RE: medicated remission??

January 25, 2001

Hi Michele,

I will answer your questions from my perspective. Others may have

more to say. I have a 14 year old boy with Poly JRA, he has had it

for 5 years. My son sounds a lot like yours. It started in his ankles,

first one then the other... then his knees, same thing, not all the time...

then the day came where he could not open his fingers. It did appear

to move around, and his joints never appeared very red or swollen.

Now to answer your questions:

What is a medicated remission? It is when there is no signs of active

disease in the joints. This is accomplished through usually a combination

of drugs. The JRA is still there, if the drugs are taken away, the disease

will return. Most JRA indicators in the blood work will improve to normal

ranges as well. I don't think positive ANA or RA factors ever change.

Is this right? I could use some help from a more knowledgeable person

on blood work here. (My son is close to being in medicated remission.

His blood work is very close to being in normal ranges from all aspects.

All joints are looking good except for his wrists. It is easy to think

maybe they are " cured " but usually they are not. If something changes,

it will come back again. "

I will share my point of view with you. I no longer let myself dwell on

if he will be cured. I spend my time trying to get my son the best

treatment and helping him cope with JRA. I have simplified my goal;

prevent damage to his joints. How do you I accomplish this? By

going to the best doctors no matter the cost or inconvenience. We

live in Boise with no Pediatric Rhemy and had inadequate care for

more then 3 years. During this 3 years, x-rays showed he did

continuous damage to his joints. Since we started going to specialists

in Seattle, things have turned around. His x-rays show no additional

damage in the last year. This is being accomplished through drugs...

he takes a NSAID, Methotrexate, Enbrel and 4 meg of Prednisone/day.

The plan is not to keep him on the most drugs forever. If he

continues to improve they will reduce the drugs to the minimal

level they can. He is supposed to be off Prednisone, but he is

afraid to give it up entirely. We hope to win this war over the next

6 months. The next thing to go will be the Methotrexate. Anyway,

I am no expert, but I don't think you are going to win this battle with

just NSAIDs.

Can you be cured from JRA? Yes, but we don't see lots

of it on this site. We also have people on this site like Waynette.

She thought she was cured because she was symptom free for

a long time, but it came back years later. My son firmly believes

he will have it forever, I have decided to view it this way as well.

I would rather have it go away when we don't expect it, then to

expect a remission that never happens.

Well, enough rambling. Good luck! Jana

January 25, 2001

Jana- Your " rambling " was just what I needed! Between reading the info

Georgina sent out and your personal perspective, I feel better. I think I

have been a bit too passive in this with the rheumy. She is good - she

takes her time,isn't condesending - but I'm beginning to think this

diagnosis sort of blew me away and I wasn't quite asking the right

questions. Thanks for explaining the terms to me. I know that I must become

more knowledgable about all of this. Michele T.

Re: medicated remission??