My 11-yr old daughter was diagnosed with JIA in October of '08. She is currently on a very low dose of 3 tabs/week as her arthritis seems to be non-existent. She does however have hip apophysitis which concensus says is not related to the JIA. My question is this: she gets horrible headaches and consistently doesn't "feel good". She is going through puberty and I'm wondering whether its the MTX or the hormones to blame. When she first started MTX (7 tabs/week with prednisone), she was sick and very fatigued for 1.5 days -like clockwork. Now after taking her 3 tabs, she is not consistently "ill" afterward.
Secondly, can too much variation in which weekend evening we give her the MTX be to blame?
Her pediatrician recommends going to a pediatric endocrinologist; her ped. rheumatologist does not think it's necessary.
Thank-you for your time.
hi, just wanted to put in my 2 cents worth. i just started taking methotrexate several months ago and i really didn't know anything about the side effects. after having these horrible headaches for several weeks, i finally looked up the side effects and sure enough, that's a big one. of course since i'm not 11 and i weigh a whole lot more than an 11 yr old, i take 8 pills a week. it's taken probably 6 months, but my headaches are not so bad now. more tolerable. i have an 18 yr old daughter and my biggest fear is that she or my son will get RA. i talked to my primary care doctor and my GYN and my rheumatologist and they all agree that there is some truth to the fact that the earlier girls are started on birth control pills the better if there is a big family hx of RA. it stalls off RA for awhile. of course your daughter is already diagnosed, but talk to your doctors and see if it would be worthwhile to get her on hormone pills to regulate her menses and as my GYN said, estrogen/progesterone are steroids and that's probably why taking the birth control pills helps keep down the RA symptoms. well, i didn't really like the idea of putting my 13 yr old (at the time) on BC pills, but we've just called them her hormones and she tells her friends she has a hormone imbalance and it's never been embarassing or strange for her to talk about. she's also figure out that it's a really nice thing to know the exact day of your period! well, just some things for you to think about. hope i gave you a few idea. tell her good luck! melanie
Thank-you Melanie. I hadn't even considered how bc pills might help...I think you're onto something.
Thank so much!