Young Adults with RA former JRA

Hello! I'm new to this forum, my name is Margaret. I'm 31. I was diagnosed with JRA when I was 15. It started with muscle aches and then a terrible rash all over my body and then I started getting the really high fevers and joint pain in my ankle. I was in the hospital for a week while they tested me for everything from lime disease to lupus.

Hello all. My name is Celeste. I was diagnosed with JRA when I was 3. Much like some of your stories I have read, my mother had a hell of a time getting me diagnosed. She went to numerous doctors and received various responses from one who told her it was all in her head to another forcing my 45 degree angled elbow straight and knocking me out from the pain of it....she never returned to that doctor again.

I honestly don't know much about my disease when I was younger. I remember my arm being stuck in the constant 45 degrees and getting excited about being able to touch my fingers to my shoulder. My mother was told that I had arthritis in all but 11 joints. I was taking St. John's for a while when I was younger and started the gold shots around 6 or 7 years old along with Naprolyn (Naproxen later on). This held up real well and growing up with JRA I was none the wiser that it was there. When I was 17 I was diagnosed with Fibromyalgia but this has been the least of my problems. My doctor had informed me that it looked like I would have RA continuously, since she saw no signs on me going into remission yet.

When I turned 18 my doctors suggested I go on Methotrexate because the gold shots were no longer producing the results they wanted. I admit that I was a bit of a troubled patient. I didn't really like the doctor I had for the majority of my teenage years and believed that I was the one who knew my body better than her. By the time I was in my early 20's I decided to go off my medications. I was not feeling stiff and felt like I was putting drugs into my body that I didn't need anymore. I kept going to my doctor every few months and haphazardly took my meds when I thought I needed to. In fact, while my doctor did not confirm it, I felt that I had gone into remission.

Almost 4 years ago in my college town I was riding my bike and was struck by a car. I landed like a cat, on my palms and my knees. Although I luckily walked away from the incident unscathed (and probably due to my advanced adrenaline levels) I could not have imagined what would happen. The next few weeks afterwards my friends mistook me walking on the street for an old bag lady because of my posture and the way I moved.

Ever since this incident, my arthritis has been unlike anything I knew before. One fun day during finals both of my knees swelled to 3 times their size and caused me much pain. I had to walk around like a gorilla because of all the fluid in them, it was a humbling moment for me. I have continued to have this swelling reoccur no matter how much fluid the doctor takes out.

I am sure you are all thinking, what is the point of your story? Well, many points I need to make. From my accident I have started a lawsuit and of course the insurance company of the car owners swears that all this pain and swelling of my body has nothing to do with the accident and everything to do with my arthritis. Normally one would think this is not problem, but alas I do not have health insurance so the only person covering the costs for all of this is me. For the last year and a half I have been living in Germany and working at an American military base. The German doctors I am seeing here are worried about my knee. They clearly see a correlation between the accident and the veracity of my arthritis. They are now talking about surgery for my knee and I am a bit worried about this. Before I consider anything, I need some information on possible other medications and their costs. I haven’t been on Methotrexate for the last few months but while I was on it the swelling of my knee still existed, as well as the increased stiffness in the morning of my knees, elbows, toes, ankles, wrists and fingers. What medications do any of you suggest taking? For any of you going from JRA to RA, did you ever see a point in your life where it looked like you were going into remission or that you were not in as much pain as when you were a child? Do any of you feel that your RA has become worse than your JRA? Has anyone tried any homeopathic medications or eats a restricted diet?

I admit that I never took a full interest in my illness before and assumed all would figure itself out. This has wholly been my fault and stupidity. But now that I am becoming an adult and wanting to travel and see the world, it is frustrating to have this liability all the time; the pain, the stiffness, the swelling. I want to treat my body right and do all that I can for it. I don’t want this illness to define who I am or what I do. I am lost right now and just looking for some advice. I have read many of your posts and am really inspired by them, so any advice you give me would be appreciated.

I am new to the boards.  I was also dianosed with JRA in 1970 at age one.  It started only in my right knee and then at age 14 it spread to my right elbow.  I know have JRA/RA, fibromyalgia, and osteoarthritis.  I had so many years of swelling in my right knee when I was little that there is a lot of joint damage.  I had an xray last week and there is very little joint space left in my right knee and I am in extreme pain right now, especially if I walk, put weight on my right leg or bend my knee.  I have an appointment with an orthopedic surgeon next week to see what my options are.  Have any of you had knee or any other type of replacement surgery?  Do I have other options at 38 years old?  As you can see I am a mom to 5 kids.  I want to be able to keep up with them and right now I cannot.

I was forturnate to not have knee pain or flaring for man years and then all of a sudden it has come back with a vegenance!

I am 35 with JRA/RA.  I wasn't formally diagnosed until 17 years old although I had been suffering since I was 8 years old.  My blood work doesn't tend to show the rheumatoid factors so doctors always gave me SAIDS but won't say what the problem was until I became really sick at 17. 

At 35, I still suffering from JRA/RA.  But, hey, what doesn't kill you makes you stronger.

Hi Vicki, welcome to the board!

You might of noticed most of us hang out in the RA thread, it's really informal here as there are no admin or moderators, so post away!

About our favorite, St. Joe's aspirin, do you remember what was on the packaging? Wasn't there a soldier of some kind? One of those British guys with the big black hats? Maybe I'm confusing it with something else. I was looking through posters with vintage Ads on them and I'd thought it be neat to get a St. Joe's poster!