Arthritis - Juvenile Support Group

Hi! The doctor told us that Kayla has the type of arthritis that seems to flare up more when her crohn's is flaring up.

Hi, I am a mom of a 4 year old with JRA. I'm here for support as well.

What do they think is Kayla's primary DG? It sounds like Crohn's is causing the joint pain?

Welcome AnnAlice! I haven't heard of JRA at 4. When was your child Dgx'd? Glad to meet you!

Hi? My daughter was diagnosed with JRA last year when she was 3 1/2. As of now, things are more managable with the meds, PT and tricks that we have picked up along the way, but the disease is still advancing and life can be a roller coaster.

Hi! I am a mom of a daughter diagnosed at 4.

hi, my son got diagnosed last year at age 15 after almost a year of not knowing what it was. I try to keep him active in sports so he doesn't have any flare ups. Only sport they told him not to do is football and wrestling.

GIna, is he on any medication? My son takes Nambumatone 500 mg/2 a day. It is a strong pain killer that really helps. He is also really bad on rainy days or when rain is coming. He wants to go off the medication, but I know we'll be back where we started. Was your son tested for a whole bunch of other stuff like Lyme disease?

HI...my 14 yo daughter has JRA. She was diagnosed at 18 mos.

Hi Golds, I'm no doctor, nor a parent...but here are my thoughts...from someone who has had JRA since I was 10, diagnosed at 20.

Is he only on the pain killer? That won't help the disease at all, just mask the pain...which could actually lead him to push his body further than he should. I've always hated pain killers, esp when I was on then daily. If he needs it daily, than he should try other meds to get the JRA under control. I assume at 14 he can make decisions like that for himself, but maybe not (i know i could) I don't know if you have experience with daily pain killers, and I know everyone reacts differently, but it made life for me very hard. Besides that I felt like it was a danger when I drove, I was always "out-of-it" couldn't concentrate in school, always tired and upset my stomach. If he wants to go off of it, maybe you should consider it. If he ends up in pain, than he can just go back on it. The long term effects are never good for pain killers. This is something to really think about since he's young...he'll most likely need pain killers when hes older, why start now?

I don't want to sound like I'm telling you what to do, just want to make sure you're looking at the big picture.