Does anyone know anything about childhood arthritis or am I being a hypochondriac by proxy?

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Ds has recently been complaining of intermittent pains in his knee joints. First it was just the one knee and I thought he might has twisted it, though no evident sign of swelling or bruising. He complains in the morning and also when he's playing on a bouncy hopper. I thought it might be growing pains but its the wrong side of his knee and its not at night. If I take him to the GP will I get put down as a fussy mother - I rarely if ever go normally - or is this sometihng I should be worried about?

You don't mention how old your DS is. If he's 10 - 15yrs, this might be Osgood-Schlatter's Disease. Sounds horrendous and it can be very painful but it is NOT drastic.
It affects boys more often than girls and can occur in children younger than 10.

Here's a link (hopefully)

www.kidshealth.org/teen/food_fitness/sports/osgood.html

My daughter has this aged @11 yrs. It was brought on because she was in a marching band at the time, hence over-use of the knee joints. She had to stop that but no longer has any problems.
She's 26 now but at the time it probably took about 18 moths to 2 years to finally disappear.

HTH,

Kath

Thank you Lindiriel, DS is actually only 6 but the symptoms sound very like what the link says. He has been having an enormous growth spurt at the moment along with him being very athletic, energy and build wise. Interestingly he has himself chosen to reduce his physical activity just at the moment which is not at all like him and apart from games at school that he can't help himself getting involved in with his friends he isn't running and jumping all over the place as usual. i'll keep an eye on it but hopefully it is a growing pain thing. thanks for putting my mind at rest, its not really serious enough to take him to the doctor's, think I am a bit stressed at the moment so am looking for the worst in everything....one less thing to stress about..thanks ....

I'd take him to doc and get it checked out tbh .. because they can do simple blood tests to check if there's an inflammation in his body which could signpost to a juvenile arthritis

I'd check

Problem is that usually when i do take him to the doctor he says 'i'm fine' and I look foolish, our GP is good at that. If it persists I will though, better to have a 'history' first rather than being marked as a paranoid mother.

if it is arthritis it is likely that he will feel stiff after resting so first thing in morning and when inactive for a while

It most probably isn't .. but blood tests can help in diagnosis even if not presenting with symptoms

If it is arthritis at this age it will be rheumatoid, which is actually not a wear and tear issue, it is an auto immune disease. Which will show up on a blood test.
But with those symptoms it could be any one of a number of things (including growing pains) and a virus can cause sudden joint pain aswell.

agree with SHW in that it is most likely to be something else

and whilst if it is arthritis (doubtful) rheumatoid is by far the most likely suspect for a juvenile arthritis it is by no means the only form .. sorry .. I'm being pedantic I know (the good thing is though that a number of cases of juvenile arthritis burn out towards adulthood)

I agree with getting your child checked out properly to be on the safe side.

That said, I think the growth spurt he is going through now may well have something to do with his pain and hopefully will pass soon.

You won't be easy until you're sure nothing is wrong just like any other caring parent. So put your mind at rest and make an appt at the Drs. Don't feel that you're wasting anyone's time or being over-anxious, better to be safe than sorry. Any good GP will understand this and if they don't, get a new GP!

Best wishes,

Kath

Old thread...but how are things now?