Bedwetting and childhood arthritis?

Hello Alice and welcome from me too.

I've been a regular user of these forums for some years and I've never heard of bedwetting in relation to arthritis. I've just done a search, using the Arthritis Care search engine and nothing comes up. Rheumatoid arthritis, which I've had for many years, can, occasionally, affect internal organs but it usually doesn't and I think this would only happen after years of it being very aggressive or not treated with the correct medication. As you'll be aware, bedwetting can be a sign of anxiety in a child which, I guess, makes sense if he's worried about his other symptoms. Again, occasionally, dry eyes can accompany inflammatory forms of arthritis. Children with arthritis can get uveitis which is inflammation that causes pain and can affect vision. If you are anxious about this I'd assume any decent optician could spot the problem.

Is there any inflammatory arthritis in your family? Or any other auto-immune problems? Their presence could flag up that your son is more likely than others to get an auto-immune disease such as RA.

Having said that, RA and other inflammatory forms of arthritis cause far more than morning stiffness. The fatigue is overwhelming. I was diagnosed at 15 and was told I should only go into school when I had an exam. I spent much of the rest of the time asleep. That was a long time ago and the medication for it is far, far better now but it was much more than stiffness, swelling and pain.

Even so, we all, naturally, are concerned about our children. My elder son, a sporting fanatic, developed a temporary knee problem when he was about 13, all to do with overuse of a growing knee. (Osgood Schlatters Disease) Many kids these days get strains from overuse of X-boxes, Play Stations and the like. In USA, where my 9yr old grandson plays baseball, they are restricted to pitching 40 balls per match so as not to damage their shoulders and they are not allowed to head a soccer ball until much older. than he is Over here, we are not quite so 'on the ball' (pardon the pun) about protecting young players.

I think, if he were mine, I'd first sort out an eye test as that's easily done. If no problem appeared, I'd be trying to get either a rheumatology appointment or one with a physiotherapist. Or at least pin your GP down as to what he / she thinks the problem(s) is / are and what should be done about it. Often an appointment with a different GP in the practice can bring more satisfactory results. You are entitled to see anyone.

It could well be that the bedwetting is the poor lad's anxiety about his other symptoms and dealing with them might sort it out. But, in any case, they need to be dealt with just to ensure there's nothing untoward going on.

And, how about you in all this? In my experience our children bring us both the best and the worst times of our lives. This must be one of the harder bits.