For those that remember, Jenna was having some skin issues. Sarah and Lisabeth were VERY helpful. We thought cellulitis or maybe staph. It got better for a bit, then got worse. Much worse. She had an appointment for a followup with her rhuematologist Friday morning so we asked him about it. He thought MAYBE a bad reaction to the Naproxin she'd been taking. Since it wasn't controlling her arthritis effectively he sasid to not give her anymore and see what happens with her skin. She had so many painful sores all over her poor little legs Friday night that I took her to the ER. They ran a gamut of tests. All tested negative. The good news is that it wasn't anything systemic. The bad news was that we still had no idea what it was. Poor little thing was so miserable it was heart wrenching. The ER doc said to give her 2tsp each Benadryl and Tylenol every four hours until we could resolve this. That's 2x the recommended dose! Yikes. Saturday was still rough. She cried SO much. Yesterday and today she is a whole new kid! She only has one sore left and even that one doesn't look too bad. Maybe it was the Naproxin. The bad thing is that her new arthritis won't kick in for a week or so. So her knees are painful but she handles that reasonably well. Anyone ever heard of this kind of reaction to Naproxin?

Unfortunately the new drug DOES have the potential of some nasty side effects. BUT.....he feels she needs the strength of this drug. He is going to  monitor her very closely though. She needs to have labs done every three months. I think to check her immune system and her liver? She also needs to have an eye exam every three months because of a blood test he ran with her first labs. It showed an antibody? that means she is more likely to develop eye problems as a result of the arthritis.

Amy,

I can't believe all that Jenna has gone through.  I'm still reeling that she has arthritis at such a tender young age.  I read that there is a type of arthritis...Still's disease...that also has a high fever and a rash.  Could the rash be a symptom of the arthritis itself or did they rule that out as well?  I just feel so bad for Jenna and you.  I can't imagine going through this with Rachel. 

Didn't this all start after a bunch of bug bites?  I wonder if there is something that triggered this reaction in her or did she have the joint pain before the bug incident.  Did they rule out Lyme disease?  I'm sure they did.  I just wish I could help more.  Glad she is feeling better today and hopefully the joint pain will get better soon as well.  Can she not take Ibuprofen?  I used to take Naproxen for cramps, but I prefer ibuprofen and it works wonders on making Rachel feel better when she has fever.

God Bless you all!

Carol

Her knees had been swollen before the bug bites so they aren't connected. With these skin issues there haven't been any other symptoms such as fever or stomach issues. They DID rule out Lyme. She can't take ibuprofen because it will react with her meds. She is now on Methotrexate. It's been a rough couple months for her but I keep reminding myself that there are parents out there losing their kids to deadly diseases every day. I thank God that Jenna's illnesses are ALL managable.

I did not even think about it until you just asked but I use to work in a Alzeimers assisted living home and one of the female residents got sores all over her face, neck and arms.  She went to the doctor and he took her off of the Naproxen she was on for pain in her joints and it cleared up.  I do notknow if it was the same as your daughter or not butI justflashed in my mind.

Jennas were mostly on her legs with a few on her arms. The skin got red, swollen, hot and hard. Then she would get a huge leaky blistery thing in the center. Same?

She was doing cheering. She didn't say exactly that she was having trouble. BUT.......she didn't want to sign up for the next session despite the fact her best friend was. We could see she was having trouble moving as fast as the other girls and getting up into the stunts was difficult. Her coaches were GREAT! I explained it all to them and they were MORE than willing to work around any problems she had. She has mentioned it a few times recently so MAYBE she'll want to do the next session.

I hope she gets keeps going in the forward direction on getting better.

It just gave me stomach problems.