Jeanne
Cathy, my daughter was also diagnosed at 18 months. She is now 7 and has pretty much been on every drug. Unfortunatly she had terrible side effects with every one except the one she is on now which is Celebrex. She took Prednisolone: it stunted her growth. She was on Naprosyn for 1 year (without a preventative such as Prilosec or Prevacid): at age 3 she had to have an Endoscopy (the child is put under, and a scope is insterted down the throat to assess the damage) the Naprosyn ate a hole in her esophagus and one at the bottom of her stomach. She was put on Methotrexate (pill form): she would hand me hand fulls of her hair. She also developed 2 ulcers on her bottom lip that have since left white scars. Her rheumatologist at the time said that Methotrexate does not make your hair fall out. She has been off Meth. for 31/2 years now and her hair hasn't fallen out since, and she never developed another ulcer on her lips either. hhhmmmmm. She's been on 100mg Celebrex (50mg in morn. 50mg in eve) and has been doing wonderfully!! She also has Iridocyclitis, a form of Uveitis in her left eye that she takes steroid drops for. Cathy, I eventually found that by going to my local library, I could study these medications and their side effects BEFORE she was given them. It helped to make the decisions easier in the long run. Do yourself and your child a favor and start early in learning about these medicaitons. Please feel free to mail me anytime and keep me informed. God Bless your child.