Could my 11 year old have RH?

Hi, I'm brand new here. I am in the process of discovering if my 11 year-old has RA.

The first symptom that caused us to seek medical treatment was chronic, severe pain in his feet. He was diagnosed with Plantar Fascitis but it has not responded to traditional methods and my son is now not able to walk w/o crutches, due to severe pain. The pain is bad all day long, worse when he puts pressure on them, much better if he is not putting pressure on them. They are not stiff, do not appear swollen, and are not red or hot. They hurt in the arch area.

Since he did not respond to treatment the podiatrist referred him to a rheumatologist. He had some preliminary blood tests which showed all was normal Except:
SED rate 28
Platelet count 419

Everything else, including CRP and Rheumatiod factor were w/in the normal range.

From the ages of 0-5 he had fevers which were frequent (weekly) high (105), but not accompanied by a rash. I always thought the fevers were associated with sickness because he usually had another symptom (throwing up, runny nose, cough, etc) but it is possible some of them were not accompanied by another symptom.

He also gets canker sores all of the time.

Do any of the very wise and experienced contributers to this website have any thoughts on this, or any direction I can go to learn more?

Thank you all!
-MomOf3inOC

Hi Mom - I had JRA as a child. Severe issues in my knee. I was sick a lot. Still am...I have the full "autoimmune" thing going.  Is the podietrist treating your son still as well with orthodics, physical therapy, etc? I was unable to walk for a few years in my late 20's...had some serious problems. Now, I cannot live w/o my sneakers and orthodics...I also NEED to stretch my calves on a regular basis - but it took months of therapy exercises to get to that point where I could tell the difference.

I'm sorry to hear you and your son are going through this. I hope between the rhuemy and the podietrist, your son can find some relief.

Has the rhuemy done a full blood panel to rule out any other auto immune diseases?

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wow. that one sounds awful every time I hear you guys talk about it.

Please don't quote me on any of this Mom but I think RA could be a possibility. My RA started with my feet. Strange pains and sensations and I was also getting infection after infection including a life threatening bout of menengitis. Before the RA developed in all the other parts of my body my feet became unbearable and they are still my worst affected area. Aswell as blood tests (as these don't always show signs of RA) He should have his feet scaned MRI and ultraround. If then after this it still points that it's not RA then it will be time to go down other paths. I hope your dear boy gets some answers soon so therefore can be treated and hopefully turn a corner. Go well Mom X

Wow!