Juvenile idiopathic arthritis (JIA), formerly known as juvenile rheumatoid arthritis (JRA), is the most common form of persistent arthritis in children. JIA is sometimes referred t...
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My son with Juvenile arthritis
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My son was diagnosed with JRA a few months shy of his 2nd birthday. He is now 2 1/2 years old. He is on Naproxen twice a day and now also Zantac because of stomach pain he has associated with the Naproxen.
I have been researching and researching on this topic and I am refusing to believe that there is no possible cure for this. Are drugs the only option? He has been seeing a chiropractor for adjustments every week. Swelling is much less, but his doctor strongly suggests we don't lessen his dosage until he is in remission for at least 6 months. They also require blood work done every 6-8 weeks. Is this normal? I realize this is very long. I appreciate any response. From, A frustrated mother Posted on 09/24/07, 04:09 pm |
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Jenny,
Welcome to DS and, in particular, the Juvenile Arthritis community. It is very important your son is followed by a pediatric rheumatologist (which I get the impression he is). Certainly the goal is to get his symptoms in remission and the Naproxen will hopefully help in doing so. Naproxen belongs to the NSAID family of medications and there are others that may be used, but typically an NSAID is where the treatment meds begin. The blood work, along with the physical exam will help determine where he is along the remission curve. One thing to keep in mind is that it certainly is possible to "grow out" of JRA. All the best, Dr. J 
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Hi Jenny,
My 3 1/2 year old daughter was just diagnosed with Juvenile Arthritis. The ped. rheumatologist put her on Naproxen 2x a day. We just started so I can't tell if it is working yet. The hardest part is that she can't really verbalize what she is feeling so I can't tell how bad her pain is or if she is just being winny which she sort of can be normally. We are in the process of checking everything else out too - ophtamologist, cardiologist, physical therapist, lab work. It is alot to handle all of the sudden. Glad I found this community.
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my son was diagnosed with jia when he was 3yr old he was on naproxen also and had prblems with his stomach because of it. so was given ranitedine to take too. i was constantly told he had a good chance of out growing jia but he is now 14yr old and still suffering hes now on feledene melts. had countless injections . but fingers crossed for your child .
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Hi Flame,
I was wondering if your son has ever been in remission or is it something that has been a problem continuously since he was diagnosed? The drs keep advising me that when we find the right medication it could put the JIA into remission until she hopefully grows out of it. We are now trying our third medication since the first 2 did not help. Right now my daughther is on Indocin and Axid for her stomach. If this doesn't work we may try the steroid shots next just to get her some relief.
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hi lindsk my son has had brief times where he has been "ok" but he has never been medication free since he started takin at 3yr. he has had it persistantly in his left knee, and also suffers with his right knee, both ankles, and feet, he also has alopicia which i was told was his bodys way of saying its in too much pain. he was bout 4yr when we noticed the patch of no hair and its still the same today.
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Hi, so sorry to hear what you are going through. I'm not sure how much help I may be but I was diagnosed with JRA when I was 7. I was on tolectin when I was younger and also needed to be placed on stomach medicine as I got older due to all of the medication. My JRA flared every 3 or 4 years. Doctors would place my on medication sometimes drain my knee and most times within a few months would be back to normal. I am now 28 and my JRA hasn't exactly been under control all that time but managable. There is not a cure for this disease. Doctors can only put it in remission. That doesn't mean that your son will live with pain all of his life. But there may be times that he flares. There are stronger medications they can place him on, but with many more side effects. If your having second thoughts maybe you should get a second opinion just to make sure they agree on the course of treatment. If you have any other questions I'd love to help in any way that I can.
Kim
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The blood work is something that I went through too. I got it around 4/5 and was diagnosed around 7/8. They usually do it to monitor T cells, nitrates, red/white blood cells, and other important things for the first little while.
Unfortunately, it is important that he follows this prescription and takes the naproxen. I know that it tears up your stomach really bad, but once he is older he'll be able to handle Aleve when needed and stop taking the naproxen. Try looking up yoga dvds for kids? I know that stretching out my muscles really helped to curb the pain and lessen the pressures in my joints. If you need anything, let me know okay hun? We have a ton of research because my mom is actually the one who diagnosed me, and not the doctors.
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