Just want to chat, 3 year old referred to rheumatology

[sahm9]

Hi everyone,
My 3 year old has been referred to rheumatology on an urgent basis (appointment is in a few weeks) after leaving the orthopaedic consultant stumped.
Back in September he woke up completely unable to walk and when he did he was limping really badly. This happened 3 times. Each time he has bloods, a blood film, various X-rays. After the third time they referred him to see orthopaedics but they have since referred to rheumatology.
As well as the 3 limping episodes in which he was complaining of pain in his right knee, he has suffered from petechiae rashes (all bloods always okay) and the butterfly rash on his face but mostly his cheeks rather than over his nose. Also, every single time he gets unwell it’s like his entire body just shuts down and he becomes incredibly unwell. He had adenovirus and strep a last January which completely wiped him out, he was so incredibly ill they thought he had meningitis.
No real point to this post, just a worried mum… :(

How did the rheumatology appointment go, OP? I.have a DC with JIA, happy to chat if it would help.

Oh bless him
I've got Rheumatoid athritis etc

I hope 🙏 you get the right medical help and support as quickly as possible,
Sorry to hear about your sons health issues

Hi there thanks for your reply
His appointment is 19th feb, I will update after the appointment.
If you wouldn’t mind, could you share their initial symptoms? Thank you

Thank you, hope you are okay.
I just want to get to the bottom of it for him, incase he needs any medications and just to know what’s going on.
He is absolutely fine in himself apart from when he has a ‘flare up’ with the limp etc, apart from that you wouldn’t know, he’s a very happy boy :) although he currently has a chest infection, any illness seems to flare up the leg pain.

My dd complained of ankle and knee pain for a long time and had a very swollen ankle at one point - we were dismissed by the GP for a long time though. Eventually we saw someone who noticed that her knee was hot as well as swollen, who referred us to Rheumatology (with an MRI scan first).

After that it was a bit of a whirlwind with lots of drugs prescribed and an absolute overload of information, so be prepared for that if that's what your dc is diagnosed with! Plus regular eye tests and possibly physio.

If you're on Facebook, I really recommend some of the 'parents of kids with JIA' groups on there - they're really supportive and have some.very knowledgeable people. Look for "Little network of hope", "Juvenile arthritis parents and families" and also CCAA which has local networks .

Hope the appointment goes well ❤️