's rheumy appt yesterday and some questions

June 15, 2006

had her 2nd rheumy appt yesterday. To make a long story short,

he upped her Naprosyn dose and added Zantac for her tummy.

Her appetite is just about nill. She used to be a wonderful eater, but

now she hardly eats at all. Yesterday, I was lucky to get a few small

bites of food in her all day. I've started giving her a little

Pediasure and yesterday also started liquid vitamin drops. She lost one

pound in the month from our last visit to the rheumy.

He also basically told us to be prepared next visit to discuss steroid

joint injections. It would be under general anesthesia, which is the

part that really worries me for my little girl at only 20 months of

age....I understand the need....and the naprosyn doesn't really seem to

be helping her much. It' s on the march to her knees now, and she still

isn't walking right. Have any of your very little ones (under 2 years)

gone under general anesthesia? I'm so scared about that.

Also, my husband is very convinced that her last immunizations are what

brought this on. It did come on right after she had her last shot

(DTAP). Prior to that, she was very healthy...hardly ever more than

sniffles...it does seem like a big coincidence, but all of the doctors

say no, that's not the cause. Hubby will not give up on this, though,

and he's been doing his own research and has found some stuff that makes

me question the doctors. This issue is causing more stress, because

he's now questioning whether she should have remaining immunizations and

when, and I'm conflicted. On the one hand, I don't want to stray from

what is " federally accepted " , because I don't feel I have the knowledge

to prescribe an immunization schedule that varies from that. On the

other hand, there are some convincing arguments on the other side. And

I also know from experience that doctors don't always have all the

answers....and it is possible that they're just blindly following a

schedule that really does have some negative consequences for our kids.

Have any of you questioned this or researched this issue - the link

between immunizations and autoimmune diseases, or JRA specifically?

Thanks! I welcome anything that you may have to add or suggest at this

point....I'm feeling a little overwhelmed with all of this right now.

Kathy

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