You have been to the family physician, and you have heard the diagnosis. You still are having trouble believing that your child is going to need help for Juvenile Rheumatoid Arthritis. It can be a difficult and confusing time for parents. Here is some information you need to know.
Juvenile Rheumatoid Arthritis, or JRA for short, is an auto-immune system disease that is characterized by inflammation and swelling of the joints. Children often experience moderate to severe joint heat and pain from the disease. JRA affects around 50,000 children in the United States. You will sometimes hear this disease referred to as JIA also, which stands for Juvenile Idiopathic Arthritis.
In many cases, Juvenile Rheumatoid Arthritis is just a short term disease in children. The disease process can run its course in a couple of weeks. Many times, the children will not experience a recurrence. The most help for Juvenile Rheumatoid Arhritis is needed by the children that develop a chronic case of JRA. Chronic JRA can last for years, or even a lifetime.
Perhaps the most frustrating part, in trying to provide help for Juvenile Rheumatoid Arhritis, is the fact that the disease is not completely understood. The disease attacks the body’s auto immune system. In other words, the body’s white blood cells start treating healthy cells as if they were invading bacteria and viruses. The cells end up releasing chemical toxins that damage healthy tissue, which causes the intense inflammation and pain.
So, the best help for Juvenile Reumatoid Arthritis is catching the disease early. With a good diagnosis and early treatment, you will be able to help your child maintain and active and productive life. This is the goal for any type of JRA, whether the disease ends up being short term, or for life.
In most cases, JRA appears in children between the age of 6 months and 16 years of age. Early signs of Juvenile Rheumatoid Arthritus include joint pain and swelling. In addition, the joints become very warm and red in color. Though not always true, the rule of thumb is: the more joints that are affected, the more severe the disease will be. Help for JRA, then, starts with trying to diagnose the disease early in the disease process, while there are only a few joints affected. Statistically, this offers the greatest chance to getting the disease to go into remission.
The most common forms of JRA are oligoarticular JRA, polyarticular JRA, and systemic JRA. Some of the early signs of Juvenile Rheumatoid Arthritis include rashes and suddenly appear and disappear. Fevers that spike and leave, especially in the early evening, should be red warning flags. Spleen and lymph node swelling can also be early signs of JRA. In some cases, the child may also develop an inflammation of the iris. In this case, an ophthalmologist can help to catch this early signs of Juvenile Rheumatoid Arthritis.
Your physician will use medical histories, physical examination, and a series of lab tests to help catch the early Juvenile Rheumatoid Arthritis disease process. These tests include, but are not limited to, CBC, blood cultures, and an Erythrocyte sedimentation rate. Specific lab tests for rheumatoid antibodies can also be done. Your physician may also want to look at your child’s bone marrow, and may perform a bone scan. Joint fluid samples are sometimes taken as well. All of these tests are designed to help catch abnormalities in the blood chemistry, joint fluids, bones, and bone marrow.
Your doctor will also provide help for Juvenile Rheumatoid Arthritis by developing a treatment plan for your child. The plan will include medications, physical therapy, a diet program, and an exercise program. The treatment plan will be designed to relieve pain and inflammation, protect the joints from degradation, and to restore joint function. All of this will be the goal, because your doctor will want to do all that is possible to see that your child’s growth continues properly, and that your child remains fully active.
Finally, it will be you that provides the best help for Juvenile Rheumatoid Arthritis of all that’s available, because you will be there to help make sure your child stays active. You will be walking, swimming, and bicycling with your child. You will be there to help your child through the painful times, when all they want to do is sit and rest. You will provide the proper diet that will help your child’s body fight the disease. And you will be the emotional and psychological support structure needed. All of these things will be invaluable to your child throughout the disease process.