Noah’s Toxic Transient Synovitis

My poor Noah has had a rough few months. In July he had impetigo which as intially misdiagnosed at the chickenpox. Then in August Noah broke his arm and most recently he had toxic transient synovitis.

For the past week Noah would occasionally complain of pain in his upper leg hip area. He’d say, my leg hurts when I run. So of course I told him not to run too much. I just thought he had a sore muscle or something that would eventually go away. I’d noticed he had mentioned in several time but he was never complaining enough for me to think too much of it. The last Saturday morning he woke up in so much pain he was unable to move his leg. He wouldn’t walk, attempt to walk or even attempt to move his leg. He was in tears. I’d never seen anything like this so I immediately went to Dr. Google.

I Googled, “Child with hip pain can’t walk” and the first thing that popped up was transient synovitis. His condition matched all of the symptoms and most sites said to consult the doctor. So I immediately called our pediatrician (luckily they have Saturday morning hours). Joe took him in to the appointment, literally carrying him because he couldn’t walk.

The doctor thought it looked like transient synovitis but also thought it could be something more serious so he sent Noah to the emergency room. At the hospital they did an X-ray to rule our any fractured bones, blood work, and an ultrasound of his hip. During the ultrasound they discovered fluid in his hip and after consulting with the pediatric orthopedic surgeon decided to drain the fluid on his hip. This served two purposes, to provide relief for his pain and to also test to fluid to determine if the infection was viral or bacterial. Toxic Transient Synovitis is a viral infection and is easily treated whereas Septic Transient Synovitis is a bacterial infection and requires further intervention to prevent long-term damage. Thankfully, he had the viral infection which began to clear up pretty quickly after they drained the fluid and gave him an anti-inflammatory drug.

He was such a champ throughout the whole process. They gave him a sedative while they drained the fluid from his leg and monitored his vital signs. The requirement for him to be discharged was being able to walk without serious pain. A few hours after the sedative wore off he was able to walk, with a little assistance and was discharged.

I had never heard of such an ailment and after researching it further is seems like it primarily effects boys between the ages of 2-10. There isn’t much know about the cause of this infection and the toxic transient synovitis will typically clear up within a few days with the aid of and anti-inflammatory drug like Ibuprofen.

Have you ever heard of Transient Synovitis?

Has anyone you know ever suffered from Transient Synovitis?