Thank you for taking the time to read about Gianna’s journey with JIA.
Gianna here is a happy and lively 4yr old. Just before she turned 4, we noticed she was having a hard time waking up in the mornings. Walking with her knees bent, saying her legs were hurting. For the first few weeks we thought it was just the cold getting to her and her joints being stiff. In November right after she turned 4 she woke up one morning with her knees swollen. Both of them 3 times the size they were supposed to be. I instantly took her to the doc where they put in a referral to the Pediatric Rheumatologist as well as physical therapy. She started physical therapy twice a week and was officially diagnosed in February of 2019. Myself having studied quite a bit of holistic medicine felt the issue here had to be in her gut. Before her diagnosis she lived off the typical 4yr old diet. Corn dogs, fish sticks, chicken nuggets, Peanut Butter Sandwich’s. Myself being gluten intolerant, all I heard when I thought of her diet was, “Gluten, gluten and more gluten.” I was and still am determined to heal her gut in hopes of healing her arthritis.
In February of 2019 she had steroid injections in her knees. Before this, she hadn’t locked her knees in months. She couldn’t walk down the stairs, bend over without her knees touching, run, jump, no balance. Nothing a normal 4yr old should have been able to do. After the steroid injections I began switching her diet to gluten free. She fought me every step of the way. For a solid 6months it was a battle to get her eating clean. She went with zero symptoms of arthritis until July 5th when she woke up from a 4th of July party with her knees again, huge. Since then we have started her on turmeric vitamins, quality vitamins with various minerals as well as a probiotic. She has ZERO gluten in her diet. I have tested it by allowing her to have a pretzel on a week where she was doing amazing. The morning after she ate a pretzel, her knees were huge again and she couldn’t walk. It was clear, gluten was a big problem here.
The only days she wakes up now in pain are the days when the humidity is over 80%. Daily she does her leg stretches and workouts, as well as dancing. And physical therapy twice a week. She will possibly be getting steroid injections again on the 4th of September as long as there is no inflammation behind her eyes. Thankfully this little girl refuses to be defeated. She takes on this challenge like the warrior she is. And I’m confident, with a clean diet and pure nutrients, she’s going to defeat this.
Thank you for your time. Blessings to all of the Arthritis warriors. 🙏🙏