When I was younger, at 4 years of age, I was hospitalized with high fever and unable to walk. My doctor thought I had rheumatoid fever. I was treated for that. I was taking a high dose of aspirin . For a year after I was released, I took penicillin . Also, I had really dark circle under my eyes for months after my release to the hospital. When I was about 10, my doctor doubts this is what I had because my heart was not affected. So now I don t know what I had. I had no reoccurence of any of these symptoms. Do you have any idea what this could have been? I am 50 now and my brother and sister were telling me that my mother had feared losing me. My mother has passed. I knew and remember when I was in the hospital but was not aware that I was that sick. Could it have been simply a bacterial infection but there was no way to know??