Having a medical condition is never fun. Take the common cold for example, its symptoms can make some of us feel like we're dying. Similarly so with headaches, sore throats, coughs, runny nose, fevers, aching muscles, exhaustion and loss of appetite. They can all make you feel like you've had enough and just want it to end. Arthritis has this same affect on many of its sufferers. They experience swollen and painful joints and require potent arthritis relief.
No Panacea for More than One Hundred Types
There are over 100 known types of arthritis and each one has its own symptoms that can manifest themselves in completely different ways to other forms of the disease. In all the forms of arthritis though, some symptoms are common. Soreness, aches and stiffness are also present. There are also other common symptoms like fever, flu-like symptoms, development of small lumps, exhaustion and rashes. Forms of arthritis have two distinct groupings, those that produce soreness and those that do not. In each case, the symptoms manifest themselves differently.
Set Tangible Objectives
As a sufferer of arthritis, you will know that the types of arthritis relief will vary in much the same way as the type of arthritis do. In order to help come up with an effective treatment plan for your arthritis, you must first think about the goal of the arthritis relief. For example, it should allow the joint to still function, prevent the disease from developing, retain mobility and range, avoid or reduce damage to joints and reduce the arthritis symptoms altogether. There are many forms of arthritis relief available.
What A Relief!
In general, it is medications that have been used as the main treatment for arthritis relief. Treatments include analgesics (for pain relief), NSAIDs, Corticosteroids, DMARDs and COX-2 inhibitors. Prior to using any of these treatment methods, you should always consult your doctor and ask for more information about each.
Shots can also be induced straight into the aching joints. Steroid shots can be given for particularly painful joints. In most cases, doctors will limit these shots to 3 per year. There is another method of treatment however known as viscosupplementation which inserts a gel resembling substance into the joint.
Many people also use natural or alternative treatments to try and stem the pain and grant arthritis relief. The problem with this is that they have not been proven to work. Some examples of these types of treatment are supplements, acupuncture, massage, yoga, biofeedback and medication.
There are also complementary medicinal treatments which are used as well as traditional methods. Such treatments include a healthy nutritious diet, stress management and regular exercise.
As a very last option, surgery is considered for arthritis relief. It is normally only used when other methods of treatment have failed to work or have not worked as well as expected. Surgery is perfect for joint pain when all other possibilities have been explored and the everyday lives of the patient have been affected.
Arthritis sufferers regularly experience unimaginable pain that literally brings them to their knees. Unfortunately, no single method of arthritis relief serves as a panacea for every arthritis variety. With time and effort however, it is possible to find a personal and effective arthritis relief for you.
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