Tips for Treating Artritis

By Tara Smith

The conservative medical community tends to treat arthritis with painkillers and exercise. This is because these drug therapies have been around for at least fifty years and surgery has a fairly high success rate, while many other remedies like dietary supplements are relative newcomers to the scene.

However, this type of traditional treatment can cause just as many problems as the arthritis itself, unfortunately. Since painkillers are used to combat the painful effects arthritis has on joints, they will also hide any side effects that the treatment is causing. This can be something like something seemingly as harmless as diarrhoea, which can be a nasty addition to arthritis treatment. This is because if the medication causes the wall of the stomach to function less in any way, it can lead to antigens entering the bloodstream that affects joints, therefore inflaming the arthritis even more.

Once they reach the joint, they will trigger an attack by the white blood cells that are the bodys defense system. The end result is that this causes more pain and inflammation as the white blood cells release prostaglandins and leukotrienes in an attempt to dispose of the enemy. They also release digestive enzymes that begin to attack and digest the actual cartilage, bone, ligament and muscle that are supposed to be saved. This can then become a chronic problem, which is what happens in rheumatoid arthritis especially.

Even simple drugs like aspirin become harmful if taken over a long period; they rob the body of essential vitamins and minerals. Loss of these bodybuilding nutrients, especially the B group vitamins, can cause more pain and inflammation due to the breakdown of cartilage, bone and other important tissues.

Non-steroid anti-inflammatory drugs like indomethicin (Indocid) and ibuprofen and others, give pain relief and reduce joint swelling, but cause stomach problems with long-term use, while the Cox “2 inhibitors like celecoxib (Celebrex) while safer for the stomach, may cause cardiovascular problems.

Steroid medication causes a loss of potassium, but retention of sodium, while penicillamine, often used to treat RA, causes a lack of copper. Gout, the only form of arthritis scientifically shown to have a direct link to diet, is often treated with colchicine, which can cause a loss of vitamin B12. One long-term effect of steroid use is osteoporosis. To prevent this and other problems, steroids such as cortisone can be injected into the painful joint.

Disease-modifying and immunosuppressive drugs are sometimes given, but they have serious side effects too, so must be closely monitored. Some of these include: – gold, by injection or orally, methotrexate (Matrex), and anti-malarial drugs to name just a few.

When drugs dont seem to work, or the side effects are too serious, doctors may suggest surgery. Knee and hip replacements seem to be the flavor of the month and the success rate is about 95%, with most patients becoming pain-free. Replaced joint can last for up to fifteen years and when they start to give trouble can be replaced. There are a few unfortunates for whom the operation is not successful and the artificial joint must be removed. They are then left in a more debilitating condition than they started with.

Apart from the complete replacement of the joint, there are other surgery options like removing inflamed joint cavity linings, repairing damaged tendons or removing them completely. Doctors have succeeded in removing part of a bone that is causing pain; they have also released trapped nerves, and fused a joint to make it more stable. Therefore, it is advisable that you discuss the line of action or treatment with your doctor thoroughly before going in for any proposed surgery. You must be fully aware of the risks involved.

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Tags: Arthritis, health, Health and Fitness, pain, psoriatic, relief, rheumatoid, therapy, treatment

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