Painful knee and ankle

funchild

My son aged 12 has JIA and has done since his 1st Birthday. He was taken off of methotrexate because his LFT's were coming back very high. This was around 5 months ago and his arthritis has returned in his knee and ankle. Going to hospital on 7th Nov and not sure what will happen as we know the methotrexate will help his joints but are worried about his liver! Anyone else been in this position... :sad:

iluvhobbits

Hi,
Really sorry to hear about your son, i have a 13year old daughter who has also had arthritis since she was 1 yrs old, her knees and ankles are the joints that have been affected. She has only been on Methotrexate for 18 months after years on various NSAID's. My daughter started off on tablets but switched to Methotrexate injections last December, she has had several blood tests come back with raised Liver Function results so we have had to stop Methotrexate for a few weeks (has been up to 3) until the Liver Function returns to normal. I am not convinced Methotrexate is the best drug for her as she still suffers with painful joints, but i have been told this needs to be proved over a period of at least 6 months on the top dose before the Anti-TNF drug Etanercept is even considered an alternative option.
If you read other posts i think several children are taking Ethanercept with brilliant results so hopefully this option will be available to your son.
Please let us know how you get on as we all understand what you are going through.

funchild

Thank you for your reply, I have never heard of Ethanercept so have had a read up on it and will take all the info with me to GOSH.
I'm sorry that your daughter is not getting on very well with the methotrexate injections, it's not very nice for them. My son was on methotrexate injections for many years and although he didn't like having them they did help with his arthritis!
Thanks again...