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Hi! I just joined and wanted to introduce myself. My name is and I am

the mother to five beautiful little girls (ages 9, 8, 6, 5, and 3). My youngest

daughter, Ella, was diagnosed with JRA last Friday (1/21) after 7 months of off

and on joint pain (unfortunately, more on than off lately...). Right now she is

having a lot of trouble with her right knee. They have her on 150 mgs of

ibuprofen 3 times a day and she sees her doctor on 2/23 to see how she's doing.

If that doesn't help (which honestly, I don't see how it will...we've been

giving her ibuprofen when she's had pain for the past 7 months...which is a lot

of the time, and it hasn't helped) then they will try her on something else.

After 2 months (so mid-end of March) she is still having trouble with her knee

(or if another joint starts bothering her) they want to do steroid injections.

I've been reading everything I can find on JRA for the past few months and I am

kinda overwhelmed. It sucks wondering if your child will be able to walk when

she wakes up every morning. It sucks that being in pain is now normal to her.

I'm sure you guys know the feeling. I had never even heard of JRA until it was

mentioned as a possible diagnosis months ago. We've only been dealing with this

for a few months and I'm already frustrated and the lack of understanding from

the majority of people. They seem to think its no big deal and have even

accused me of faking it because Ella seemed fine when they see her. I think my

husband is still in denial (I mean he knows something is going on with her, but

I think he's hoping she's just going to wake up one morning and its all going to

be a think of the past). I am just not getting much support in real life.