All about Arthritis !!!

Why is it Important to Know?

Knowing about disease gives you an idea, of what you are dealing with and going to deal in the future.

It will help you to manage your disease better and give you a healthier life :) 

What is Arthritis ?

Arthritis is a disease where you have pain in Joints with or without Swelling or redness in it.

There may be only single Joint involved or Multiple Joints Involved.

What are Types?

There are Over 100 types of Arthritis !!! and here lies the importance of finding out exactly what you are suffering from to treat you better. These are the main type of arthritis in Short :

1. Osteoarthritis
2. Rheumatoid Arthritis (Click for Details)
3. Spondyloarthropathy
4. Gouty Arthritis
5. fibromyalgia

What are the Symptoms?

Symptoms depend upon the type of arthritis you are suffering from, but commonly patient comes with these symptoms:

1. Joint Pain ( It is maximum when u get up from bed in the Morning)
2. Joint Swelling
3. Hand or Small joints Pain with Stiffness
4. Eye Itching or Redness along with Joint Pain
5. Rash over body with Joint Pain
6. Heel Pain
7. Back Pain (Mainly in one side)

Lets discuss in Short the different types !!

1. Osteoarthritis

It mainly occurs due to age. (>45 years generally )

Knees are commonly affected, Pain increases on walking and climbing stairs.

Decreases on Rest. 

It occurs Mainly because of reduced joint space between the knees due to age.

The fluid or lubricant is diminished causing not-so-smooth movement of your knee and further damage to the knee on activity. 

Main treatment is exercise with lifestyle modification:

For exercise ( English) click here    For exercises (Bengali) Click here

Along with exercises, there are some medicines to increase your cartilage health and decrease the pain. 

If it doesn't still decrease, your doctor may advise you on some Injections in the Knee !! 

(stay tuned for detailed blog)

                   Prevent a Grade 4 knee !!

2. Rheumatoid Arthritis 

Here mainly patients have pain in multiple joint, mostly in Small joints of hand.

The pain increases or is severe during morning and gradually decreases with activity

Patients also sometimes complains of Eye Problems like redness or itching

If not treated early it leads to severe joint destruction as seen in the image below

It also not only involves joint but All important organs like Heart, Lungs too if not treated.

3. Spondyloarthropathy

This is type of arthritis where you have mainly Pain in Back and that too in one side.

The pain again increases in the morning 

Patients may also have Pain in other joints like elbow , knee, wrist, Shoulder and Heel

Patients also sometimes complains of Eye Problems like redness or itching.

If not treated Spine may bend permanently and it’s difficult to treat it once deformity has started.

Spondyloarthropathy has 4 types Mainly

1. Ankylosing Spondylitis : The most common type
2. Reactive Arthritis : Generally patients have history of loose stool one month before the pain.
3. Psoriatic Arthritis: Here generally patients have skin problem as well as Back or joint pain
4. Enteropathic Arthritis: Here patients suffer from bowel problem as well as back Pain.

Hence identification of type is very important for treatment.

4. Gouty Arthritis: 

It occurs because of increased uric acid levels in blood.

Generally the 1st symptom is pain in Great toe. ( this is where u should be cautious) 

Gradually pain may spread and involve all the joints. 

For details click here

5. Fibromyalgia:

Here Patients mainly have pain in multiple sites of body along with decreased sleep and has lack of appetite (or wish to have food.)

Your doctor gives pressure on multiple sites in your body to identify the disease.

To rule out other arthritis your doctor may give you some blood tests.

Is arthritis curable ?

Sadly NO !! but there are medicines that can keep you so healthy that you wont ever feel a pain.

Hence medicines shouldn't be stopped without advice.

Remember !! Arthritis also involves all vital organs too and these medicines prevent that.

If treatment is started early (within 3 Months of 1st symptoms), often we are able to stop the disease progression and reduce the pain completely.

Hence, do not Neglect pain and visit your doctor at the earliest.

Doctor, am I alone with this disease?

No, the latest study done in India states that  nearly 18 crore Indians are currently suffering from one or other form of Arthritis.

Is there any food that is good in Arthritis?

Yes, Please click here for details

What are the blood tests that My Doctor may Give me?

Blood tests can be divided into three categories: 

1.  Helps in diagnosing the disease: There is a criteria called EULAR criteria, it is used to Diagnose the disease, and hence Doctors give you blood tests like Rheumatoid Factor, Anti-CCP, HLA B27, ANA or ANA Profile then ESR and CRP.
2. Helps in Knowing How much disease will progress: Anti-CCP and RF plus various other test level in the blood helps in that, if the initial levels are very high, we generally have an idea that the disease is going to be severe.
3. Helps in Knowing side-effects or Progression of the disease:  ESR, and CRP Reports says us how much disease is in an active state in the body.  Then Blood parameters like LFT, Ur, and Cr helps in Knowing if the drugs are causing damage to your Liver or Kidney. Then Blood Parameters like CBC help to know Hemoglobin status.

So, now you know how important these tests are. And hence these tests should be done from Reputed Labs ONLY !! 

Your doctor may even suggest you some tests like Xray , MRI, USG to know exact progression of the disease.

Steroids, Pain Killers, and then these Strong Medicines, What about Side-effects?

Almost no medicine is Free from Side-Effects !! Even the foods you eat have Side-Effects.  

Diseases like Arthritis which not only cause tremendous joint pain, it silently damage all vital organs like the Heart, Lungs, and Kidneys. Hence all these medicines are very important in preventing these. 

The Medicines should not be stopped until and unless asked by your treating Doctors.

The side effects are routinely followed by your doctors and the dose of medicine is adjusted on regular basis keeping in mind the side effects.

Regarding the much talked about Steroids, it's recently said, the patients who were started on steroids early had a much better outcome and often most patients lived a long life completely disease free ( We call it, the Remission stage). 

Most medications decrease the power of your immune system so that it doesn't attack the healthy tissues of your body. (So you know how important these drugs are)

Many times, maybe pain doesn't decrease on Medications and without any visible effect, patients tend to stop the Medicines, without realizing the harm as the medicines also work in keeping your Heart and other Vital organs safe and prevent joint deformities.

And some last but most helpful advice:

Exercise is really helpful in keeping you healthy as well as reducing pain.

Drink Plenty of water.

Have good sun exposure ( Until and Unless your doctor advised you NOT to)

Have a timely Meal.

For further information please leave a comment below.