If a child has Systemic arthritis, they must be treated as soon as possible.  This is very important, even though there is no cure.  There is one thing that is very important about treatment.  This is making sure that less damage takes place.  In order for this to happen joints have to be kept moving and muscles need to be kept strong.  Some doctors will use both medication and exercise in order to do this.  Both exercise and medication can give pain relief.  They can also slow down or stop joints from being destroyed.

 

Doctors may also prescribe non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs to help a child cope with arthritis.  These are called NSAIDs.  The most common NSAID for children is Motrin.  Motrin can get rid of pain or at least make manageable.  Sometimes prescription NSAIDs are also used.  The most common medications that doctors are writing prescriptions for are Sulfasalazine, Methotrexate, and Enbrel.  These medicines can help a child but they cannot be taken for a long time since they will stop a child from growing right and make them have weak bones.  They can be taken by mouth or if only one joint is in need of the drug, then the drug can be given by shot in that joint.  There are also drugs used for treating a child’s fever, rash, anemia, and eye problems.

 

Doctors may suggest that a disease-modifying anti-rheumatic drug (DMARD) be used if NSAIDs do not work.  DMARDs slow down how fast arthritis progresses.  These take a long time to start working though.  This is why they are most often taken with an NSAID.  The most common DMARD that is used is Methotrexate.  This is a safe drug since a child only has to take a very small amount of it to have results.

 

If a child is really having a lot of pain then their doctor may prescribe Corticosteroids.  The most common one that is prescribed is Prednisone.  This can interfere with a child’s growth though, so a lot of doctors don’t like to use it unless the symptoms are severe enough that it has to be used.

 

Specialists also suggest alternative therapy methods.  While these are experimental, many of them do work.

 

There are some natural ways to help a child with Systemic arthritis.  These are good to use as a way to treat this disease since they will not hurt you.  You do need to really pay attention to see what actually works.  This is because the symptoms of arthritis come and go.  Whatever you decide is best for your child is up to you.  One of the most important things to do here is to make sure that your child’s life is as normal as it can be.

 

There are some doctors who will recommend changes in your child’s diet so that you can improve their nutrition.  These doctors will tell you to not let your child have any casein or gluten.  This means that your child will not be allowed to eat milk, milk products, wheat, oats, barley, or rye.  While this may sound like it is hard to do, it is not.  There are a lot of foods on the market today that are the same as “normal” products but they do not contain the ingredients that you are trying to avoid.  For instance there are noodles, special milk, macaroni n cheese, and even pizza that you can buy that have no milk or gluten in them.  These things taste just like they would taste if they did have milk or gluten in them.  This will help your child feel “normal.”

 

When a child is feeling good, they should be encouraged to exercise.  This is important so that they will have strong muscles and grow healthy.  A parent should not become so protective of their child that the parent will not let the child run and play.  Of course, you may not want to let your child play tackle football, but your child should be allowed to play something like baseball instead.  Physical therapy can also be used.  A physical therapist may also suggest splints to help with normal bone and joint growth.

 

There are also some creams on the market today that are said to help with arthritis.  Some of these creams do work.  You need to be careful though.  Most of these creams have been created for adults who have arthritis.  So, if you decide to use a cream you will want to ask your doctor how you should use it on your child.

 

It is important to know that arthritis can vary from day to day.  For this reason, a parent should do what works best each day for their child.  No matter what it is that you do, you need to make sure a doctor checks your child on a regular basis.  Your child will also need to have a doctor keep an eye on their eyes.  This is to make sure that your child does not develop an eye irritation.

 

 

 

Today more and more doctors are diagnosing people with this disorder called fibromyalgia. However, nobody knows the true cause of fibromyalgia. There is no routine laboratory testing or any X-rays that can be used to reveal anything about this condition. For this reason, many doctors initially thought that the problems suffered by FMS patients were all “in their heads” or that patients who had ibromyalgia actually had a form of masked depression or hypochondria. These doctors then thought that they should run extensive psychological tests on their patients.

 

However, after years of research, doctors have learned that fibromyalgia is a real condition. Physicians have found they have to take a careful history in order to look at the many different signs that may indicate that a patient has fibromyalgia. The basic symptoms checklist for fibromyalgia include…

 

PAIN! A person with fbromyalgia has pain in the upper chest, neck, back, shoulders, joints or overall pain and achiness, which is similar to a bad case of flu. The pain is often described as burning or gnawing and feeling achy and stiff in the morning. In fact, some level of pain is constant, but its severity may vary from day to day.

 

The pain’s intensity may be increased by exercise, stress, poor sleep or bad weather. A person must have this feeling in at least eleven of eighteen points for a period of three or more months for the ifbromyalgia diagnosis to be made. This pain must also be located on both sides of the body, both above and below the waist.

 

Trigger Points

There is often a trigger point for the pain that a person with fibromyalgia suffers. This is a tender, painful place, which is sensitive to touch. These points are tender to palpation and they may feel somewhat hardened whenever that muscle is stroked. Frequently, pressure over this one area (you may have more than one area) will cause pain to radiate outwards, hence the term trigger point. In some people, a trigger point may form from an injury to the upper spine or a viral or bacterial infection.

 

Fatigue

A diagnosis of ffibromyalgia also includes fatigue, which fluctuates from moderate to severe and lasts for at least six months. This may be due to non-restorative or non-refreshing sleep because of either insomnia or multiple awakenings throughout the night. This means that you often wake up tired and un-refreshed even though you’ve seemingly gotten enough sleep. Therefore you have an extreme lack of energy. A person with fibromyalgia may also suffer from night sweats and drooling in their sleep.

 

Depression

The combination of pain and fatigue can lead to depression. It is not yet clear whether depression causes firomyalgia or if it is a consequence of it. Nevertheless, numerous people with fibromyalgia are clinically depressed at some point in time. This may turn into a major bout with depression at some point.

 

Weight Gain or Loss

Many people with fibromyalgia have a history of extreme weight gain or weight loss. This may be due to irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) which is yet another symptom of fibromyalgia. Irritable bowel syndrome is a gastrointestinal disorder of unknown cause. It consists of any of the following symptoms: diarrhea, gas pains, bloating, and constipation.

 

Of course, there are many more symptoms, which go hand-in-hand with this disease. Some of these other symptoms may include: a history of multiple ailments (i.e. hypoglycemia, seizures, headaches, migraines, toothaches, mouth ulcers, allergies, asthma, restless leg syndrome, muscle twitching, tendonitis, numbness, tingling or swelling in hands or feet, carpal tunnel syndrome); heightened sensitivity to odors, noises, bright lights, various foods and changes in weather; trouble concentrating; short-term memory problems; and problems with vision.

 

However, those symptoms that have been listed in detail above are the main points that your doctor will consider when diagnosing you with fibromyalgia. More symptoms are being discovered all of the time since doctors and specialists are still working to perfect what the definition of fibromyalgia should truly be. Nevertheless, if you feel that you may have this disability, you are encouraged to seek out more information from your doctor to help live with this disability.

 

Rheumatoid Arthritis is an incurable disease that causes inflammation of the joints, which severely restricts a person’s movements.  It must be diagnosed at an early stage for the patient to be given treatment that can help them to bear the disease. Rheumatoid arthritis is a chronic condition, meaning that once a person had it, it is going to affect the patient for the rest of his life.

 

Causes of rheumatoid arthritis

There are different kinds of arthritis, and hreumatoid arthritis is one of them. It is different from other kinds of arthritis in many ways. Firstly, rheumatoid arthritis is a symmetrical disease, meaning that for example if one knee is affected by it, then the other is also affected. Rheumatoid arthritis is basically a condition where the immune system of the body turns against itself. Scientists are still not sure what exactly causes this disease. Some people might have the genes that cause it, but never get the disease. Women get rheumatoid arthritis more often than men, and they are likely to get it soon after a pregnancy. For rheumatoid arthritis diagnosis, it is important that the patient should have enough information about what can cause the disease. Causes of the disease include complications caused by treatments for other conditions, and therefore doctors must also have access to patients’ records in order to identify the causes correctly.

 

Symptoms of the disease

Symptoms of rheumatoid arthritis include stiffness and pain in the joints, caused by swelling of the joints. The pain usually gets worse after a person has been sleeping or resting. The disease is a systemic one, and apart from joint pains, it can also cause fever and anemia, in which the red blood cell count goes low. Nodules which are about the size of small peas are also symptoms of this disease. They are not painful and can occur in any part of the body, usually near the joints at the elbows and ankles, and behind the head.

Although rheumatoid arthritis is usually found in adults between 25 to 50 years of age, there is also a juvenile form of it that children below sixteen years of age are known to suffer from. Juvenile rheumatoid arthritis lasts for about six weeks or more, and is characterized by inflammation and pain in the joints.

 

Identifying the disease

Rheumatoid arthritis diagnosis can usually be done with the help of tests. The Latex test is one of the most common tests. This is done at the early stages of the disease, and can help to confirm the presence of the disease early enough. During the progression of the disease, an antibody known as the rheumatoid factor is found in the blood. The Latex test identifies the disease by checking if the person tests positive or negative regarding this antibody. Although the rheumatoid factor may not be seen in all early stages of the disease, it is produced as the disease progresses.

Another common test that is used in rheumatoid arthritis diagnosis is the sedimentation rate test. In this test, blood is taken from the person’s body, and the rate at which sedimentation happens in the drawn blood is recorded. If the rate is high, this indicates that the person has rheumatoid arthritis. The test may be repeated at regular intervals. If the sedimentation increases or decreases, this indicates that the patient’s rheumatic condition is accordingly worsening or improving respectively.

Osteoarthritis is also a condition that is similar to rheumatoid arthritis. Like rheumatoid arthritis, osteoarthritis is also a common form of arthritis. While the former is a systemic disease, osteoarthritis is a localized one. Also, one major difference between rheumatism and osteoarthritis is that the former does not affect the joints at the hands that are closest to the fingernails, whereas the latter does.

 

What is it like to have the disease?

 

Only those who have the disease know what it is like living with it. It has been proved that having rumatoid arthritis increases your chances of having silent heart attacks, which are cardiac problems that often go unnoticed because there is usually no outward sign that the person is having a heart attack.

Patients of rheumatoid arthritis should avoid repetitive movements and carrying heavy loads. Some patients with chronic or acute symptoms may have to use a cane to help them walk. They may also need props like handles at the edge of the bathtub to help them in their movements.

 

You are confident about your body and always considered fit and healthy. Then suddenly you felt pain and stiffness. Or you experienced your hands or knees getting sore so you find it hard to keep moving. Maybe a friend complained about pain and swelling in joints. Or your child was involved a sport injury to a knee and reports acute pain in the knee a year later.

What we may brush off as a minor ailment or avoid with a pain killer might be symptoms of arthritis. Only a doctor can analyze the symptoms and suggest the appropriate treatment.

What Is Arthritis?

Arthritis is a common disease affecting the joints, skin and various internal organs irrespective of the age of the person. The first known traces of arthritis date as far back as 4500 BC! However, the disease got its current name, ‘arthritis’, from the Greek word ‘arthron’ meaning ‘joint,’ in 1859.

While more than 100 forms  of arthritis are identified (technically nearly 200), the most common ones are rheumatoid arthritis and osteoarthritis. Arthritis can cause problems to bones, eyes, chest or skin.

Common Symptoms of Arthritis

• Inability to move the joint freely
• Joint pain, whether at rest or moving
• Joint stiffness
• Joint swelling
• Pain in areas around joints: hips, knees, spine, hands
• Unable to move limbs as much as you used to
• Joint tenderness
• Joint pains with fever, fatigue, rash, or nodules

Diagnosing Arthritis

There are many differences in types of arthritis, so it may not be easy to conclude the painful condition—even in joints or joint attached muscles—is arthritis. Because there are so many types of arthritis, of course there is no single test to diagnose it. Many doctors use a combination of the following to interpret symptoms:

• Study the patient’s history
• Physically examination
• Laboratory tests (arthrocentesis, synovial fluid analyses, etc.)
• Erythrocyte Sedimentation Rate (ESR)
• X-Ray of the joint
• And more tests

 

Types of Arthritis and Symptoms

There are many forms of arthritis.  Some are related to wear and tear while some are due to the result of an over-active immune system. Every type of arthritis has its own characteristic symptoms. There is no standard root test to identify and no standard medicine or cure for all kinds of arthritis. Let us review some of the common types.

Osteoarthritis

Osteoarthritis is the most common form of arthritis that usually comes with age. It often affects the fingers, knees, hips and facet joints in the spine. Osteoarthritis may also follow an injury to a joint, often after many years. Cartilage—a type of dense connective tissue composed of cells dispersed in a firm gel-like substance—that cushions the points where two or more bones join together—may become degraded. That results in pain limited movement.

Rheumatoid Arthritis

Our body’s immune system is our defense against disease. When it fails, it attacks the body it is designed to protect. Attacks cause joint linings to swell. Inflammation may spread to the surrounding tissues, damaging both cartilage and bones. This is rheumatoid arthritis.

It can begin in any joint; though, generally it starts in the smaller joints of the fingers, hands and wrists. It is characteristic of rheumatoid arthritis to be reflexive; that is,  if a certain joint hurts on the left hand, the same joint will hurt on the right hand. This symmetry distinguishes rheumatoid athritis from other forms of the disease.

Other common symptoms are muscle pain, stiffness, fatigue, weakness, flu-like signs, rheumatoid nodules, or lumps of tissue under the skin or on the elbows.   The person may also experience loss of appetite, anemia, depression, weight loss, and sweaty hands and feet.

Juvenile Rheumatoid Arthritis

Artritis does not spare children. Some times what is brushed off as ‘growing pains’ may actually be the indication of juvenile arthritis. The child may complain, but more often you will have to observe signs, of joint pain and redness (inflammation), stiffness, swelling, and loss of function of the joints. This could indicate juvenile arthritis. Juvenile arthritus signs and symptoms vary from child to child. Sometimes the same child may experience different symptoms on different days.

Gouty

Our bodies normally dispose of excess uric acid in urine. Unexcreted uric acid can pool in blood and tissues and cause in needle-like uric acid crystals to accumulate around the small joints. Rub the balls of your feet and the base of your toes really hard. Do you feel graininess? This is uric acid crystal build up.

When pain strikes out of the blue, it might be gouty arthritis. Typically it involves the big toe; but other joints like ankle, knee, wrist, elbow and fingers may be affected. The first symptom is generally acute pain (sharp, short-termed) followed with inflamed joints, resulting in feet (or whatever part) becoming swollen and extremely sensitive to the touch. You may feel the extreme pain even by simply putting on socks!  Men are most susceptible to gout.

Lupus

Have you met young people with lupus or chronic fatigue syndrome whom you would have never thought of as arthritic?

B cells are produced through several stages. They mature in the bone marrow. B cells make proteins called antibodies and react against invading bacteria or viruses. The antibodies react with antigens.   The person with lupus makes auto-antibodies that react with self-antigens to make immune complexes, which then travel through blood stream. These immune complexes are deposited anywhere that bloodstream takes them, resulting in inflammatory skin, hair and scalp or joints. Even the internal organs like the kidney, heart or brain, can become sick with lupus. Unlike gout which mostly affects men, women are ten times more susceptible to lupus. Common symptoms are rash over the cheeks and across the bridge of the nose, and disc-shaped sores on the face, neck or chest. Other problems could be sensitivity to sun and kidney problems.

More Types of Arthritis

Fatigue, depression, sore neck and jaw, and soreness when chewing food may be due to temporal arteritis.

Hence one needs to consult a doctor or specialist instead of deciding oneself about an appropriate treatment or medication for a