JIA treatment help

[kkristynikoo]

Hey guys,

My names Kristy, I'm 21year old and i was diagnosed with JIA at age 6 in my knees and hips, been in and out of remission since then. Usually my episodes only last 6 months or so, and I have no pain at all just noticeable swelling.. but this time has been very different, it's now affecting my right elbow. I'm unable to straighten my arm nor touch my shoulder, I can't hold an thing heavier 1kg in my right hand - I can't even shake my deodorant can!

I've been seeing my doctor and rheumatologist for the past 8 months, they attempted to treat me using

- meloxicam 15mg, but this unsuccessful

- Naproxen 1000mg, some pain relief but unsuccessful anti-inflammatory

- Sulfasalazine 500mg, worked every other time but not this time

- prednisolone 25mg, things started feeling better for about 2 weeks then it just stopped working

- cortisone guided injection on March 10th 2017 , after 1 week I had more mobility and the pain decreased significantly by week 4 pain came back and mobility was wore.

It has also been brought to my attention that I now have pain in my jaw, not sure if that's linked but I thought I'd mention it anyway.

I have another appointment with my rheumatologist comming up.

I was wondering if anyone had any other suggestions on treatment?

Also what do you recommend I use for pain relief? I'm finding it quite difficult to reduced the pain, I'm barley sleeping because of it.

Thankyou to everyone how took the time to give this a read, I wish you all the very best!

[tamsinr]

Hi so sorry you're struggling right now. There are a lot of treatment options, such as methotrexate, leflunamide. In the meantime try ice packs or warm packs, soaking in a warm bath with Epsom salts. All these things help my daughter . Good luck x

[kkristynikoo in reply to tamsinr]

Hello, thankyou taking the time to reply I will definitely be showing my rheumatogist all your suggesting hopefully we can find a treatment!

Wishing you and your daughter health and happiness!

[Daniel-Madge]

Hello, sorry to hear you are still in pain. I am not a doctor so can not advise on treatment. I am a parent with two daughters with JIA. In our experience our consultant treats Flair ups with anti inflammatories and or steroid injections . my understanding is that these are good for removing the inflamation and therefore reduce the pain but do not in themselves address the cause of the inflamation. If the inflamation keeps coming back the consultant will after time consider other ranges of medication designed to keep the inflamation away. These include medications such as methotraxate and what they call biologics (such as Humera).

Essentially the treatment for the reducing the inflamation does not keep it away and the maintenance drugs that can keep the inflamation away do not remove it in the first instance. Finding the right combination for you is a skill and an art and will have to be worked out between you and your consultant.

In our experience, you have to go through a few rounds of the anti inflammatories and steroids before they will look at the other medications which are long term commitments and some of which have a range of potential side effects.

So yes there are other treatments and I am sure your consultant will discuss these with you.

Yes, you can get JIA in your jaw

I hope this helps.

Daniel

[kkristynikoo in reply to Daniel-Madge]

Thankyou for your reply daniel, I will defiantly mention methotraxate to my rheumatogist. It's just been crazy ever since I was a child, i had a combination celebrex and sulfasalazine that made remarkable improvements and within 4 months of taking them I would go into remission. This time round I'm just not responding to any of the treatments.

Wishing you and your daughters all the best in your fight with JIA!