Pain in Childhood?

I was just wondering about something that I think about a lot. I was not diagnosed with RA until I was nearly 40. I had symptoms and a lot of pain in my 30s and even my 20s.

I remember distinctly having a lot of pain in my legs while I was a child. The long bones of my legs would ache and throb, especially at night. It was especially bad on days when I had been playing hard or doing a lot of physical things. I was a tomboy, and a pretty active, tough little girl, and didn't cry easily. I can remember the pain at night being so bad that I cried. My mother told me it was "growing pains" which I have since found out does not really exist.

Did any of you who were diagnosed in adulthood have any similar pains as children? Just wondering...it seems odd to me that we would develope this autoimmunity at a certain age, and there were no signs in early life.

I also wasn't sick very often as a child. I wonder if my "overactive" immune system at least helped keep me from developing a lot of childhood colds and flues.

I guess having an over-active immune system can be an advantage at times. My daughter is always sick, and when she gets sick she seems to have a really tough time getting over an illness. I'm hoping that she won't get the autoimmune stuff that I have. My son already seems to be having symptoms, though, and he's only a year and a half older than her, 33.

Its tough seeing your kids end up with the same type of problems that we are suffering with...

Actually growing pains really do exist-they even have a fancy medical name that I can't remember right now. RA would specifically be in your joints-growing pains are specifically in your long bones, get worse at night and are characterised by kids waking up in the middle of the night crying in pain.

As I look back, I remember being so tired and having pain in my hands, elbows and shoulders in my mid-twenties. I took OTC drugs and pushed thru it. Then in my 30's I had a lot of pain in my knees, and Bakers Cysts, etc. In my forties it hit me full force and I saw a rheumy but I didn't like him, and kept hoping it was a virus, not RA, so I treated myself again with OTC meds. In my fifties, the pain and fatigue brought me to my knees. No more denying it, and I need prednisone to get me out of the flare. Interesting question, and lots of food for thought.

You will find RA is extremely hereditary. My Dad and I were 7, My grandaughters 9 and the
other is showing signs at 6 saying her legs hurt. My nephew was 2 when he collapsed and was
treated with 18 baby aspirin a day and went into remission for 20 years. My other nephew
was around 16 when he started having symptons.

The leg issue at night just brought back some bad memories. I used to lay in bed with a blanket wrapped tightly around my leg because it hurt so bad. It hurt in the core, like the bone was frozen and thawing out. I wonder??

Its funny though. Throughout my adulthood (until just this past few years) I was very rarely sick. I was over weight but still had energy and stamina to walk, houseclean, hold a job, raise several kids.....and then after they were all on their own things seemed to go down hill. Now I have RA, Sjogrens, fibro, and malabsorption issues. Sometimes I think all these things lay dormant until a stress or trauma brings them to the surface.

I was always getting kidney infections as a child. My "wise" pediatrician decided I needed weekly penicillin shot. I did that for a few years! other than that I was very small for my age. I wore a size 6x in 5th grade.