, it really works.  I wish you luck! Let me know if this helps your son!

[chantelle250]

i am actually up right now with my 4 year old,i have took him to doc,a couple months ago he was 3 then,he just got over acold and they said that was the cause,they had his legs xrayed,well here we are again,i feel helpless,he tosses and turns and just to the point you dont know what to do,so he will be going back to doctor in acouple days,and i am like you i dont see growing pains hurting this much!

[crabby70]

My nephew was the same ...I was told growing pains...My friend told me to try giving him a banana...for the potassium....He did grow out of it....best of luck