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Bruising and sore heel.

Location
Canada
Any other kiddos get more bruising than normal? My son has a bunch of unexplained bruises. None of them are big but there are a fair few of them.

He is also complaining of a sore heel due to being hit with a lacrosse ball two weeks ago. There is a small mark on his heel but he says the pain is now getting worse. He is limping today which is weird because it is 2 weeks past the incident.

I HATE how Crohn's makes me paranoid... :voodoo::voodoo::voodoo::voodoo::voodoo::voodoo:
 

DustyKat

Super Moderator
Bruising is a side effect of Imuran. If it is excessive and you can't account for it being there I would have it checked out.

Sarah seemed to bruise quite a bit but they were in the obvious places, mainly shins, and she was a tad clumsy so I didn't worry about it.

When you say heel pain, where exactly do you mean?

Dusty. xxx
 

DustyKat

Super Moderator
Re reading your post I assume you mean the heel pain is at the back of his foot?

Matt had what is called Sever's Disease. Not as bad as it sounds! :lol:

It is a problem that occurs as children grow and is due to inflammation of the tendon over the growth plates, the plate grows before the tendon has a chance to catch up and so it becomes over stretched. It happens during growth spurts and puberty and it does stop when they stop growing. It affects more boys than girls and often occurs in active kids. Your boy is at the right age for it. IIRC Matt's started about that age too.

Matt's was worse during soccer season and that was mainly due to not only the activity but running on hard ground with soccer boots. I am not familiar with lacrosse but it is also a grassed field and they wear shoes with cleats?

A telltale sign is if you apply pressure to the area shown in the diagram it causes pain...



...when it was flaring Matt had trouble walking.

It can also affect an area just below the knee, he had a noticeable lump with that one and also the lower back.

I may have just given you a load of useless information! If not have a look at this link...

http://kidshealth.org/parent/medical/bones/severs_disease.html#

Dusty. :)
 
Liam is always covered in bruises and he never knows how he got them but it's not new, he's been like that for as long as I can remember.

At the start of the school year I had a huge battle trying to get him to go to the nurse's office if he was feeling bad. Turned out last year they'd questioned him frequently about whether some one was hurting him as they we're worried about the excess bruising and the scrutiny had made him uncomfortable so he avoided the place like the plague.
 
Has he ever had a bone scan done? My son's D levels are always low - so he's on an Vitamin D supplements. He had a bone scan done and though the tech said he looked great - the GI said he had low bone density in comparison to other youth his age/gender, which makes him more susceptible to fractures. He plays some hard hitting sports - but thus far the only "break" he has had was a chipped bone on his thumb - but it caused him a LOT of pain. I kept telling him it wasn't broken (he could move it and I couldn't see blood - laughs... no trip to the doctor from me!!) sigh... I had to eat crow when the Orthopedic doctor said it was chipped. :yrolleyes:
 
Location
Canada
Dusty you are the best! That is exactly where his heel hurts. Your diagram made me re-looked up enthesitis, which is the type of inflammation he had last year in his leg, and apparently the heel is the most common place to have enthesitis.

As per Wikipedia: "One of the primary entheses involved in inflammatory autoimmune disease is at the heel, particularly the Achilles tendon."

ARGH!!!!!!!!!!!! He had a rheumatology appointment last week and they were so happy with his last two check ups that they started a very slow wean off sulfasalazine (which he takes for the enthesitis). I guess that's not going to happen now. :voodoo::voodoo::voodoo::voodoo::voodoo::voodoo:
 

DustyKat

Super Moderator
Sounds like you have hit the nail on the head Twiggy!

Not ideal I know but I hope it soon settles and your lad is feeling on top of things again.

Good luck and let us know how you get on...:goodluck:

Dusty. :heart:
 
Location
Canada
His heel is a bit better today but he is still limping. I've had him ice it a few times today and I think that helped. I'll be calling rheumatology tomorrow. He is going to be heartbroken if they say he can't come off the sulfasalazine. I don't know why but he had his heart set on getting off that drug.
 
Location
Canada
Today he had a bad gut in addition to his sore foot. His bad gut days seem to be getting more frequent. They usually last 1 or 2 days and then he feels ok again. He had a fecal calprotectin test done last week so I will hopefully get those results by the end of the week. I'm almost hoping for the test to show some inflammation because I don't think I can cope with another round of symptoms with negative test results and trying to fight for the docs to take it seriously.
 
Location
Canada
Rheumatology wants to keep the sulfasalazine dose as is for two weeks and see if foot is still sore then. They are not convinced it is inflammation. I, however, am convinced it is inflammation as his gut has been acting up as well all week and he has the all over gross/bad/sick feeling. If that's not inflammation than I don't know what is. :ybatty::ybatty::ybatty: Anyhoo, I have upped the sulfasalazine dosage to what it used to be because I'm not waiting 2 weeks to find out what I already know. For all those aghast at this don't worry he was only coming off the med because there was a thought that he didn't need it anymore, guess what...HE STILL NEEDS IT.

Still waiting for the fecal calprotectin results to come in.

He seemed perkier this weekend so I hope that continues into the coming week. He is still limping but refusing to use his crutches. He actually limped several blocks up a steep hill to get a slurpee and when I asked why he didn't use his crutches he said because he wouldn't be able to carry the slurpee. Apparently he didn't trust his sister to carry it for him. :facepalm:
 
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Anyhoo, I have upped the sulfasalazine dosage to were it used to be because I'm not waiting 2 weeks to find out what I already know. For all those aghast at this don't worry he was only coming off the med because there was a thought that he didn't need it anymore, guess what...HE STILL NEEDS IT.

He seemed perkier this weekend so I hope that continues into the coming week. He is still limping but refusing to use his crutches. He actually limped several blocks up a steep hill to get a slurpee and when I asked why he didn't use his crutches he said because he wouldn't be able to carry the slurpee. Apparently he didn't trust his sister to carry it for him. :facepalm:
The palm on your fevered brow, the soft kisses when you need them most, the grip that steadies you on rocky roads, the hand that feeds and nurtures you, the voice that tells you that you are loved, the shadow that walks beside you unconditional and enduring, a mothers love. -- Sunita Sharma

I'm a firm believer that we know things with our kids (Crohn's kids and non-Crohn's kids) that the doctor's only pick up after the fact and after the test is run.

I pray he feels better soon!

:ghug:
 

Tesscorm

Moderator
Staff member
Twiggy, something else that can cause heel pain is plantar fasciitis. I had this a few years ago and although it's the inflammation of a tendon that runs along the bottom of your foot, the pain is in the heel (can't remember if there was one specific spot that was painful or just all over the heel). It can be caused by some sort of trauma or just from overuse (common amoung runners, athletes, etc.) but can sometimes take two or three weeks after the injury for the pain to begin.

While this is probably common with lots of foot injuries, another sign of plantar fasciitis is that the pain is greatest when you first step on it after resting (ie morning, after sitting for a while, etc.). The tendon contracts when it's resting and then stretches when you stand/walk, hence the pain when you step on it. Then, after a few steps, the pain tends to lessen a bit...

It did take quite a while to heal, however, the pain did lessen as it healed. If this seems to be it, I found that arch supports, shoes that cushioned the heal, icing regularly and strengthening exercises helped (exercise - put a dishtowel on the floor, a can of 'something' at one end and using only his toes to grab the other end of the towel, have him drag the can towards him. He shouldn't move his foot 'back', drag the towel by clenching and unclenching his toes (hope you know what I mean :lol:))

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plantar_fasciitis

Hope he continues to feel better... :)
 
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