Living With Arthritis Pains and Its Complications

What is arthritis?

Arthritis is a chronic disease that comes with pain and loss of movement of the joints. It is a joint disorder caused by disease, infection, anomalies and other factors that affect the everyday activities. Arthritis affects the people of all ages, including children and young adults but generally people over 50years show more signs of arthritis because the joint naturally degrades overtime. Arthritis is not a single disease, but a term that covers over 100diseases and medical conditions that can affect many parts of the body. It is a long term disease that cannot be totally cured but can be managed with proper medical care, adequate therapy and by treating its symptoms.

However, it should be noted that arthritis is associated with diseases of other tissues and organs in the body and as a result it is considered as one of the major causes of disability in people who are over 50years and above. In the United States, arthritis is the leading cause of disability and researchers claimed that nearly 1 in every 5 adults has some form of arthritis.

We have various types of arthritis and for this article l would like to write on the most common types of arthritis and these are Osteoarthritis and Rheumatoid arthritis.

Osteoarthritis Arthritis - is a disease that can cause the breakdown of joint tissue which leads to joint pain and stiffness. It is normal inflammatory and at onset is subtle and gradually starting from one or few joints. It is also known as degenerative joint disease, resulting from wear and tear of cartilage usually associated with old age. The pressure of gravity causes damage to the joints and surrounding tissues leading to pain, tenderness and sometimes swelling at different parts of the body.

Rheumatoid arthritis - is a chronic disease potentially disabling type of arthritis that occurs when the body's immune system mistakenly attacks the synovium (cell lining the joint). It usually causes severe joint pain, loss of joint function, stiffness, swelling and sometimes leads to permanent deformity. Rheumatoid arthritis can be difficult to diagnose early because the symptoms can be deceptive. As a result no single test can conclusively establish its correct diagnosis. It is responsible for arthritis pain and inflammation joints that affects most joints of the body like fingers, wrists, kneels and toes.

Treatment of Arthritis

Over the years proper treatment have help to relieve arthritis symptoms and correct many serious joint problems. Sometimes physical and occupational therapy is used to control and maintain joint mobility and range of motion. The proper kind and amount of this therapy depends on the underlying cause and individual factors.

Arthritis cure largely depends on the type, the severity of the problem and previous response to treatment by the patients. As a result, medical supervision is a must because arthritis like rheumatoid can be crippling and can affect other organs in the body. Doses of aspirin or aspirin-like drugs are common prescription that effectively reduced arthritis pain and inflammation. In case of severe pains, drugs like DMARDS or SAARDS (disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs or slow-acting antirheumatic drugs) such as anti-malaria are administered.

Once again l would like to emphasize that all these drugs prescribed require close supervision and that most of them have hazardous effects, for example in some patients aspirin interferes with platelet function and this can cause serious bleeding.

Finally, in treating arthritis the major concern of the doctor is to provide the best treatment that will reduce the pains, or further damage to the joints and prevent any permanent deformity.