Arthritis Risk

Having arthritis is common in most people of the world. Even though it is a
very common disease, it is painful and very incurable at the moment. You can be
at risk for getting arthritis and you may not even know it. Some of the
conditions cannot be changed but there are a number of things that you can do
to prevent arthritis from happening to you later on in life. Take a look at the
risk in your life and what you can do to prevent arthritis from happening to you
and causing great pain in your life.

You must first understand arthritis. It can affect anyone of any age, gender or
race. Even babies at a young age of six months can develop arthritis. It is true
that your risks will increase after the age of 40. There are different things
that can increase your risk of arthritis as well. For example sports injuries
can often occur and it is necessary to continue treating your injury throughout
your life to prevent more serious conditions later on in life.

Weight is very important when it comes to having arthritis. If you are more
than 30 pounds overweight, having this extra stress can affect your joints and
create arthritis pain. Having a good healthy weight and exercising and eating
right is very important when it comes to your health.

Genetics will also play a very important part in the development of arthritis.
There is not much that you can do to counteract it. However if you live a good
and healthy life, you can lower the risk of arthritis conditions in your body
at a young age. Women are more at risk than men for getting different kinds of
arthritis pain. This is because of the hormonal changes that a woman will go
through. Keeping hormones in order by seeing your doctor regularly will put you
at a lower risk for arthritis. African Americans are more likely to have lupus,
which is an arthritic disease. Caucasians are at a larger risk for getting
rheumatoid arthritis. There are certain groups of Americans that are at risk
for getting certain type of arthritis.

If you are at a greater risk for arthritis, you need to take the right steps to
reduce your chances of getting a disease. Having a healthy lifestyle by eating
right and exercising well is going to keep you at a lower risk. Even though
arthritis can be difficult to deal with, you can prevent it from happening.

Arthritis Support

There are millions of Americans that suffer from the pain of arthritis and
related conditions all the time. The most important thing to know is that you
are not alone in this suffering. Many times you may feel like you are the only
one going through this disease, but there are others that feel the same way
that you do. Arthritis can be a very hard problem to understand and many
patients who suffer from arthritis will feel like they are alone and confused.
However, with some help, you can meet and talk to others that are dealing with
the same pain of arthritis conditions. Joining one of the many different
arthritis support groups will help you feel better about your condition and
give you a better outlook on life.

The Arthritis Foundation is one of the non-profit organizations that were
formed for those that have arthritis. There are over 100 different conditions
that are related to arthritis and this foundation has worked hard to meet those
needs and concerns for people. This organization will help to give out
information about arthritic conditions as well as work as an advocate for the
patients that are dealing with arthritis. They will sponsor medical research
for the condition and hope to find a cure for it one day. The Arthritis
Foundation will join in with many other organizations and companies to bring
patients the service that they need. Their website will help those that are
suffering and the family members and friends that want to learn more about how
they can help and donate money towards arthritis research. You can also join an
online organization and benefit from their different member services.

When you are looking for something on a personal level, you need to first find
a local arthritis group and talk to your doctor about it. Usually hospitals
will sponsor these types of support groups and help people cope with different
disease and pain. Arthritis is no different. A local group will usually meet
with others that are dealing with arthritis and get feedback on how to cope in
daily life. These community groups are going to be lifelong friends and you can
learn to live better and be more optimistic. You can check your local newspapers
if your doctor does not know where to find a support group. You can even start
your own group! If no support group exists in your town, there may be a huge
need for someone to head up this type of project.

A support group is an important way for children that are suffering from
arthritis as well. Arthritis is a condition that is usually more common with
age; many children will feel isolated because they have it at such a young age.
The children's wing of your local hospital may be able to help you find a
support group. It makes no difference what age you are, you can get benefits
from the community or support group when you have arthritis. You need to look
online and talk to your doctor about more information on this subject.

Arthritic Pain

Having pain is your body's way of telling you that something is wrong. For some
people, they say "no pain, no gain" and pain is a sign that they have done
something to the point of destruction and the body will let you know this. Most
of pain is not that productive. If you are suffering from arthritis you are
going to have pain in the joints and this can keep you from doing the things
that you want to. It is important to have pain management so that you can deal
with the arthritis and live from day to day with hardly any frustration.

Like a red flashing light, your pain in the body is going to signal that you
need to stop what you are doing and take action about your body's health. Pain
is very natural and it does not have to be hard for you. There are a number of
things that can cause arthritic pain. Pain can be caused by inflammation in the
joints. This type of pain is usually joined by redness and swelling in younger
patients or anyone that just develops a condition. A second cause is damage to
the joint tissue. We usually feel that we have pulled a muscle when this type
of pain is occurring and it can be a condition due to stress on a joint or
another problem.

Pain can also happen from fatigue. You may simple have a small amount of
lingering pain; being tired can make you have this more. Think of it in terms
of a headache at the end of the day when you are tired. Joint pain works in the
same way. Depression and stress can cause pain or make your pain more severe
than it really is. This is a terrible cycle to start. You will get depressed
when you have pain and this will cause you to be more depressed which will
cause you to feel even worse.

Arthritic pain in people is likely to fell a lot different than other kinds of
pain. It is important to have a pain management system. This will also include
eating healthy and exercising better to improve the condition. Taking
medication will also help. You may also want to use massage to help you with
your arthritis as well. Stay optimistic about you outlook for life and take on
the challenge of pain when it comes. Arthritis is going to be hard but you can
overcome it so that you have a normal life.

Psoriatic Arthritis

Psoriasis Arthritis is an illness that affects millions of people. There is no
cure yet for it. It is known for the swelling of joints and scaly patches of
skin. This type of arthritis is related to the skin condition of psoriasis and
it also affects millions of people around the world. If you or someone that you
know is dealing with psoriatic arthritis it is necessary to do the right
research for this condition in order to completely understand its symptoms and
treatment options that are out there for the pain. With learning all that you
can about psoriatic arthritis and all the drugs that treat it you can get a
better understanding of how to treat it. Your doctor will be able to provide
you with the right information so that you can read on it and use the different
organizations that are located on the Internet and at the centers across the
country.

There are a lot of people that are diagnosed with psoriatic arthritis and
experience swelling of the joints in the body. This will include the wrists,
knees, back, elbows, and fingers. This condition will also bring gray areas of
skin that are very dry around the knees, elbows and lower back. The people that
are suffering from the condition will often have fingers that appear sausage
like and pitted nails or cuts around the fingernails. The cause of the
condition is not known but experts think that a combination of genetic
predispositions and the environment play roles in the development of psoriatic
arthritis. You can find these problems at any age and with any gender or race.
The most common age for psoriatic arthritis will start between age 20 and 50.

This is a condition that is tricky because the patients are dealing with the
two fused diseases. One is of the skin and the one of the joints. It is
important to talk to your doctor or have another medical professional helping
you with treatments. There are many drugs that can have a negative reaction to
it. There are different options other than medication that you can use to treat
this disease. Some exercises will work well with those patients that have
swelling in their joints. You can also have skin therapy to treat psoriatic
parts of the disease. Heat and cold can be used to treat psoriatic arthritis.
Rest is very important too. Using splints and surgery are not usually used but
the options are available for more of the extreme conditions. Cosmetically this
is a disease that can be treated with laser surgery light treatment. There are
other corrective cosmetic surgeries too. You can talk to our doctor to find out
more on this disease and your options for treatments.

Reactive Arthritis

There is something commonly known as Reiter's Syndrome and is reactive
arthritis. It is a type of arthritis that is known by swelling, redness, and
heat in the joints. This is going to be especially in the spine and
inflammation of other joints, urinary tract and even the eyes. Reiter's
Syndrome is something that is related to the family of different arthritic
conditions that is known as spondylarthropathies. This is known to bother the
spine. Anyone that is suffering from Reiter's Syndrome will have fever,
swelling, and ulcers in the mouth, weight loss and sores on the skin.

With many of the diseases that are known today, Reiter's Syndrome has no
confirmed cause and can affect anyone of any age, gender or race. There are
researchers that do believe that Reiter's Syndrome is going to be due to mostly
genetics because there are many tendencies that seem to run in families. There
is about 75% of people who are suffering from Reiter's Syndrome have a certain
gene that is known to start the condition. This is a painful disease that will
affect young men who are white and around the ages of 20 and 40. Reiter's
Syndrome is also known to develop after certain infections in the small
intestine, genitals, and urinary tract. It is linked to salmonella
contamination, so you nee to take measures to avoid this condition by being
sure that your foods are cooked properly.

This disease does affect a number of parts of the body. There are different
treatments that must be used to help the patients be healthy and have normal
lives. Medications like NSAIDS that block and stop inflammation in joints and
may be used. There are antibiotics and skin medications that are used to clear
up the painful sores that will start on the body. Anyone that is suffering from
Reiter's Syndrome will also see urologists to deal with the urinary tract
infections and occupational therapists will take care of the joints. Use
dermatologists to clear up the skin problems and there are physical therapists
to teach different exercises that can be done to help lower the pain and
swelling in joints. Anyone may also want to see doctors that specialize in the
eyes because this is a condition that causes inflammation in this part of the
body too. If you or someone that you know is diagnosed with Reiter's Syndrome
called Reactive Arthritis, you need to learn as much about it as you can so
that you can learn to live with it and have a normal life.

Rheumatoid Arthritis

Rheumatoid arthritis is a chronic, multi system, and inflammatory autoimmune
disorder that will bring on an attack to the joints. It is a very crippling and
painful condition that can lead to loss of mobility to the pain and joint
devastation. Rheumatoid arthritis is systemic and will also affect different
tissues through the body, skin, blood vessels, heart, lungs and muscles.
Rheumatoid arthritis will affect anyone between the ages of 20 and 40 and can
start anytime. A family history is important to the risk. It is three times
more common in women than in men and up to four times more common in smokers
than non-smokers.

The symptoms will separate rheumatoid arthritis from other types of arthritis
because of the inflammation and soft tissue swelling of many joints at the same
time. This is known as polyarthritis. The joints are usually affected
asymmetrically and then will go on to the symmetrical part as the disease goes
on. It is not like the other forms of arthritis like osteoarthrits because the
pain will move with the use of the joints that are affected.

As the disease goes on, the inflammatory activity will lead to the erosion and
destruction of the joints that will impair their range of movement and lead to
some deformity. The fingers and the bones will deviate to the outside and
towards the small finger and take on unnatural shapes. Having deformities in
patients that are dealing with rheumatoid arthritis will include the
Boutonni�re deformity, the swan neck deformity, and the "Z-thumb" deformity.

Because rheumatoid arthritis is a multisystem disease, other disease and
conditions may form as a result of it. Many of the people that have rheumatoid
arthritis will also have anemia. Anemia is a problem of the red blood cells
because there are not enough of them and or the hemoglobin and this will cause
the lower ability of oxygen to be taken to the tissues. It is a chronic disease
and many will suffer from it and splenomegaly or the enlarging of the spleen.
Felty's syndrome and Sjogren's syndrome which is an autoimmune disorder in
which the cells attack and ruin the exocrine glands and produce salvia and
tears. Dermological will affect nodules on exterior surfaces. Fibrosis may
occur in the lungs at any time or as a result of different treatments.

There are several things for diagnosing rheumatoid arthritis. Having stiffness
in the morning that goes on for longer than one hour is an example as is the
arthritis and soft tissue swelling of more than three out of 14 joints or in
the joint groups. Arthritis of hand joints like symmetric arthritis,
subcutaneous nodules in specific places, a rheumatoid factor at a level above
the 95th place and radiological changes that are suggested of joint erosion and
are part of the criteria. There are at least four of these things hat have to be
met in order to establish a diagnoses.

The treatments for rheumatoid arthritis are going to be placed in disease
modifying antirheumatic drugs or (DMARDS), anti inflammatory agents and
analgesics. DMARDS is known to start durable remissions and delay the disease
process, prevent bone and joint damage as well. Anti inflammatory agents and
analgesics can help to improve pain and stiffness but do not stop any damage or
slow down the disease in any way.

Sclerodoma

A rare problem called Scleroderma is a chronic disease that is known by the
excessive deposit of collagen. It is going to affect at least 300,000 people in
the U.S. Scleroderma is four times as common in women than it is in men. Having
progressive systemic scleroderma is known as systemic sclerosis and it is a
common type of disease and can be fatal.

Scleroderma will mostly affect the skin and it is most known to have hardening
skin and associated scarring. This will give a reddish or scaly appearance.
There are blood vessels that may also tend to be more visible. There is fat and
muscle wastage that will weaken the limbs and affect their appearance when there
is a larger area affected. In most of the serious cases, scleroderma can affect
the blood vessels.

It is serious because scleroderma goes between two cases. The most important
things to know are to consider the level of internal attachment that is
occurring under the skin and the total area that is covered by the disease. A
person may have only one or two affected areas or lesions or they may have many
larger ones. Many people that suffer from scleroderma have Raynaud's phenomenon
and this is an arthritic vascular symptom that can affect the fingers and toes.
The hands and the feel may have discoloration because of the cold. Raynaud's
phenomenon and systemic scleroderma can be the cause of painful ulcers on the
fingers and toes too. Calcinosis is the deposits of calcium around the joints
and it is common for the sufferers of systemic scleroderma and can often be
found near the elbows, knees or other joints.

There are three major types of scleroderma. They are diffuse, limited and
morphea sometimes called linear. The first type diffuse scleroderma is a
systemic disease. It is the most severe form. It is known by the fast onset a
will involve more skin hardening. Diffuse scleroderma will cause severe
internal organ damage to the lungs and gastrointestinal tract. It is more life
threatening.

The second kind, limited scleroderma is known as CREST syndrome. CREST is an
acronym that stands for Calcinosis that is known as Raynaud's Syndrome.
Esophageal dysmotility Sclerodactyly and Telangiectasia are the five major
symptoms of limited scleroderma. CREST is a systemic disease and is much
milder. It has a slow process. The skin hardening is usually just on the face
and hands and internal organ process is less severe. The prognosis is much
better for limited scleroderma.

There is no cure for this disease but there is treatment for some of the
symptoms. These treatments will mean drugs that soften the skin and reduce the
swelling. Having heat exposure will also help most of the patients. You need to
speak to your doctor about more information on this case.

Arthritic Insomnia

If you are dealing with arthritis, one of the hardest things to deal with is
the insomnia. The sleeping disorder is going to prevent you from getting the
rest that you need to stay healthy and this will in return make your arthritis
worse. It can be a terrible cycle that you are dealing with. There are many
things that you can do to take on arthritis and it is important to consider all
of the options so that you can get a better night's rest every time you go to
bed.

Having insomnia is figured out by a number of problems. You must first have
difficulty falling asleep. Many people will experience this at some point in
their life. However if you are frequently finding it hard to drift off to
sleep, you may want to talk to your doctor about it. If you are waking up often
through the night for no good reason, this is a symptom too. This will usually
happen to everyone and more so to people if they are new parents. If you are
finding that you are constantly tossing and turning more than once a week, you
are probably dealing with insomnia. Some with insomnia will sleep throughout
the night. Their problem may be that they wake up too early or they do not feel
refreshed after many hours of sleep. It will depend on how frequently insomnia
happens for you and if you can be diagnosed with short-term insomnia,
intermittent insomnia or chronic insomnia.

Anyone that suffers from arthritis will also find that they have chronic
insomnia or insomnia that does not go away and occurs for a long time period.
There are many reasons that chronic insomnia is found in people that do have
arthritis. The pain will keep some awake at night and will occur with illness
but some of the patients find that their joints are painful and inflamed after
they do activity. A second reason of insomnia due to arthritis is a high level
of stress that most patients with arthritis have. Worrying about an appointment
with a doctor can cause a person to stay awake all night long. There is no
difference for any patient that is young and just recently diagnosed or older
and has had the problem of arthritis for many years. Insomnia can be a side of
effect of the medicine that is used to treat arthritis. These medicines may rid
the pain but can make you stay up all night. Without taking the medication, you
may also be awake all night with pain.

There are a number of ideas that a person can do for insomnia. You are not
alone is the first step. You need to talk to your doctor about any medications
that you are taking that keep you up all night. There are going to be side
effects of drugs and they can be addicting as well. Taking the right steps to
take the stress out of your life is going to help you sleep better at night
too. You and your doctor are the only people that can take the right course of
action to fix the insomnia in your life. Talk to them and get a good night's
sleep because it is essential for healthy living.

Medical Professionals

If you are diagnosed with the arthritis or other conditions that are caused in
discomfort in the form of pain and inflammation at the joints you may want to
consider visiting an occupational therapist to learn how to live better in your
life. You can also learn to pay for home care so hat you is able to have the
help that you need during this time. Occupational therapy is an important part
of the care that you can learn to adjust to your life on a daily basis to take
your arthritis into account. Home care professionals also can make daily life
easier and often times by doing some work for you. With both cases you can live
a more fulfilling life with the help of these professionals in the medical field
and by the help of your friends and family.

Occupational therapy is something that your primary care doctor will help with.
Check first before your appointment to see if your occupational therapy is going
to be covered by your health care insurance. Occupational therapists have a
professional license and are trained to how those that are suffering from
different diseases and problems on how to live daily in life. When you first
start to deal with the arthritic pain, you may find that the most difficult
thing that you are going to take on is not the pain but the loss of your
independence. Arthritis can also lead to hand deformities that make many things
difficult and may also confine you to a wheel chair later on. Occupational
therapists can either take care of you at your office or at your home. This
will help you learn different techniques for personal grooming, dressing,
getting in and out of bed, and even driving. With the help you can maintain a
certain level of independence that would not otherwise help people.

There are other home care help that can also be used to your advantage to avoid
having to inhabit nursing homes or move in with relatives. Some communities have
meals on wheels to help provide dinner. This is a service along with others that
is going to help senior citizens who are looking to remain independent. There
are also services that send nurses to your home daily to help you with things
and check your vital signs, give you medicine, and other help for you. When you
are dealing with arthritis, some of these things may not be possible on your own
with the help of services. Arthritis does not have to be the end of your
happiness. If your condition is severe, occupational help and other home care
professionals can help you enjoy a happy and normal life.

InfoBank Intro | Main Page | Usenet Forums | Search The RockSite/The Web