Young Adults with RA former JRA

I wish they could have done something for my jaw. That's the only thing that was stunted. So now I have a really bad overbite. :/ And my jaw is just...well...funky. Meh.

Hi, My daughter has JRA and uveitis. She was diagnosed when she was 8 and she is now 24. She used prednisone eye drops for years and they caused glaucoma and cataracts. She has been injecting methotrexate for 2 years now and has had no inflammation in eyes at all! She has had short bouts of pain and stiffness in joints in the past, but has had extreme flare of joints now for about 6 weeks. She is starting Enbrel injections on Sunday. Just wanted to know if any of you take Enbrel for your joints? Or do you take some kind of more conventional arthritis medicine, like a pill, and does it help? I hope you don't mind me posting here. I just really worry about my daughter a lot and hate to see her in so much pain. Do you all notice that pain and stiffness get worse the older you get?

 Enbrel worked wonders for me - for about 2 years - then it fizzled out. Definately worth a try. It took 3 months for it to start working for me.

I'm on Humira now, waiting for it to start working, been on it for 3 months. (JRA dx at 18m, 37 yr old)

Hi RANancy, welcome to the forum.

Thank you,

It's really nice to talk with other people that are fighting the same thing that you are. 

Does anyone still have flare ups when they are taking Enbrel?

 

Hi all,

I was diagnosed with JRA when I was 8 in 1969.  The JRA came shortly after I was diagnosed with hashimoto's thyroiditis, another autoimmune disease. Back then you took tons of asprin (16 a day) and got gold shots. Every once in a while they took the water off your joints and that was it, not too many decisions to make. The disease was in both elbows and knees. I used a cane for several years but as I got older, I went into "remission" (at age 19) just as my rheumatologist said I would.  I was fine during my 20's and 30's.  If it matters I had seropositive, polyarticular disease.

I had relatively minior joint swelling about 3 years ago. My primary sent me to see a rheumatologist because I was seronegative and she was unsure. The rheumatologist told me to stop worrying, it wasn't JRA. He said I had bursitis and a bakers cyst.  Frankly, he was a jerk, called me a crybaby, gave me two injections of cortisone and sent me on my way. Its not coming back he said. Compared to the way things were as a child, the swelling really wasn't that bad so I just ignored it. Fast forward the clock, I am now 45 and was hit hard by iritis in June. Every time I came off the predforte, the iritis returned. It got better when I was put on MTX (15mg). The joint swelling is still pretty minor, I take Naproxen twice a day, but my eyes continue to be a problem. I now have an eye infection and problems with severe dry eye in both eyes. Today, I was put on Restasis.  Does anyone have experience with this. I was told that JRA in adulthood is very different from adult onset RA.

I am frustrated and frankly worried that the joints will get worse.  I started the MTX at the end of August and some weeks it seems to work better than others - is the dry eye a sign that it isn't working??????

Any thoughts out there?  Mentally, this has been hard to deal with.  I am afraid that the pain I remember is going to come back and I am afraid that this disease will take my eyesight. Any one else out there have a similar story????