Urethritis/Prostatitis and Gastritis

[Guest guest]

Hi, all. I had almost completed a long message and lost it in

cyberspace; perhaps it will show up as a duplicate. I'll try again.

I'm here on behalf of my ds ( " dear son " ) who has struggled with

Reiter's since age 3y.o.-- diagnosed at age 11 by a prominent

pediatric rheumatologist. Symptoms from age 3 to age 13

was " sinovitis " -- inflammation of the hip (left or right) which would

flare up after a virus-- usually not until he'd had a couple of viruses

back-to-back-- lasting about 10 days, sometimes bad enough to require a

cane to walk. At the time of dg, he had just started getting urethritis.

By age 13 the overlap between urethritis & sinovitis was complete. He

has only very rarely been bothered by joints since then. Meanwhile

urethritis has progressed in 7 yrs from an after-virus complication to

daily pain. A pediatric urologist at age 13 said nothing for it but

aleve or other NSAID. At this point he avoids stomach-churners & simply

takes Uristat, restricting it to one dose daily unless unusually

severe. The pain is now generalized to the whole region, including

prostate. Ds blames on tests & procedure done last summer as a result

of our [finally] consulting an adult urologist. That urol. performed a

battery of tests under anesthesia, & stretched the opening of the

urether as it was unusually small. (I figured that might have been the

result of yrs of inflammation.)

A second major symptom started at age 17, so that's 3 yrs of:

gastritis, consisting of almost continual bouts of digestive

malfunction including pain, bloating, excess gas, and sometimes acid

reflux. When it started it was a post-virus flareup, but by now it just

occasionally gives him a few days' relief.

Have not yet been successful finding an adult rheumatologist. First

attempt last summer was disastrous, complete with eye-rolling &

skeptical remarks. When she heard the name of the ped. rheum. who made

the orig. dg., she decided ds was legit, but said she could do nothing,

go back to the urol. (Meanwhile the urol.-- the best one by reputation

in our area!-- had attitude galore: " & WHO told you you had REITER's? "

ANY HELP POINTING US TOWARD SPECIALISTS WHO ARE EXPERIENCED WITH THIS

WOULD BE MUCH APPRECIATED. WE ARE IN CENTRAL JERSEY, & ALSO WOULD TRY

SOMEONE ON CENTRAL LONG ISLAND DURING THE SCHOOL YEAR.

Thanks for listening

Bethree

[Guest guest]

I feel your pain....really...lol!

I wish I could point you in the right direction but I'm in the same

boat with trying to find a competent Rheumatologist.

Best of luck to you both.