I AM CONFUSED

stutterbug, there could be any number of things going on, especially since you had juvenile arthritis and scarlet fever. My 9 yr old son has had arthritis for 2 years now and it took a long time to pin point the type of arthritis he has. Through all the many many tests, it was discovered that he was getting repeated strep infections without the usual symptoms, resulting in high levels of strep antibodies. I'm guessing he had a lot of strep infections that we never knew about because he rarely gets a sore throat with strep. So several docs put their heads together and and figured out he has a reactive arthritis to all of the strep and possibly had rheumatic fever. He also had scarlet fever at an early age. Right now he's on long term antibiotic threatment, but I'm guessing that he will be susceptible to arthritis throughout his life, especially whenever he would get a strep infection. I'm telling you all of this because it sounds a lot like what you went through as a child.

My understanding is that some people do grow out of juvenile arthritis, but for some, the arthritis can come back. I definitley don't think this is in your head and the docs shouldn't think that either, especially with your health history. It might help if you posted some of your questions in the arthritis forum if you haven't already - some of the people there have had juvenile arthritis.

I really hope you get some answers soon. There's nothing worse than knowing something is wrong, but docs can't figure out what it is. Take care and keep us updated.

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