Can you answer mypetispig83’s question about Arthritis?:

What should not I eat and should I eat for rheumatoid arthritis?
Which exercises and sports are suitable for rheumatoid arthritis?
I was diagnosed as rheumatoid arthritis.I have had the disease since I was 11.At first,I can’t walk.After 2years,I recovered and since then,I have been healthy.Now I am 23/male/married/1 child.However when I had checkup again,I was diagnosed as rheumatoid arthritis again and the doctor told that my lungs were not very good and I had high cholesterol level even though I am lean.Is it because I eat a lot of eggs?That’s why I have been doing exercises eveyday until now to get rid of not only cholesterol and rheumatoid arthritis as well.
I don’t want to take many medicines with harmful side effects.
I prefer avoiding foods that are bad for rheumatoid arthritis and taking remedies.
And I am perfectly willing to do exercises and sports instead of taking drugs.
Which sports are suitable for rheumatoid arthritis?

Rheumatoid Arthritis Knee

Can you answer anngeez2005’s question about Arthritis?:

i am 32 years old and have severe arthritis. I cant sleep at night or do the things with my kids that i want to do. are there any natural methods or remedies for it?

Degenerative Arthritis Treatment

With arthritis of the knee, it has been noticed that the more the patient of such a condition walks, the more the knee will hurt. Many people would thus be gravitated toward having arthritis knee surgery to get relief though there is some shocking and surprising news concerning such a course of action. According to a study conducted on surgery on elderly patients, it has been determined that there are potentially harmful effects to such a course of action, and that in fact, it will not significantly help improve the patient’s condition.

Severely Impacts The Health Care Community

Such a surprising outcome of studies conducted on arthritis knee surgery may severely impact the health care community, and change the way in which will be performed in future on the, it is believed, more than 300,000 Americans that need to get treated for knee arthritis. Such surgery is no doubt performed to provide relief from the pain of osteoarthritis, and for the continual worsening of the joints due to wear and tear that is supposed to affect as many as twelve percent of the senior citizen population.

An arthritis knee surgery involves clearing out the debris and also repairing the affected cartilage that may have been damaged, and it would mean making tiny incisions so that the healing process takes place quickly. The study that was conducted had two kinds of patients in their study that included those that actually had knee surgery and those that had sham surgery. It was found that the latter kind of patients had no difficulty in climbing stairs and could walk faster than those who had had an actual arthritis knee surgery.

This is indeed quite alarming and along with the cost of having arthritis knee surgery that can total as much as five thousand dollars per individual and approximately one and a half billion for the industry, can lead one to think that wouldn’t the patient be better off spending the money on something more useful and effective.

Such findings have even led many insurance companies into refusing to pay for arthritis knee surgery. In fact, there are a number of alternatives to consider such as using hot packs, taking pain relievers as well as cortisone shots, and surgery should only be considered as a last resort. Whatever may be the merits of such a study, it certainly does put some doubts in the minds of a number of doctors, which may lead them to using such an alternative only under certain circumstances like when the patient has an acute sports injury to ligaments.



Thanks to John Hilaire for contributing this article to our Arthritis blog:

Alternative Treatments For Arthritis

There are different types of arthritis that a patient can be attacked with. Hence, it becomes very important to know about the symptoms of all the major types of arthritis. This basic knowledge will help you to detect the presence of the disease at an early stage and to start the treatment as early as possible.

Psoriatic arthritis is a chronic destructive arthritic condition, which, if left untreated, may eventually lead to joint destruction. Psoriatic arthritis is thought to be an autoimmune process, in which the body mounts an immunogenic response against self, which results in widespread inflammation and destruction.

Ankle arthritis can be one of the less frequent types of arthritis, it can be a very painful one for those who experience it. There are a number of causes of ankle arthritis, and a case of this condition can frequently be attributed to a specific event or injury. This means that if you experience an injury to your ankle in your earlier years of life, arthritis is a condition that you should be on the lookout for as you age. The good news is that there are a number of possible treatment options for this state, and they can range from changing your footwear to a variety of surgical options.

Rheumatoid arthritis is a chronic autoimmune disease that is characterized by inflammation of the joints, often accompanied by deformities. Because rheumatoid arthritis affects other organs of the body, it is sometimes referred to as a systemic illness. Rheumatoid arthritis is also known as rheumatoid disease.

There are two stages of rheumatoid arthritis:

1. The swelling of the synovial (lubricating fluid around joints in the body) lining. This causes pain, stiffness, redness, and swelling around joints.

2. The rapid division and growth of cells. This causes the synovium (free moving membrane in joints in the body) to thicken.

Juvenile arthritis is very unique in comparison with more common forms of adult arthritis, and forms which affects children until they reach adulthood. This condition has no obvious symptoms which a doctor can easily diagnose, further to this it may be quite difficult for the child suffering to communicate the pain they are feeling. There are some basic signs which are evident in children suffering from juvenile arthritis: reduced interest in exercise, lethargy, decreased appetite, ‘limping’ movements, and swollen joints specifically in the wrist, hands, knee, ankle and feet.

Osteoarthritis is a disease that causes deterioration of the joint cartilage. It is associated with aging and is the most common form of arthritis. The cartilage of the affected joint is roughened and worn down, which causes pain. Septic arthritis is inflammation of a joint caused by bacteria. This form of arthritis can also cause body joint pain.

Juvenile rheumatoid arthritis is a collective disease. The three identified forms are pauciarticular, polyarticular and systemic. In pouciarticular juvenile rheumatoid arthritis, a child may suffer from inflammation in few joints such as the knee and shoulder. If it is polyarticular, then many joints get inflamed simultaneously, for example knees, wrists, elbows, and so on. Polyarticular rheumatoid arthritis attacks symmetrically; for example, the joints of the left and right hand become inflammation at the same time.



Thanks to Ricky Ponting for contributing this article to our Arthritis blog:

Herbal Treatment For Arthritis

Rheumatoid arthritis is an autoimmune disease that causes chronic inflammation of the joints. RA is a systemic disease, often affecting extra-articular tissues throughout the body including the skin, blood vessels, heart, lungs, and muscles. Rheumatoid arthritis can also cause inflammation of the tissue around the joints, as well as other organs in the body. Rheumatoid arthritis is two to three times more common in women than in men and generally strikes between the ages of 20 and 50. But rheumatoid arthritis can also affect young children and adults older than age 50. About 60% of RA patients are unable to work 10 years after the onset of their disease. Rheumatoid arthritis is a common rheumatic disease, affecting more than two million people in the United States. The disease is three times more common in women as in men. It afflicts people of all races equally. RA can affect any joint, but the most common places are the hands or feet. Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) causes redness, pain, swelling or a hot (or warm) feeling in the lining of a joint, the place where 2 or more bones come together. Worldwide, about 1% of people are believed to have rheumatoid arthritis, but the rate varies among different groups of people.

Rheumatoid arthritis is different from osteoarthritis, the common arthritis that often comes with older age. Rheumatoid arthritis is rarely associated with pyoderma gangrenosum, a necrotizing, ulcerative, noninfectious neutrophilic dermatosis. RA can affect body parts besides joints, such as your eyes, mouth and lungs. RA is an autoimmune disease, which means the arthritis results from your immune system attacking your body’s own tissues. Rheumatoid arthritis most often affects the smaller joints, such as those of the hands and/or feet, wrists, elbows, knees, and/or ankles. RA may start gradually or with a sudden, severe attack with flu-like symptoms. It’s important to remember that RA symptoms vary from person to person. In some people the disease will be mild with periods of activity or joint inflammation and inactivity. Along with painful, inflamed joints, RA can cause inflammation in other body tissues and organs. In 20% of cases, lumps called rheumatoid nodules develop under the skin, often over bony areas.

Treatments for arthritis have improved in recent years. Corticosteroids. These medications, such as prednisone and methylprednisolone (Medrol), reduce inflammation and pain, and slow joint damage. Medications used to control RA fall into two categories: those that relieve symptoms and those that have the potential to modify the course of the disease. Exercise is also an important part of a treatment program. Immunosuppressants medications act to tame your immune system, which is out of control in rheumatoid arthritis. Some of the commonly used immunosuppressants include leflunomide (Arava), azathioprine (Imuran), cyclosporine (Neoral, Sandimmune) and cyclophosphamide (Cytoxan). These medications can have potentially serious side effects such as increased susceptibility to infection. Rituximab-Rituximab reduces the number of B cells in your body. B cells are involved in inflammation. The most common antidepressants used for arthritis pain and nonrestorative sleep are amitriptyline, nortriptyline (Aventyl, Pamelor) and trazodone (Desyrel).

Rheumatoid Arthritis Treatment Tips

1. Non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) such as ibuprofen (Motrin and others), naproxen (Naprosyn, Aleve), celecoxib (Celebrex) and many others.

2. Light exercise may be beneficial for improving blood circulation to joints.

3. Various anti-cytokine medications are now being used to treat painful disease states such as Rheumatoid Arthritis.

4. Nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) is a type of medicine that reduces pain and swelling.

5. Severely affected joints may require joint replacement surgery, such as knee replacement.

6. Corticosteroids are man-made drugs that closely resemble cortisone, a hormone natural produced by the body.

7. Immunosuppressants medications act to tame your immune system, which is out of control in rheumatoid arthritis.



Thanks to Juliet Cohen for contributing this article to our Arthritis blog:

Natural Arthritis Pain Relief