Growing pains or Guillian Barré syndrome. Which grandparent are you?

Glad he is OK and it was probably just a low grade virus or pulled muscles from not warming up or cooling down properly!

nina I pmd you

Glad he's ok.

Recently when we saw DH's GP I admitted that I'd consulted Dr Google. He said he didn't know whether to laugh because I'd called it Dr or cry because I was bound to have a list of possible diagnoses

Growing pains - no such thing! If a child is ill, they are ill, not just growing!

In spite of texts this morning and a rather terse email from me which resulted in " he is fine now and gone to school"DH just phoned from the golf course to tell me. Thank you all for your input. Yes the NHS has an information page on their website. They live in Switzerland so we are treated as their personal NHS direct service. Never heard of Osgood Schlatters before. Something else to worry about but I'm not going to google it. I would have trusted my instincts and a hefty dose of Calpol if I had been there. BTW it was tennis indoors. But thank you all very much.

I totally agree with grannyactivist re. visits to A&E! If he still feels unwell, then a visit to the GP, or try NHS Direct (or whatever it is now)

A&E departments should be emergency only.

Ah, I didn't realize that rose

DD still has pain occasionally, after being told she would out grow the problem. Does your child still have problems??

nina yes, Osgood Schlatters is one of the 'osteochondrosis' diseases.

The extensive pains - shoulders, legs and back- that Stansgran mention are, I think, unlikely to be growing pains, particularly as her grandson also has a sore throat. There are lots of "bugs" around at this time of year and perhaps the symptoms relate to one of these.

The sites that I looked at said that (apart from the obvious such as unconsciousness, seizures, difficulty breathing, etc.), things to especially look out for are:

neck stiffness
high temperature that doesn't reduce after taking paracetamol
excessive drowsiness/unresponsiveness
(There is also a reference to "trusting your instinct".)

I would see how he responds to Calpol first before taking any further action.

I thought DD was pulling a fast one when she complained about knee pain in her early teens. She was later diagnosed with Osgood Shlatters disease (sp)
Oops

It is probably a virus with aches and pains or pulled muscles from playing tennis in the cold and with a sore throat.

However, if it persists I should encourage them to get him checked. Apparently, according to the NHS website, there are such things as 'growing pains' although personally I think that is a sloppy term. Several children I know ( including one of mine) had osteochondrosis which occurs when children grow rapidly and this can cause growing pains. It needs diagnosis and careful management and all the children I know have grown up fine.

However, the internet can cause more worry than relief - in all probability he will be fine after a few days rest - in the warm!

Stansgran It is unlikely that it is GBS but if you have any doubts tomorrow get your GS checked out. Particularly if he has any difficulty with walking or complains of pins and needles. My DH developed GBS about 10 years ago and he did make a full recovery but early detection is important.

If we were sick or ill as children my mother would always tell us to get ready for school anyway - and once we were dressed she would say that as we managed that we were well enough to go to school. One morning my sister, who did suffer from 'growing pains' tried to get out of bed and literally was unable to stand and my mother really only believed her when she found her sitting in bed wearing just the top half of her uniform. (It turned out to be form of rheumatoid arthritis.) To warrant a trip to the GP we had to be really poorly and a trip to A&E was unheard of except for broken bones or life threatening situations.

It sounds like a muscular response to the tennis playing to me, so I'd tell him to take a warm bath and then see how he gets on at school tomorrow. Definitely not A&E though, which I always understood to be for medical emergencies.

Just read the article! I had those pains in my legs at that sort of age and rather flat feet. I hope the poor lad is better soon.

It is not helpful to think a diagnosis of something as relatively rare as Guillane barre Sydrome before ruling out more obvious causes.

Particularly when so many of us are suffering from the January colds and flu. Try standard Calpol and keep an eye on him.

Playing sport in a cold wind could cause a lot of cramped muscles.

ana

www.webmd.boots.com/children/guide/growing-pains-children

I've never believed in 'growing pains'. Are they a proven medical fact?

For the 3 years between 12 and 15 she was in constant agony and disabled. I can't even think about it.

Oh, stansgran how this thread makes me wince. I wish we had the internet back in 1991 when my daughter was 12 and complained of a pain in her knee. She wanted to stay off school but I sent her having decided it was "growing pains". I did make a mental note to "see how it goes" and speak to our family doctor about it.

The next day she was tripped at school and stayed down, unable to get up and in agony. She was taken to hospital and diagnosed with a slipped capital femoral epiphyses. She had her first hip replacement at 15 - the youngest female in SA to have that particular hip, and has had one revision since, which thankfully has lasted nearly 20 years now.

I still blame myself for not paying more attention to the whole picture that day - she was a lively, energetic little thing who never complained unnecessarily and loved school.

Sorry!

vq Or ache-y even

I can't spell....is it achy or achey?

I get very achey when I have cold or sore throat. It's probably that and muscle strain from playing tennis. Calpol, a warm bath and a good night's sleep is my suggestion.

Unless he has a high temperature I wouldn't go into panic mode.
Not very clever to play tennis in cold, raging winds when you have a sore throat, but I think it is unlikely he has Guillain-Barre syndrome www.patient.co.uk/health/guillain-barre-syndrome-leaflet