I ran into a friend yesterday who mentioned he had 'had' RA as a child. He is 56 now and had it at 16. He said he was growing a a rapid rate, several inches in 3 years, and had terrible pains. The 'test' showed RA. He said he got rid of it by changing his lifestyle and eliminating terrible stresses he had over the years. Now, he wonders if he ever really had it. Whoo knows?sounds like growing pains.
My understanding is that you never get rid of the RA, the blood work may come back better, bu tthat it is always there and able to be seen by the bone erosions and/cysts that developed/develop.
Remember nothing is ever etched in stone.
jode
Sounds like growing pains to me.......however several inches in 3 years doesn't sound too extraordinary. I'm pretty sure I did that. BUUUTTTT You can have JRA and "out grow it"Yeah, you should ask him all the questions you can think of! And let us know too.
I do know that my friend's 3 year old hit SUCH a painful growth spurt, that they were telling her to give her a tylenol and ibu cocktail on a daily basis! Poor thing was miserable - all they COULD give her was they tylenol and ibu....they did x-rays and the such, it really was just her growing. They charted it and couldn't believe it. Then it stopped when she turned 4. It was the weirdest thing. She's almost 5 now, and still growing, but just at a normal rate now!
some types of JRA can remit and are no longer seen in adulthood. Most children are not lucky enough to deal with the disease with no long term outcomes but who knows mybe your friend was one of the lucky onesI was told once that growing pains as a child is an indication of RA in adulthood - anyone else heard that?