Hi, can anyone advise,
My 6 year old neice, Lilly, was complaining for a while about achey legs, she then had an itchy rash on her chest and back which lasted 2 days.
My sister took her to the doctor who said that the achey legs were just growing pains.
Then she was sent home from school with very swollen ancles and knees, she was in such pain that she couldn't walk, the doctor said that it might be Rheumatoid Arthritis and gave her antihysthamine to reduce the swelling.
The swelling went down and my sister took her back to the doctors and told him about the rash (she had fogotten before)
The doctor now thinks it is a virus, we are baffled. The other day I saw her sucking on a lead pencil and got concerned that it might be lead poisening.
Does anyone have any ideas?
xx nev
RE: 6 yr old with swelling and rash
Pencil lead isn't actually lead and they haven't used it in paint on pencils for a long time either, so don't worry about that one.
There's a condition called juvenile arthritis, but she's probably too young for that.
The point of giving antihistamines thinking that it could be rheumatoid arthritis would be based on the idea of RA being an autoimmune disease - a sort of allergy to ones own tissues. The capsule around the joints in RA.
I'm not saying that it's not a virus, but it is a diagnosis that is used often, when they don't know what the problem is. Also, it cannot be proved one way or another, because unless you know which sort of virus you are looking for in a test, then you won't find it.
Obviously, a close eye should be kept on her for these or any other symptoms and don't be afraid to bother her GP. I'm thinking that she should be referred to a paediatrician should these problems return or any others appear.
Given the rash, as well, then she may well have a problem with allergies, especially if the antihistamines helped. Ideally I would suggest checking if there is a NAET practitioner in the area or at least a recommended allergy tester.
You could check out the Allergy Forum -
Andrew.
RE: 6 yr old with swelling and rash
thanks for such a detailed response Andrew.
your opinion has been very much appriciated and I have forwarded this to my sister.
Once again, thx
Genev