Muscle pain in arms and legs following what I believe has been the flu...is this odd?

[Margaret H]

My 15 yod has had flu-like sypmtoms for 6 days--fever, sore throat, headache, head congestion, and a very productive cough. The fever has been gone for a couple days, the sore throat is on its way out, the headace is gone, she is still producing a fair amount of nasal discharge (clear) yet it is getting better, and her very loose, productive cough is lessening and drying up. Here is the odd part....2-3 days ago she started experiences pain in her calf muscles, making it very uncomfortable to walk. This pain has continued and now the inside of her forearms and biceps are starting to bother her (not as bad as her legs, however). I'm waiting for our doctor's office to open to call...but I thought I would come here to see if anyone here is familiar with this tag-on symptom.

[Jenn in Mo]

Not sure, but I'm wondering if she could be a little dehydrated?

I had calf pain a few years ago that I brought to this board and was told to try a calcium supplement with vitamin D. I also went to the Dr.'s office the same day. The Dr. said it sounded like a calcium deficiency to her as well. The blood tests came back a couple days later saying I had plenty of calcium, HOWEVER, I started taking supplements the same day and was feeling better already. So I think it really was the calcium regardless of what parameters were set up as normal in the blood test. Any chance this could be it for your dd?

[Pajama Mama]

I agree with Jenn that it might be dehydration. With a sore throat *I* tend to not drink as much because it hurts. So add a fever into it and it may be dehydration. I think I'd still call the doctor though--just to be on the safe side. Hope dd feels btter soon.

[Margaret H]

hmmm....I had considered the calcium deficiency. She does take a multi-vitamin that includes 500mg of calcium (50% of the RDA), a b-complex, and EPA-DHA. She does not eat dairy products, however, so her calcium intake is not great.

I'm doubtful that she is dehydrated, but I guess it is possible.

[Amy in NH]

It's called myocitis - inflammation of the muscles caused by a virus. Two of my sons were diagnosed with this after an illness like you described, after I dragged them to the ER in the middle of the night. It goes away on its own over a few days to a couple of weeks.

[Margaret H]

Thanks, Amy

When I talked with the nurse, she asked for my daughter to be brought in to be seen by the doctor. We just left the doctor a little bit ago....he believes this is caused by the virus and is not unusual. They did test her for the flu as his office is a "survey" office, but the results aren't in yet. Regardless of the results, there will be no treatment.

[Beth in OH]

When my now 15 yo was younger, she had the same thing happen. First the flu, then incredible calf pain. The pain was so bad that she wouldn't walk--only crawl. The Dr. had bloodwork analyzed and then called for a consult at Cols. Children's Hospital. It turns out that her body didn't recognize that it had killed the flu virus, and she had an auto-immune response. The problem resolved itself within a week or so, and she's never had a recurrence.

Beth

[MJN]

legs gently, put a heating pad on them and give her a little extra Motrin. It helps a lot to give the Motrin for a few days. Works every time.

HTH!