Micah has it.
It actually has been a problem that springs up sporadically for the last year. At first we did not understand why the wailing and screaming and crying, and thought it was nightmares, but he kept saying "painful", and grabbing his knees. We massaged him until he fell asleep again. But it was quite a few rounds before we got to sleep till daybreak.
The next time it happened, it was in the evening and he was not asleep yet, so it obviously was not a nightmare. So we consulted our doctor, and also another and they both told me the same thing. It's growing pains.
The first thought that hit me was the sit com we saw as a teenager (even that was rather vague).
Anyway, here's an extract of what I found out from here.
"Your 8-year-old son wakes up crying in the night complaining that his legs are throbbing. You rub them and soothe him as much as you can, but you're uncertain about whether to give him any medication or take him to the doctor.
Sound familiar? Your child is probably experiencing growing pains, a normal occurrence in about 25% to 40% of children. They generally strike during two periods: in early childhood, among 3- to 5-year-olds, and later on, in 8- to 12-year-olds.
What Causes Them?
No firm evidence exists to show that the growth of bones causes pain. The most likely causes are the aches and discomforts resulting from the jumping, climbing, and running that active children do during the day. The pains can occur after a child has had a particularly athletic day."
"athletic day"?!! Micah is like athletic everyday. No wonder...
So, due to Micah's growing pains and Max's occasional night feeds (reducing now) and bad dreams (this on the increase), Mommy has not slept through the night the last 4 years. I think I don't know what that's like anymore.
p/s- Just to refresh some of our memory, here's the Growing Pains we knew:
8 comments:
I actually love that show. And when you first mentioned it, I also thought of the show!
Growing pains huh....never really heard that growth of bones could hurt! Will added calcium help?
poor you....reckon you need a break JUST TO SLEEP! But then again, maybe you will be bored!
Hi Kathie, Thanks for dropping by my blog, but when I cleared you at immigration, you disappeared off my radar.
Which post you klicked into? I am not able to find you anywhere.
Do drop by again.
I read about your son, and this the first time, even 22 years here in canada I hear about kids growing pains?
Never heard anything or read anything about it before.
I do know growing pains related when we become teens, boyfriends, girlfriends problems. Ha ha.
We have lots of Malaysian, Singapore friends here, some with young kids like yours, but we never hear of 'growing pains'.
But frankly, if Micah my son, I will go get a second opinion, just to ease any doubts.
Maybe he pulled a muscle when playing?
Anyway, hope he's better now.
You have a nice day, Lee.
ann,
If I can ever got away from the boys at night, it'll be great to sleep till daylight.
The other night, though, Mike was really sweet. the boys woke up early on Saturday and he told me to go back to bed while he took care of them. I slept in till 10am and actually lay in bed half awake for a few minutes and did not jump out of bed as usual. That was a real treat!!
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u.lee,
I was reading the story of "5 more minutes". I missed that the last time, so was glad did last night. Amazing story.
Growing pains: well, I never knew such thing actually existed physically too. A friend mentioned it before about her girl, then about 2, but I think i just gave her the puzzled look and she didn't elaborate. So now I know it for myself. Very strange.
Thank you for your concern. I did get a second pediatrician's opinion and he said the same thing, so I guess it's not a "real worry".
The assurance is that it does not affect Micah in any way in the day. He's still like any normal healthy kid. The pain comes in spasms and is not every night, just occasional, But it's a sleepless night for us when it happens.
Personally, I have experienced this.
I can't recall how old I was, but I did get "pinches" in my ribs.
That's what it felt like: pinches, like pulls of the nerves.
They weren't excruciating, but I did tell my mum about it. Similarly, she took me to the GP who mentioned, in not so few words, that it's cos I was growing.
I wasn't a very active boy from late primary to late secondary. I suffered from osgood schlatter's so my activities were limited only to swimming (i subsequently had a tiny bone fragment removed from the top of my tibia bone and it solved the problem). I love swimming, so maybe the stretching during swim-strokes would have eased the pinches anyway...
Lemme try and post the link again...
http://www.kidskneepain.com/
There is a quick reference there on "growing pains" too.
jlow,
Thanks for the reference.
you actually went into surgery to overcome this problem? it's really that serious?
Well, I hope for Micah that it's a passing phase.
Mine was a slightly different case of the OS disease (it's misleadingly called a disease when it's really only an orthopedic "mishap")
A quick desc of anatomy: Thigh muscle connects to the knee cap, then connects to the tibia bone via the patella tendon.
What happens is that the patella tendon "yanks" bits off the tibia bone (the front bone from knee to ankle) when there is a shock, such as from landing too hard/impact, or falling-knocking that spot, such as falling on your knees (which is what I believe happened to me). Normally, those bits of bone will congregate and re-form as a whole, leaving only a bump on the knee, such as my older sister, who got it from high jump (high impact landing).
In my case, not all the bits re-formed, leaving a small piece floating around; probably the size of smaller than a green pea. My surgery only required an incision of 2 inches, and taking out that floater; which I seem to have already misplaced!
It had to be done cos everytime I put weight on that knee, it hurts. Thus I could only swim. I only knew of the floater from an xray, after realising that it was taking too long for the expected pain to go away (which it would if all the bits re-formed).
The surgery was done in the late 80's. My knees are re-aching now, but I think it's just due to age!
I don't think Micah has this. But it's certainly something to look out for later on during schooling years....
jlow,
Oh, knee injury due to high jump...
Swimming is the safest sport for the body really. :)
I have knee injury too, due to volleyball when I was 14. So I am careful not to provoke that.
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