Kickas.org Forums Ankylosing Spondylitis General Discussion #1 AS Web Support Group Could our 4 year old son have AS?

Hiya, I`m Yorkshire Tones other half and I was just wondering if anyone has any knowledge of children as young as 4 having AS.
Our son as been having problems with intermittent leg pain. He is under investigation at the hospital but has been now for 19-20 months and were no closer to finding out whats wrong.
Sometimes his little legs get so painfull that he cannot stand or walk and weve had many sleepless night with him waking in absolute agony.
His dad (Yorkshire tone) has AS.
All the reasearch weve done indicates that he is too young to have it,but we are very worried and do have our suspicions that it could be AS.
I would be very interested to know if anyone else has a young child suffering with same/simular...or if anyone on here as a child that as been diagnosed with AS at such a young age!

thanks

Hi, Yorkshire Tones other:

Regrettably, I have heard of another fellow spondy as young as four years, and there are many cases of JRA that might eventually turn out to be AS.

The simplest way is to do the HLA B27 test, but it is of course not often accurate. If Yorkshire tone has tested positive and your son tests negative, I would suggest pursuing more accurate test methods--like from a laboratory in a hospital that does transplants; it is a 'tissue-typing' test, this MHC (Major Histocompatibility Complex).

I do have very strong opinions about the potential for someone statistically so far away from 'mean age' getting AS. Of course, I hope that it is not this disease, but something easier to fix--but AS even in a child this young is treatable.

Best of luck to You and your son,
John

Thanks for your reply Dragonslayer. He`s back at hospital on the 7th oct and he`s due a blood test so will see if I can request the B27 thing.

Thanks again

Wow! my sun has this problem sometimes and he's 6 now. So far we thinks it's from not drinking enough water during a hot day. He's also had some back pain which I am suspect of. Hope it's not AS but may take years for them to figure it out if it is. My daughter has had arm pain for 2 years and they still will not test her for any inflammatory markers and she's 15. It could be other disorders that could affect the muscles that can affect the target age of your child. Hopefully not! Wish you good luck in your search.

Tim

Hi there, I am sorry not to have responded before. It is possible for children as young as yours to have arthritis. As John mentioned, if this is the case it may be diagnosed as JRA and if AS becomes clearly evident as he gets older it could be switched to that.

The pains your son is experiencing in his legs happened to several of us here. I used to have horrible pain in my legs when I was a child that my mother put down to growing pains. She had them as a child as well, and so did my grandmother. It never occurred to anyone that my pain could be indicative of something like AS. No-one else in my family has it or even rheumatoid - or rather, no-one else was diagnosed with it.

I'm so glad you are taking this as seriously as you are. It could well be nothing, but it's best to be pro-active, especially since YorkshireTone has it. The youngest I know personally to have been diagnosed with JRA was 3 years old. The youngest I know personally to have been diagnosed with AS was 9 years old.

I fervently hope that your wee one is really 'just' experiencing growing pains. If not, we are here and there are several parents here whose kids live with this to give you a bit of extra support.

Warm hugs,

So sorry to hear of this. I hope it's not AS. Good luck getting help and answers for your little one.

Thanks everyone for taking the time to respond!

My son has a few problems with his hands too..he drops things quite often and as started recently complaining with pains in his wrists and fingers.
His consultant as been baffled about him and doesn`t seem to be able to pin point what the course is.

We are currently having all his care transferred to a much better hospital, so we hope to get some answers soon..we desperately do need answers for him and some diagnosis....it`s heart wrenching when the pain gets bad, as there seems very little his dad and me can do for him other than give him meds!

At one point our boy was so bad he couldn`t walk at all or put any weight on his legs. The hospital put his right leg in plaster for 8 days just to make him rest it.
Also when he gets any sort of virus such as the comman cold, his legs do get really bad then...it seems any virus triggers something inside which then leaves him in absolute agony with seemingly all his joints!

Thanks again everyone for your time!

Vix

Just wanted to pass along my best wishes and thoughts for your son.

I didn't know AS could start so young and I hope its not in this case but something far more transitory and that your boy is feeling healthy soon.

Oh, the little sweetheart! Very sorry to hear of your concerns. I just wanted to share that when I was his age, I was brought into the hospital for aches in my legs. Nothing was determined to be wrong with me...but I often had aches in my legs which were called "growing pains." Fast forward to my thirties when I an increase in problematic symptoms including IBS, uveitis, diagnosis of being HLA B+ and worsening pains lead me to this site for help. This all makes me think that perhaps with the proper care your little man can get relief from his pains and have strategies for care so that he can be well. Let us know how it goes.
Best wishes,
Jan