Arthritis is a condition affecting your joints. It results from wear-and-tear damage to joint tissues, such as cartilage and ligaments.
Your arthritis symptoms could include swollen and painful joints. Over-the-counter pain relievers like Tylenol(r), Ibuprofen (r), or naproxen(r) can provide short-term relief. At the same time, celecoxib (Celebrex) requires a valid prescription to be prescribed to provide long-term relief. Hyaluronic acid injections into affected joints also offer temporary relief.
Osteoarthritis
At its best, healthy joints feature tough but smooth and slippery cartilage covering bone joints to reduce friction between bones and absorb shock upon movement. But in osteoarthritis, this protective cushion is destroyed, leading to bone-on-bone contact between joint surfaces, resulting in swelling, tenderness, or redness when you move the joint, as well as possible pain when doing so; its shape may change, and small bone spurs may form around the edges of it.
Treatment options for arthritis pain relief include over-the-counter or prescription medicines to ease inflammation and pain, weight loss, exercise, splinting, and physical therapy. In some cases, steroid medications (such as prednisone) are more potent anti-inflammatories available with a valid doctor’s prescription.
Osteoarthritis can affect any joint, though it most often affects the knees and hands. As people get older and menopause approaches, osteoarthritis becomes increasingly likely. An injury may trigger it, or wear and tear on joints can contribute to its progression; the condition may even run in families.
Rheumatoid Arthritis
RA can affect joints that bear weight, including knees, hips, feet, hands, and wrists. As cartilage breaks down and becomes damaged in joints over time, pain increases, accompanied by swelling and stiffness. Fatigue may set in while fever levels may remain relatively stable over time; these symptoms may come and go in episodes known as flare-ups that last several days or months at a time.
Treatment options for arthritis pain relief often include medication. These medicines are meant to ease discomfort, tenderness, and inflammation while potentially helping prevent or slow progression of rheumatoid arthritis – with your doctor likely prescribing strong medication called disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs (DMARDs).
Other treatments for arthritis may include physical therapy, diet, and rest. Therapists can teach ways to protect your joints when performing everyday tasks without exerting too much force on them, balance activity and rest time for reduced fatigue, and prescribe heat/cold treatments for sore or swollen joints.
Psoriatic Arthritis
Psoriatic arthritis affects joints where tendons and ligaments connect to bones, often the distal interphalangeal joints of fingers (especially in their middle joints called distal interphalangeal predominant joints), wrist, ankles, and knees, and causes pain, stiffness, and swelling that often leads to psoriasis rash and changes in nail quality. Psoriatic arthritis may become severe enough to cause disability – in severe cases, it involves all or nearly all joints (called polyarticular).
Other symptoms may include fatigue, difficulty moving or using affected joints, pain, and stiffness that come and go. These symptoms are worse after periods of rest or inactivity, as well as in the morning.
Psoriatic arthritis treatments may offer relief and improvement of joint function. Options available to manage symptoms of this disorder may include nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs like Ibuprofen or naproxen, as well as COX-2 inhibitors like celecoxib or etoricoxib that reduce the risk of ulcers and bleeding more effectively than traditional NSAIDs; oral steroids may also help improve joint functionality while mitigating damage.
Septic Arthritis
Pyogenic arthritis (also referred to as “septic arthritis”) is a severe infection of one or more joints caused by germs (usually bacteria) traveling through bloodstream to invade joint area, often due to open wound or puncture, puncture needle, punctured needle or puncture from foreign object entering joint space, puncture needle wound or puncture puncture puncture or condition compromising immunity such as diabetes, HIV infection, chronic diseases like cirrhosis or certain skin conditions that lower immunity.
Healthcare providers can detect septic arthritis through physical examination. A healthcare provider will look for signs such as tenderness, warmth, or swelling around an affected joint; range of motion testing; and whether touching or moving it causes pain.
Treatment for septic arthritis typically includes antibiotics and draining the infected joint, while surgery may also be required in severe cases. Early diagnosis is crucial to minimize complications, such as permanent joint damage or amputation. The treatment depends on the pathogen or bacteria causing the condition, which may require intravenous antibiotics or antifungal medicines if fungal growth is present.
Gout
Although arthritis’s causes vary, certain factors can increase a person’s risk of it. These include age (particularly if over 60), family history, smoking, and gender; for example, women are more prone to develop rheumatoid arthritis than men are.
Symptoms of various types of inflammatory arthritis vary, but can include pain, swelling, and warmth in affected joints. They may come and go in waves; many people also experience “flare-ups” of intense symptoms lasting hours to days.
Health care providers will evaluate the affected joint and ask about symptoms. In addition, they’ll ask whether there are any other health problems and what medications you are currently taking. Treatment options available to alleviate arthritis pain include anti-inflammatory drugs available without a valid prescription (such as Ibuprofen and naproxen) as well as more potent medications that require a valid script from a healthcare professional. Physical therapy or splinting may also help manage discomfort from arthritis. Some individuals can benefit from disease-modifying medications for inflammatory arthritis. People living with gout may be able to alleviate their symptoms by decreasing the amount of purine consumed through diet – this includes limiting consumption of organ meats like liver, tripe and sweetbreads; certain seafood, including herring, mussels and codfish; as well as red meat such as beef, lamb and pork.