Erm... is there anyone, anywhere, with Idiopathic arthritis? would love to speak with somebody that has what i have, looked all over the net and cant find anybody...
I cant be the only person in the world!!!!!!!!!! But if i am thats quite cool...
Megan
What does that even mean? LoL I've never heard that term before! How does your doctor define it? I have JRA...but there are different kinds of JRA, but I can't recall exactly what mine is. Heh. It's been a while.I could be wrong (who me? Never!
The medical establishment, in their infinite wisdom, decided to take out the "rheumatoid" part in juvenile rheumatoid arthritis as it was causing most to confuse it with adult RA. In the US JRA has become just JA (juvenile arthritis) and in the UK it's JIA and elsewhere in Europe it's juvenile chronic arthritis, JCA.
http://www.innvista.com/HEALTH/ailments/arthritis/juvenidi.h tm
If you read the link, I like the idea the there's an International League Against Rheumatism. They sound like super heros!
To make the mix even muddier, my (US) rheumy lists the name of my disease on the insurance forms as Juvenile Chronic Polyarthritis.
Hey Megan,
In different parts of the world they call it JRA, and JIA... I live in Canada and its called JIA. Idiopathic means they don't know the origin of the disease, the causes and why it happens... Good Luck
"For most medical conditions, one or more causes are somewhat understood, but in a certain percentage of people with the condition, the cause may not be readily apparent or characterized. In these cases, the origin of the condition is said to be "idiopathic." Wikipedia.
My brother was just diagnosed today with this. I was so upset, i dont want him to go through what i go through, but the doc said what he has is different.hey, so sorry to hear about your brother, its not something any kid should have to deal with... give him my wishes. where does he have it? Hopefully its only one place. your probably right, it could bring you closer. i'm amazed that you can be so positive about it; i really struggled to come to terms with it when i was diagnosed.
Ive probably said it countless times, but swimming helps me so much... maybe you could take him? do some brother/ sister bonding, eh?
Good luck with it all, hope he isnt feeling to bad xx
Heya, I have Severe Juvienile Idiopathic Polyarticular Rheumatoid arthritis. Mine started in my knuckles and then spread rapidly to all my joints and i got really sick, really anaemic and i was anorexic skinny because i couldnt eat coz i couldnt open my jaw wide enough and was admitted to hospital, my doctors thought i should have been in a wheelchair. That all happened in a couple months but now im pretty much 'normal' or as normal as you can be with this stupid disease. I have no-one like me in my town but im one of 20 New Zealanders who have it as bad as me so thats not a surprise haha.