So in July 2008 my middle daughter Emelia (Eme) was 2 1/2 years old and was jumping on the couch and fell off and bumped her knee. I didn’t think anything of it, kids fall down all the time, right? Well within a couple days it swelled up into the size of a grapefruit and no one knew what was wrong with her. She couldn’t move her leg and was in horrible pain. After a week with no one (doctors) in NC knowing what was wrong with her, we drove to Boston’s Children’s Hospital in MA. What should have been an easy 12 hour car drive turned into a horrible painful 22 hour car ride. Emelia’s leg was frozen at a 45 degree angle and every time she fell asleep she would wake up screaming and crying. We finally made it to the Hospital and after a 21 hour visit; being bounced around from doctor’s office to doctor’s office’ they came in and said it can be 1 of 2 things: Lyme Disease, which they said they were hoping for because it’s curable, or Arthritis. They ran some tests and came back saying Emelia had Juvenile Rheumatoid Arthritis. My husband and I were so confused, we thought only older people had Arthritis. They gave her some meds that were supposed to help until we got back to NC the following week and they scheduled her an appt with a Rheumatologist at Duke University Children’s Hospital in NC.
A couple days later Emelia couldn’t walk she was now crippled and it was her 3rd Birthday. She was miserable, in so much pain, and had to be carried everywhere. We were thankful the meds helped with some of the pain during the drive back to NC. We got used to driving 3 hours once a month to see the doctor at Duke. They tried so many different meds and the steroid knee injections she had only lasted 2 months instead of the 6 months that they were supposed to. Then in Jan 2009 they came to us and said they wanted to try her on some meds that were pretty harsh asking if we were willing to jump at this full force or continue taking it slowly. I looked at Emelia who was now in a leg splint from her hip to her ankle and then looked at my husband and said we are willing to take this on full force. They put Emelia on Methotrexate (a drug given to cancer patients) and Enbrel (arthritis med.). Both had to be given by injection once a week in the back of the arm. This was the hardest thing to do as a parent, never mind its effects on a 3yr old. Along with the 2 injections, once a week, she was also taking a Folic Acid Pill, Zofran for nausea, and Zantac Syrup for belly pain. Eme got her blood drawn every 4 weeks to make sure her internal organs weren’t failing due to the strong meds.
In Feb 2009 we moved to Brandon FL – my husband is in the Marine Corps and was stationed at Macdill AFB. Emelia began getting treatment at All Children’s Hospital in St. Petersburg . By April 2009 the arthritis had spread throughout her body. It had now taken over 11+ joints and her left eye. This now meant biweekly trips to the eye doctor and putting drops in her eyes every hour she was awake. This went on for over 2 years.
When Emelia started Kindergarten in Aug 2010 the school nurse was going to her classroom every hour to give her eye drops. In the mean time (over a year), my aunt Rachelle had been telling me to put Emelia on a Paleo Diet and to add Juice Plus+ to her diet because because both had been proven to help/cure arthritis. I said no because the meds were working she could walk, run, and was happy even though she always felt sick and had horrible belly pain. I also thought Juice Plus+ and the Paleo Diet would end up being too expensive or hard to do, so I kept brushing my aunt off. Nov 2010 the vision in Emelia’s left eye was nearly gone. Her steroid eye drops were already at max dose as were the Methorexate and Enbrel. Nothing was helping. Emelia started losing her hair- a side effect from the Methotrexate. That was when I sat down with her doctors and asked how long my daughter would live if she continued on all the meds weighing only 40 lbs at age 5. The doctors said she may make it to 25 years old, and told us that she would likely need organ transplants before then. That’s when I started researching Juice Plus+ and the Paleo Diet. I talked to my aunt she was already Paleo and had been for over a year and she loved it. The owner of my aunt’s gym’s mother had severe RA also. She had reached the point where she couldn’t move. She switched to a Paleo diet and is now perfectly fine.
I thought about all of this really hard. Seeing that it worked for others led me to think it couldn’t hurt to try. In Dec 2010 I put my whole family on the Paleo Diet (Caveman Diet), Juice Plus+, and Fish Oil. By February I had taken Emelia OFF ALL MEDS. I am one happy mommy when I say it has now been 20 weeks since she has had any meds and the doctors can’t find any arthritis in her body! She is my walking Miracle!
Emelia’s Medications:
Jan 2009 – Feb 2011
- Prednisolone Steroid Eye Drops (Every Hour While Awake)
- Folic Acid 1mg Tablet (Daily)
- Zofran 4mg 1/2 Tablet (Daily)
- Zantac Syrup 15ml 1/2 tsp (Daily)
- Methotrexate 0.5ml Injection (Weekly)
- Enbrel 0.5ml Injection (Weekly)
- Blood Drawn Every 4 Weeks
- Paleo Diet (Daily)
- Juice Plus+ 2 Garden Gummies (Daily)
- Juice Plus+ 2 Orchard Gummies (Daily)
- 900mg Fish Oil (Daily)
Holy crap! Absolutely amazing! I’m fwding this right now to a Dr friend of mine who is skeptical of the paleo diet.
Let us know what the doc says!!
That tallies with my own escape from conventional RA treatment in the UK. Last year I was taking prednisone, methotrextate, sulfasalazine and weekly infusions of remicaid. Strict paleo has helped me to the point where I am off most of my meds, depsite rheumatologists over here telling me that diet has zero impact on my condition
Show them how it’s done!!!
That’s amazing…great story!
OMG… What a blessing! And good timing… I have a friend who’s 13 year old nephew has severe Chron’s disease, and has been in and out if the hospital for a few months now. I have told him about the paleo diet and how it could help, if not CURE him! I hope he can help the kids parents realize that bad food is the culprit, and changing his habits can save his life! Thanks for sharing your story!
That is incredible! There’s pretty much nothing better than giving quality of life back to a sick child. Amazing!
That is awesome, purely awesome
Could you elaborate more on her diet. My 3 year old son has a very similar story, but we haven’t seen such a quick turnaround. It’s been a slow journey with diet, he is not on Juice plus though. Do you think that was a key factor?
Emelia’s Diet is Strict Paleo, and she has been on the Juice Plus+ since we have started Paleo. So when people ask me do you think it was the Paleo Diet or the Juice Plus+ that has cured Emelia, I say it was both because Paleo is the best thing for your body an it calls for Meats, Nuts, Eggs an Fruits and Veggies an all Juice Plus+ is, is your Full Servings of Fruits and Veggies thats a whole food based nutrition. So i think they have worked together an helping cure Emelia. I am a Firm believer that Nutrition is Medicine.
So happy for your family! Absolutely AMAZING!
Anyone else feel a bit uncomfortable with the constant Juice+ references… ? I do hope we haven’t been spammed..
I assure you there was no spamming. It’s just what Emelia has been using. Don’t let it make you uncomfortable – you don’t have to use it!
I am also a bit discouraged by reading the juice plus reference…..apparently anyone can be a dealer of this product according to the first official “fact sheet” I have read. I have just finished exploring the Young Living essential oil scam a friend of mine is caught up in and it is disheartening, but also a dream come true for the product distributor. This is the first paleo ( I have been paleo 3 months) blog I have seen promoting a product like this.
I don’t think this story is really promoting Juice Plus – at least, I didn’t read it that way. Everyone’s Paleo journey is a bit different, and some folks have things they really love to use. She just happened to do well with Paleo and Juice Plus, so I think that’s why it was talked about here. It’s just what Eme is taking, and to tell the whole story, you can’t leave supplements out that they use every day. Juice Plus may help someone else, who knows? 🙂 I think the main point here is that Paleo is what really helped. I don’t think eating the SAD and taking Juice Plus would help much in turning things around for folks.
Important to note that the blog is not promoting this product. It’s a success story as told by the people involved and includes their specific regimen. The blog is not telling you to run out and buy the product.
Juice Plus is simply whole food nutrition and is regulated as such by the FDA/USDA. It is the most thoroughly researched nutritional product in a a capsule in the world and there is absolutely nothing else in the world, with or without a prescription, that has been shown to do what it does. There are 22 published, peer-reviewed, scientific clinical studies conducted by leading universities and hospitals around the world that have proven that Juice Plus is bioavailable, reduces oxidative stress, impacts markers of systemic inflammation, supports a healthy immune system, protects DNA, and impacts key indicators of cardiovascular wellness. In fact, it is the official food support for the 2012 German, Austrian, and Swiss Olympic Teams.
This story caught my eye based off some personal experience with degenerative arthritis and degenerative disc disease.
I agree with the post above, and had some reservations regarding the product. So, it’s great to see someone from Juice Plus+ on here addressing issues.
I was curious about your product and did some research. According to the “Juice Plus+” website your product contains grains. Quoting from your page:
“17 Fruits, Vegetables, & Grains” it lists both Oat Bran and Brown Rice Bran as ingredients. But, also says “Below are a few examples of the broad range of phytonutrients found in fruits and vegetables, but remember that there are many more than those listed here.” But I could not find an actual list of the other ingredients, on your website.
I would just be curious if taking this supplement cause any issues related to gluten intake?
Yea, this has been a concern of mine on the Juice Plus products.
Any chance she had Celiac’s disease? Inflammation can be caused by Celiac’s disease.
http://www.celiac.com/gluten-free/topic/72965-rheumatoid-arthritis-celiac-connection/
(obviously not a doctor or medical advice, just showing you a community that has shared similar results)
It was Juvenile Rheumatoid Arthritis in every way! We have seen so many Doctors an Speacialist an they all said the same, Its JRA!! Im not familiar with Celiacs Disease but she had JRA for almost 4 years, i think if it was something other than JRA they would of found it out but either way Nutrition has given Emelia her health and her life back!
I think we can all agree that this diet, and its effects that it’s had on your daughter’s (and a lot of other people’s) lives have been astounding. I just mentioned it in passing to my friend who’s finishing up med school and he said that it’s really hard to tell the difference between some of the auto immune diseases in children, and that using hindsight at your daughter’s case, it seems like it could have been Celiac’s (severe inflammation can occur even if it’s not a severe reaction to gluten). He said that one of the major issues today is that JRA and RA are not the same thing at all, but because JRA has the “RA” in it’s title, that people (patients and doctors) associate the two.
Either way, there’s definitely a correlation between your daughter’s health/wellness and her grain/diet habits. I’m glad you guys have found it, and hopefully your trials can help others avoid a similar situation!
Leaky gut is obviously a commonality in all this.
Congratulations on the incredible turn around in Emelia’s health.
Thank you so much for sharing this story! Hopefully this will give my wife and I the courage to take our daughter off of her medication sooner than the 4 months the doctor wants to wait before lowering the dose of methotrexate and then slowly eliminating it.
I just took my daughter to her Rheumatologist yesterday. Luckily it’s “only” an hour and a half away for us.
Her last visit we agreed to enroll her in a study that is tracking impact of the disease on daily life and tracking prescriptions and any other lifestyle changes that you feel are important. Yesterday I told them about the switch to paleo and that we had chosen to discontinue her NSAID (meloxicam) a little over a month ago. The woman from the study was very interested and said that they would put it in the chart so that they could track the effects. Hopefully we can get this information to all of the parents who deal with this disease.
Our previous rheumatologist was very discouraging in telling us that different things seemed to work a little for some people, but that there were no conclusive studies and in his opinion the miniscule chance of any worthwhile impact versus the stress of trying to cut different foods made it a waste of time. Our current doctor was very supportive of the diet, mentioning that she had seen a fair number of children improve after having grains removed. She did comment that there aren’t any controlled studies to promote it and so they are unable to officially prescribe or recommend it. I am hoping data from the current survey they are conducting will provide enough data to prompt an actual study.
The appointment went very well with the doctor saying she looked the best she has yet. Her symptoms are being controlled with methotrexate and that has been working well enough, but we would really like to get her off the nasty stuff. The doctor, being conservative as they all are, is recommending another 4 months without symptoms before reducing her dose, but I’m just not sure I want to wait that long. The biggest issue is the fear of another large flare up. Your story is very encouraging because we have been primal since April.
One big issue we have been trying to sort out is constipation. It was a precursor to my daughters JRA,but no doctor ever told us about the connection between gut health and auto immune diseases. I have been trying to educate myself recently and we are working to alleviate the constipation and repair her gut with probiotics. I’m finally going to start fermenting some stuff this week to get more probiotics in and hopefully ween her off probiotic supplements. Did your daughter have any issues in that area? I would be curious to see if there is data out there showing an increased amount of constipation and digestive distress in kids with JRA.
The GAPS diet has some solid protocols for fermented products, bone broth etc.
Thanks Robb! I will definitely look into picking up a copy of the book.
Yes Eme has Constipation issues but not very severe, but once we started Paleo all the Constipation issues had gone away an they havent been back since. I will keep your Family in my thoughts, because it is hard to watch your child in pain an you as a parent feel helpless. Just keep your faith and know that there is Hope out there an it all starts with You and Paleo! I wish you the best!
We’ve been Paleo/Primal since April, but not 100% strict on the kids. We are working on tightening up as far as allowing gluten in small amounts when they are in group situations. I think we will start putting down a gluten allergy whenever possible as we move forward. The constipation issues haven’t gone away, but are finally getting better. One thing we recently started is a mandated 5 minute trip to the potty after every meal to ensure she is trying and not just ignoring her body’s signals. I think it has been an issue for so long that she purposely tries to hold it in. This seems to bee helping a lot.
The methotrexate has eliminated her pain at about .4ml. This has been a blessing because she has been feeling very well, but also a hinderance because we can’t actually see how she is reacting to foods. I can’t wait to get her off that stuff and be able to really tailor her diet based on her body’s response.
As far as diet goes have you ended up cutting out nightshades or have you been successful with sticking to basics like grains, legumes, and dairy? I ask because we absolutely love tomatoes and peppers in our house and have been putting off cutting them out.
Thank you for your thoughts and kind words.
I’d strongly recommend being strictly paleo to get the maximum benefit for auto-immune problems. Constipation can be caused by dairy too, especially in children. So make sure gluten and dairy are removed completely.
I completely agree, Eme is Strict Paleo and No Dairy. She does eat eggs though, but only the egg whites. As for milk she only likes the Almond Milk Original.
If anyone would like to reach out and chat or have any questions my email for that is [email protected]
I am not meaning to keep referring to the Juice Plus+ but like Amy said, it is what Emelia has been doing along with the Paleo Diet. There is nothing more to it, So please dont think you have been Spammed. No one here is trying to sell anything, I am just Sharing my Daughters Story an hopeing to help someone else who is going through the same thing my family has gone through and someone asked a question about the Juice Plus+ an i answered it honestly. Emelia’s Story is 100% true and we have all documents to back it up including pictures. When Emelia was Diagnosed we went out an bought a 3 ring binder (pink, her fav color) an kept all her medical info in there along with pictures an information on the cool Medical ID Braclets they have for kids that need them ect.
I don’t care what the supplement is or how they sell it, if it helps my child to be healthier! I am so thankful for people like you who are willing to share your story and encourage the rest of us who have sick kids. A couple more questions if you don’t mind… Did you do a probiotic? Did you do an elimination diet or follow the paleo autoimmune recommendations(no eggs, nuts or nightshades)? Thanks again Tabitha!
Im not to sure what a Probiotic is, but since im not familiar with it im going to say no. An no we didnt do any of the other things either. Emelia’s Daily Diet consists of Eggs, Meats, Nuts, Fruits and Veggies thats it!! Eme doesnt like Almonds though, she says they hurt her belly an when it comes to Eggs she doesnt like the “yellow part” as she calls it, that also upsets her belly. She does love Pineapple an eats alot of it along with drinking pineapple juice (which is good for inflamation) An please feel free to ask all the questions in the workd, i do not mind! If i can help out someone who is in the same shoe’s i was in less than a year ago then i am all for it!
Also it has now been 27 weeks that Emelia (Eme) has had NO MEDS!!
Awesomw story! Glad to hear your daughter is doing better Tabitha!
I really happy that it worked for your little girl. I am pain free since I started the Paleo Diet for my fibromyalgia in November. It was so easy to do. I am never going back! I stopped taking my SNRI, blood pressure and my statin because of the diet…thank you everyone.
http://www.celiac.com/articles/1156/1/Studies-Show-High-Instance-of-Rheumatoid-Arthritis-and-Osteoporosis-in-Patients-with-Celiac-Disease/Page1.html
I know my cousin had debilitating RA and after a few years was finally diagnosed with celiacs as well. Once she went on a gluten free diet she felt 100 times better.
There is a clear link between celiacs and RA (website above). There is also a lengthy and specific test to check for celiacs. So, they probably never tested your daughter for it. But, no matter the good news is that she is feeling great and it is probably from her gluten free diet. I think juice plus is a good product, anything that gives your child more fruits and veggies is good. But, the juice plus sales people are beginning to imply that their product is some sort of miracle cure that cures diseases without medication. This has nothing to do with your daughter and her story. Just be aware that juice plus sales people are using your story to sell their product.
Hi there,
I’m going through something very similar myself…
I’m on eye drops, prednisone, and metho. I’m 32 years old (F) and have left eye pain and vision is not great in that eye now (inclu. eye pain)
You say ‘ They ran some tests and came back saying Emelia had Juvenile Rheumatoid Arthritis’. what type of tests did they run?
Thanks,
Melanie
and one more question: did her eye lid get heavy / puffy? I think my eye lid is also inflamed and causing it to be droopy. My eye ball is also at times red and inflamed (scleritis)…
thanks so much,
melanie
Wow. This sounds like a much more severe version of my daughter’s story. She was diagnosed with JRA at Children’s Hospital in Boston with warm, swollen joints in her right knee, ankle. She had a bad limp, and was in pain.
We also were given a regiment of drugs. We followed the Doctor’s orders for a few months, but were never comfortable with the medication’s side effects. We then turned to a local guy who had written a book on Eastern medicine. We met with this guy and my daughter was put on a strict diet. Within a month her arthritis was gone. At Children’s, the Doctor’s said ‘It must have just been a virus’. God forbid, they acknowledge they may not know something.
This was almost 10 years ago. At the time, there was no Paleo diet. However, when I later discovered Paleo, it seemed familiar. I can’t remember all of the facets of the diet, and it was based on the “ying” and “yang” of the foods, but I remember:
– Lots of salmon, lean meats
– No sugar
– No starches, or white flower
– A lot of vegetables
It seems that the ancient Taoist healers were very keen observers.
I loved this story so much I read it 3x! How many other children are out there being poisoned by modern medicine, when the true answer is as simple as a change in diet?
Thank you SO MUCH for sharing your incredible story. Keep sharing it…. you will change many many lives. The exciting thing to me is that such severe symptoms and diagnosis of JRA can be mitigated with such simple dietary changes. Not to mention non-life threatening.
I also believe the lives you will likely change with Emelia’s story are those with more subtle less severe but potentially long term debilitating issues.
The human condition of facing or ‘not’ facing reality about our body’s ability to heal if we will just do the right thing is SO frustrating.
I personally have been 95% Paleo since January. Robb’s book tipped the scale for me and I did it. The interesting/frustrating part is I have had AMAZING results. My need for a pocket full of advil has but gone away.
After several months of feeling great I thought “hmmm. I think I will have some of my friends super amazing fresh whole wheat bread. I over did it and had 4 pieces.” The next day just some minorly swollen hands. No big deal. Ahhh, I do like that bread. I can deal just a little discomfort that for an occasional taste of yummy. It was worth it.
7 days later….. I found myself running hot water over my hands and feet to reduce this sudden “out of the blue” the pain. Hitting the advil. Seeing if icy hot would help. I think to myself, “maybe paleo doesn’t really work for me. My pain has found it’s way back. I’m gonna just have to deal with it. Poor me…. oh well, advil is cheap.”
After about 24 hours of painful misery with ZERO energy I remembered my little stunt the week prior with the yummy homemade bread. Then…. my brain caught up with my ‘human condition’ of being the winey “I think that Paleo isn’t working for me – I guess I’m stuck with Advil and pain, my body isn’t healing.” To IT “IS” WORKING YOU DUMMY…. YOU JUST CHEAT AND IT CAN REALLY HURT WHEN YOU DO…. !!!
Now I remember Robb’s book mentioning something about gluten cheats having symptoms for 2+ weeks.
BTW: The reason I am posting this here is…. my life was one of those that you have helped by sharing Emeilia’s story. I read her story, posted it on my Facebook and then ‘woke up’ to my winey paleo isn’t working for me anymore pity party. Thank You.
Tara Tooley
Human
That was an amazing story! I am 13 years old and I also have Juvenile Rheumatoid Arthritis I was diagnosed at 15 months old. I was also recently diagnosed with Fibromyalgia. I am taking MANY different types of medications and I am sick of it, so I am DEFINITELY going to give the Paleo diet a try! Thanks for the incredible story!
Alexa, YES! Do give Paleo a shot and let us know how it goes!
This is a very inspiring story! My 12 y.o. daughter was diagnosed with juvenile arthritis in 2008 and after attempting all sorts of conservative therapies (except diet!!!), her arthritis remained. She has been on meds since 2009 which is “managing” it. We had a follow up today and the Dr. at Boston Children’s Hospital said she has a very aggressive form of arthritis and wants to put her back on methotrexate along with the Leuflunomide she is already taking. I would love to get her body healthy and off all of these meds! I have been embracing the paleo diet the last several months and feel great myself! I do hope my daughter will be willing . . . please send us positive thoughts and prayers!
Keep us posted.
Very inspiring, wonderful story, thanks for sharing. I’m currently using a no starch paleo diet to control a form of autoimmune arthritis called ankylosing spondylitis, in which antibodies to Klebsiella in the gut attack the joints. It can also cause iritis. I have celiac as well, ben gluten free for 3 years now, what a relief! Have seen good results, when I eat clean (I don’t slip with gluten or starch, but sugar is my downfall), inspiration helps so thanks!
I have to admit, this post was incredible painful to read.
I made a mistake to read it at work during my break and couldn’t help but cry.
Wat a terrible thing to go through for a child and parents.
I’m so happy you gave Paleo a try and was able to reverse the effects of the disease.
Thank you so much for sharing your story. I only recently had the chance to come read it. I appreciate you pointing me to your story via my blog. I hope that we will have the chance to try this soon. Currently, my husband is unemployed and we are scraping by. I have always said that the diet in the Bible was the way to go. It looks as though the Paleo diet is pretty close! I will also have to look into the juice. Hopefully we will be able to try this soon! Thank you again for sharing your story!
Amy,
I am curious, is your daughter Emilia still in remission from her juvenile Arthritis? My daughter has JIA also. I have heard of children being pain free/ in remission for 6 months, even a year, only for the arthritis to return.
Jenny
Hi Jenny!
I am not Emelia’s mother but I will send you an email! 🙂
Thanks for sharing your story! We also solved our son’s arthritis problems with diet. We used the GAPS diet which is very similar to the Paleo diet, except it takes a phased approach and makes use of more probiotic foods, with more of a focus on healing the gut.
Just before our son turned 10 he had to have emergency surgery on his hip, after enduring a lifetime of bone and joint pain. Once we figured out he was celiac and went gluten-free we saw major improvements. Then we took it a step further and started GAPS and saw a number of other health improvements ranging from curing his dyslexia to no more seasonal allergies!
You can read more about our family’s journey at http://theliberatedkitchenpdx.com/meet-the-liberators/our-story/
-Joy
Awesome story! I was diagnosed with RA at age 19 and suffered for over 18 years. I have been in OT, PT, had MRI’s, special splints made for my hands, been on methotrexate and enbrel or humira since they were on the market. I cut gluten out of my diet (100%) and have been off ALL of my meds for over 2 1/2 years. I even do CrossFit 3 or 4 days a week!!! I never would have believed my own story if I weren’t living it. Gluten is evil!
Amy, please send me an email as well…I had posted a comment on here a few weeks ago but I see that it has been removed for some reason. ??? My 21 month old as severe juvenile arthritis and I’ve been thoroughly exploring nutritional changes to hopefully get him off of some of these scary meds we have him on.
Please email me as I have a bunch of questions!
Thanks,
Krissie 🙂
Krissie! That is really weird – I don’t know what happened to your comments! I will send you an email!! 🙂
Is there any update on Emilia? My 6 year has been diagnosed with polyarticular JIA. She is on methotrexate and tocilizumab.
we have just started GAPS and the first week was wonderful. we introduced egg and she has had sore joints since. I just wonder if it could be eggs.
Would be good to hear if Emilia still doing well.
Amy, could you please post an update on Eme’s progress? It would be easier than sending individual e-mails to multiple people.
Have you heard from Eme’s mom Tabitha as of late?
Eliza, I have not heard from Tabitha nor have I heard about Emelia’s current status. I’m sorry!
I would be happy to update you and everyone on Emelia’s current status. She is doing good, Covid has been tough for her with the shut down of sports. Is there a direct email or should I just reply to the post?
Hi, I’d love to talk to you. Emelias story is similar to mine, except I am now 28! I wrote a book about my experiences and published it 2 years ago. I’d love to chat. Can we talk via email? You can see my website also http://www.laurenvaknine.com x
Hi, my son has a very similar story. Diagnosed in 2008 at the age of 5 and now 9 years old. They treated him agressivly in the begining with Celebrex. methatrexate and enbrel for the first year, then removed the celebrex and methatrexate leaving him only on Enbrel whiched worked amazing. I was at the point for the last few years giving him the Enbrel once every 2-3 months (when in pain) rather then once every week as perscribed. Late last year he contracted strep throat and had a very bad flare up. I had not seen him so swollen or in that much pain since he original diagnoses. Ever since his swelling and pain has not gone away. The doctor has now increased his Enbrel dose and has sceduled and MRI after his Xray’s on his wrists (the area effected the most) came back showing some bone and joint damage. She wants to give him cortizone shots and probably put him back on methatrexate to get rid of the swelling. I obviously dont want to do any of these things and have been reading this blog about the Paleo diet and eating glutin free. This is something i have always wanted to try but it is really hard to control what a 9 year old eats, especially at school. He already is a very picky eater and does not like eating veggies and hardly any fruits but loves bread, rice and all the bad things.
Does anyone one have suggestions on how to get your child on this successfully? He is 9 years old and weighs 49lbs, the doctor also has been pushing me to give him pediasure. I have in the past and noticed a flare up when he drank it, so i tried it again last week and same thing happend. Did anyone else try this and have the same results?
Also an update on Emilie would be great!
I’m Emelia’s mom, We can chat through email on Eme’s update if you would like my email for that is [email protected]
My daughter was diagnosed with JIA 6 months ago. We have only done natural therapies and she is doing great. We cut out gluten and dairy. She is on some vitamin supplements. After 4 months, her knee is flexible, her pain is gone, she is happy. However, the rheumatologist and pediatrician still insist on giving her Methotrexate to control low levels of inflammation. If you could please send me the email for Emelia’s mother I would be very appreciative. Or any advice you have.
Hey There! I’m Emelias mom an I don’t mind giving you my email address but I don’t want to post it on here lol
My six year old daughter was diagnosed with JIA at the age of two. I have been seeking natural treatments for the last several years, and have finally been led to eating a Paleo/GAPS diet. She has shown much improvement, and is not on regular medication. However, we also are getting pressure from the Rheumatologist to control “low levels of inflammation” as was also mentioned by another person on here. I’m curious if Emelia’s mom has any advice or words of wisdom about this step in the journey! Thanks!
My daughter was diagnosed with polyarticular juvenile idiopathic arthritis in September 2013 at 18 months of age. She is on methotrexate and is responding well to the injections, however, I would like to consider treatments that show promise of a CURE and not just an alleviation of symptoms. I have been researching the GAPS diet and Nucca chiropractic treatments and LOVE to hear success stories like yours. If you have a moment can you send me an email and tell me how your daughter is doing with the paleo diet? Is she “cured”? We’re meeting with the rheumatologist tomorrow and I’m hoping to go in there with some sort of a plan. Thank you!
My daughter has almost identical symptoms as yours. Summer injury turned to inflamed knee, with extreme pain. Locked at 30-60 degree angle. NSAI did nothing. Blood tests point to JIA. One steroid injection in her knee reduced pain and ROM. We did the GAPS diet 4 years ago to help learning disabilities. After 2 years we stopped and now do gluten free, sugar free as much as possible. This summer we were not very compliant. Now looking back at GAPS to help my daughter. Did you do the Intro part of the diet? Have you had to stay on GAPS long term or were you able to introduce gluten-free properly prepared grains or foods after a few years? What kind of Fish oil did you use? FCLO? I would love to communicate with you via email if possible.
Eileen,
Did GAPS work for your daughter? I very much hope so.
My four year old daughter was just diagnosed with JA. We are on the GAPS intro diet. We desperately want to avoid putting her on Methotrexate. But of course we also want her to be able to run and walk and play without a terrible limp.
So grateful for any update.
Magdalen
Paleo with Juice Plus that contains grains ??
I thought that Paleo diet is without grains, what am I missing?
I have suffered with RA since age 8/9 and am now 36, I’m tired of being sick and tired and never have the energy to cook the healing foods I need. What is the best and easiest way to get started? Also what is juice plus?
Tabitha,
My four year old daughter has just been diagnosed with aggressive JA.
Could you please update me on Emelia’s status these years later? Is she still symptom free? Are you still on a restricted diet? Is she still off medication?
Very much hoping that she is well!
Magdalen
Hi Guys, I have a 3.5 year old daughter who got the same diagnosis – JIA or JRA recently – one knee swell on March 12, 2016. I was reading all these comments and see lots of people using drugs. Therefore I decided to share our story and how we decided to deal with it instead.
Here is what happened to our daughter. Two weeks prior to swollen knee she had inflamed eye, was coughing – most likely got cold or some infection. Later, on March 11th, 2016 we went to our friends birthday party and took her with us, came home late that day – her schedule was off and she was very tired. Next morning we saw her swollen knee. This was the first time it happened. Started researching on this subject – went to 3 local rheumatologist – all of them said mono JIA or JRA – since it was just one knee. One doc prescribed Indomethacin to take for a year, two others said – Naproxen for a year starting with one month and then monitoring how it goes and later on adding more drugs if nothing helps. Researched on Indomethacin – too many side effects, expensive as hell $400 with our insurance plan per monthly refill, decided not to use it since the doc who prescribed it was obviously trying to make money and did not really care about our child’s health. Two other doctors suggested Naproxen. None of them mentioned anything about nutrition, diet or how diary products can cause inflammation in joints – we felt like they are going to drug our kid for life which eventually can cause other damages. Researched on Naproxen – maximum you can take it for two weeks. How they prescribe it for a year here in US? I have no idea. Unless they really want to damage something else, especially the stomach, the gut – the main filter for all the bad bacterias, virus, etc.
Since my wife was trusting these doctors – I said fine – let’s try Naproxen for 14 days since it was less damaging then Indomethacin. Although the doctor said do it for one month, we gave her Naproxen 2 times a day for 10 days – no changes in her knee. Dropped that drug and here is what we started to do after wasting 3 weeks with drugs and useless RA doctors:
1. Organic foods only – buying fruits and veggies with item codes beginning with number 9. The logic is simple – no pesticides, glyphosate or other chemicals need to be present in her blood stream while fixing the swollen knee joint. I’m sure those chemicals can add problems to our children’s health. To eliminate that reason – using organic foods only from now on. Ideally, if you can have your own garden – that would be the best. Minimized sugars almost to 0 – fruits are given instead, added 1500 mg of fish oil daily – buying it in whole foods or on amazon, added organic food-based multi vitamins, added 750 mg of food-based vitamine C. Every morning fresh squeezed juice from kale, beats, apples, carrots, broccoli, etc. It’s tough to make your 3.5 year old drink that since at this age they don’t really realize how healthy it is for them. If she drinks 1-2 oz – that’s good. Everything is organic of course. We also add turmeric every day to her meals to reduces pain, inflammation and stiffness related to RA. No processed foods at all.
2. Removed diary products completely. Majority of the time, RA is in fact a gut problem – it’s called a “leaky gut” – research on it and you’ll see why – the logic – milk proteins penetrate leaky gut without being broken down into amino acids properly hence causing them stuck in joint capillaries. Since milk protein structure is similar to human joint tissue, her immune T-cells began to attack joints as well causing the flare up. At this point the milk-based proteins are recognized as foreign proteins and must be removed from your body. Common sense for a human immune system.
3. No vaccines also – the immune system was disrupted by them in my opinion since they contain so many toxins that no wonder lots of kids nowadays at young age have different autoimmune diseases left and right or have some neurological disorders like autism, etc. I think the cold she had got two weeks prior to the flare up in her joint was just the trigger for JIA and the actual cause of rheumatoid arthritis was toxins in vaccines. Found lots of supportive materials and research done on vaccine toxicity confirming that aluminum can easily cause different autoimmune diseases. You will be amazed once you check the vaccine ingredients – almost all of them contain aluminum – the neurotoxin that can damage your kids health big time. At her 3.5 years old she got 20 vaccines by that moment. How insane it is!? Parents, especially young parents, like us (I’m 34 and my wife is 27), please check on vaccine ingredients before letting anyone to inject them into your kids!
3.1. To detox from aluminum toxicity and clean the bloodstream from it – we started to buy and give our daughter Silica reach mineral water. At least 3 brands are sold in U.S. Do research on Silica and how it helps to get rid of aluminum toxicity – you will understand what I’m talking about.
Side note. I changed my look at the Western Medicine and from now on I will call all these doctors “drug-dealers”. Because that’s the only thing what they do – prescribe drugs. In fact, they know little about health and how to cure diseases. They only learn what drugs to prescribe for different symptoms and how one drug interact with another – they are slaves of Big Pharm companies without even realizing this. Look it up and research how any drugs work – most of the drugs are simple blockers – they do not allow your body to heal naturally, causing other damages, disrupting our endocrine system. Yes. they may hide the symptoms, yes, they may give you a temporary relief but they will never remove the root of the problem and most like develop some other health issue. I mentioned to one of those “drug-dealers” about nutrition, diet, etc. He just laughed at me and said “what are you talking about, what diet?! According to association of rheumatology no diet can fix any RA. You have to just take pills and you’ll be good… We have a protocol – if there is swollen joint and it doesn’t go away after 6 weeks – it’s automatically JIA or JRA”. I think this is ridiculous – there is no personal approach, there is no looking into your child’s health history, diet, other causes, etc… They just follow that stupid protocol?! In the U.S. there is no health care system – it’s a sick care system – two different things. You are the only one who can help your body to be cured or healed and it’s possible. So there is no point of taking their drugs if you can. Unless it’s too late and natural healing is not a safe option. Although it’s never too late to start eating healthy, eating organic foods only. We don’t go to “drug-dealers” anymore since they are simply useless. We don’t go to any doctors if a child is healthy. No well-visits are needed unless you want to go and catch some disease in their office. Remember, children’s’ well-visits are there only for injecting those toxic vaccines that ironically fall into the same schedule. If your child gets sick, just find a holistic pediatric doctor – that’s all you need to help your children heal and be well.
4. Also, we started to give her homeopathic arthritis pills for pain relief two times a day – buying on amazon and put arnica based homeopathic gel on her knee everyday to reduce pain and swelling.
We went though 1.5 months like that. The swelling stopped getting bigger after 1 week of implementing all that I mentioned above. The difference between her knees were 1 cm in diameter. She was feeling better. The morning stiffness lasts now only 10 minutes vs. 30-60 min at the very beginning. Later on I also called other doctors in Russia, Israel and Ukraine for a second opinion – sent them blood tests, etc. They gave me another good point to look at – since she got some kind of infection in her eye two weeks prior to swelling and was coughing, it was very possible she got reactive arthritis and not the JIA or JRA like they diagnosed here in U.S. They suggested also to minimize animal protein intake as well as good diet which we had already implemented. Here is what else they do in those countries for reactive arthritis – bicillin shot (antibiotic) that works for 10 days in your body. The logic – reactive arthritis can be caused by bacterial infection – could be a strep throat which we missed to diagnose when she had not been feeling well two weeks prior to swollen knee. So we were patient for two months and decided to wait on that bicillin shot hoping just diet and homeopathic approach alone would fix her knee by itself. The good news the swelling was not progressing – it stopped for awhile already since the moment we dropped Naproxen drug and went with holistic healing. Of course, we wanted to see the improvement in the knee joint and morning stiffness to go way without even the bicillin shot. We went to another doctor here in U.S. who to our luck was not into keeping us as sick patient on drugs – they really wanted to heal her and they said let’s try this bicillin shot – the doctor’s origin was from Russia. They said it’s common practice in Russia – some people do bicillin antibiotic shot once a year as a preventive care for their RA. So we did that. 3 days after the shot I’ve noticed even better improvement in her knee. Then 10 days went by – it’s improved even better.
Today is June 9, 2016 – almost 3 months from the beginning of our daughters journey and I can tell you – everything we’ve done and continue doing has helped her body to heal by itself and I can see the healing process finally began in her knee structure. The knee used to be hot when you touch it – not any more, which means the inflammation was reduced or even stopped. It’s not completely over yet but she feels much better and happier now, she gets up by herself now. She runs around like her knee is normal through the whole day.
Of course, you have to be patient with natural healing, food healing. It takes longer time but it’s worth it. There is no need to damage your child’s health with those drugs you get from “drug-dealers”. There is a chance and realistic hope this RA will go away forever and will never come back. You have to believe in it. You have to love your child. You have to help your child heal. Never give up. You are your best doctor.
If you have any question, please don’t hesitate. I’ll be updating here once more time goes by. I hope this helps.
God Bless All.
Hi Sam,
I was wondering if I can email you about your diet plan for your daughter. I have a few questions. My daughter is 5 and has JIA.
Hi, Sam
My daughter was diagnosed with JIA and bilateral uveitis in 2015.
Now after 2 years we still on eye drops for uveitis and doctors are really pushing with methotrexate injection .
I really don’t want to do it .
But wonder if 8 years old can be on a diet strict like that .
And very curious about the antibiotic shot .
We also got swollen knee after so called new virus as we were told when I took my child to see pediatrician due to cough and fever .
Any way I can contact you ?
My son had pneumonia in September. He now cannot stand up straight and has fluid in his hip. Synovitis. Please help! I’ve been begging for an antibiotic to no avail. My poor guy is suffering.
Honestly, I just need hope. My four year old boy is on prednisone. He’s about to go off and I’m terrified that his pain will return. I’ve read up on autoimmune protocol. Have you heard stories of sudden joint inflammation and diet helping hopefully curing? Thanks so much.
My 3.5 yr old was diagonosed last year (2.5 yr) too with JIA. and we did the MTX, along with folic acid. Followed the instructions. We were happy with the results and luckily no side effects. So we got comfortable and let her eat and drink what she likes, no exceptions, well big mistake because her arthritis started coming back, inflammation in her knees, (No pain at all though) so the doctor (in one of her usual follow up appointments – every 3 months) suggested to upgrade her meds and give her HUMIRA (black labelled box med, pls google it) and we said NO. Enough with strong medications in such little body!! We decided to go to a Naturopath, (which many, even a nurse friend of mine suggested, and also strongly disagreed on giving my toddler more dangerous drugs). So we changed her diet completely, no dairy, Gluten Free, no nightshade veggies (tomato, potatoes, eggplant) and in a matter of days (almost a week) i started seeing results, her knees were no longer bulging, inflamed, which gave us relief and confidence Bone broth***the best thing ever!!! ( homemade), Curcumin, mother of apple cider vinegar, probiotics for children, fish oils, lots and lots of exercise and no candy, no candy at all. At the same time we still give her Methotrexate though. We are doing both, strict diet and MTX. Hopefully one day she ll be off meto and happy with the healthier options. Her little body doesn’t have to endure all those drugs if there are healthier alternative options out there. I am not going to lie, it can be costly, more time to prep meals and smoothies, and homemade stuff, BUT We don’t care, we are committed to beat ARTHRITIS.
Luckily there are a lot of new products out there to choose from, perhaps not what we had few decades ago, and I am more than happy to go the extra mile to beat this Arthritis beast, I am not going to lie, it’s a lot of work, I talk to my daughter every day and tell her to please please eat this, and drink this, because I don’t want to go to the hospital for more needles and she agrees and drinks/eats.
Good luck to you all parents out there, I wish everyday it was me instead of her, if only it was that easy.
I am not promoting any product, this is my story so far, hopefully help some mommies, stay strong, and YES YOU CAN!
XOXO
I just came across this page as I was trying to find answers for my 13 year old daughter. She is a competitve gymnast & what we thought was an injury during vault tuned out after many xrays, MRI, CT scans & finally bloodwork she has Ankylosing Spondylitis. This arthritis effects the spine & if not treated can fuse. They started her on Humira shots & Naproxyn. We started Juice Plus right before diagnoses & I’ve been researching diet. Not sure if we should go Paleo or AIP. It’s been a hard adjustment on her but she is determined. Her doctor told her he would not tell her to give up her dream of gymnastics career so she is motivated and doing ok so far but I know diet is key! Any advice is appreciated.
I hope Emelia is thriving!
Doing the AIP would probably be worth a good try.