5 YEAR OLD NEW JIA DIAGNOSIS, NATURAL REMEDIES?

NaturalRemedySeeker

Hi, my 5 year old son has just been diagnosed with JIA.

its has been a whirlwind of a time but I'm thankful that he has been diagnosed and we can try and control the pain he has had for the last 8 months.

so the day he was diagnosed he was started on very strong dose of steroids via IV for 3 days to reduce the inflammation in his cervical spine and jaw. he has since been discharged from hospital with a lower dose of the steroids and gradually weaning off of them over 5 weeks.

his rheumatologist now wants to start him on 10mg methotrexate and I am extremely concerned. he has already started to show some side effect from the steroids such as swelling and behavioural issues. I'm worried that being on both drugs that both can cause side effects is going to cause a lot of damage. I'm so scared for him and i want to find out if there is anything more natural and less damaging than this treatment.

i have been looking at homeopathy and osteopathy treatments and they look promising but i want to find out if others have tried this for their children and received successful results, or if they have used any other alternative medicine either as a substitute for even along side treatment prescribed by the rheumatologist.

any help or information is greatly appreciated.

from a very worried mother.

Natasha

jeddison1985

Hi @NaturalRemedySeeker  firstly let me welcome you to the forum I hope you find the information and support you are after from our wonderful community.

I can see from your post that your son recently had a diagnosis of JIA for which he is taking a number of medications, but you are looking for advice on alternative medicines.

The site is full of information and I wanted to signpost you to some information leaflets that could help, linked to your query both in terms of JIA, treatments and medications.

https://www.versusarthritis.org/about-arthritis/conditions/juvenile-idiopathic-arthritis/

https://www.versusarthritis.org/news/2020/june/all-about-jia/

https://www.versusarthritis.org/about-arthritis/your-experiences/your-questions-answered/your-questions-on-methotrexate/

Please feel free to search the forum for others with similar experiences and I am sure that some of our community will be able to help.

Take care and I hope your son gets some relief soon.

Thanks

Joe

frogmorton

Hi @NaturalRemedySeeker

I am sorry to hear your boy was diagnosed with JIA at 5. As you say at least you know now and action can be taken.

I am not 100% sure, but think it unlikely 'they' will want your son on steroids long term the chances are it's the methotrexate (MTX) which should control his symptoms loner-term. Once it's working they usually wean us off steroids.

I have plenty of experience with steroids both personally and when my own daughter had cancer. She took a much higher dose than me and for longer. In the short term it made her very down (maybe why your boy is showing behavioural issues?) and yes she has the 'moon face' too and some stretch marks.

All returned to normal quite quickly after they ceased.

Take care and look after yourself too it's tough being a parent who's child is ill ((()))

stickywicket

I'm so sorry your little boy has JIA. I've had RA since I was 15 and I'd just hate my sons or grandsons to get it. It's so hard to see them in pain, isn't it?

I can see you really want to take his pain away. Who wouldn't? As frogmorton says, the steroids, and their side-effects, will be short term. Methotrexate is the way to go. I've been on it over 20 years with no problems.

As I said, I'd hate my sons or grandsons to get an inflammatory arthritis but, if they did, I'd be pulling out all the stops to get them on DMARDS such as methotrexate. The leaflets can sound scary but thats because they are legally bound to list any potential side effects. The paracetamol leaflet can sound scary too but we all take that without thinking. The thing is, without DMARDS (Disease Modifying Anti-Rheumatic Drugs) we give the disease free rein. Natural so-called 'remedies' such as homeopathy or even osteopathy can't restrain our overactive immune systems which is where the próblem lies. I guess an osteopath might be able to relieve some of the pain but that's just tnkering round the edges. What we need is something to hold the disease back.

Do have a good read of the links given and, if there's anything we can help with, don't hesitate to ask.