Arthritis

Arthritis is the inflammation of the joints, which is accompanied by swelling, stiffness, pain. The arthritis can occur as a result of infection, degenerative disease, disturbance in metabolism or other etiologies.

The arthritis occurs in different forms, which are bacterial arthritis, osteoarthritis, or rheumatoid arthritis etc.

The types of arthritis are over one hundred and still growing. Osteoarthritis occurs due to the wear and tear of the cartilage. The rheumatoid arthritis occurs due to the over activity of the immune system.

The individuals suffering from arthritis include men, women, children. There are about 350 million people worldwide who are affected by arthritis. Only in United States there are about 40 million people suffering from arthritis and among them quarter of a million are children.

Rheumatoid arthritis is the most crippling form of arthritis and women are more susceptible to it than men. Rheumatoid arthritis occurs usually between the ages of 10 and 25. The factors that worsen the arthritis are obesity and overwork.

Arthritis can be diagnosed on the basis of the speed of onset, age, sex, the joints which are involved. The tests that are diagnostic to determine arthritis are blood work, x-ray of the joints that shows bone erosions or bone apposition. Other tests that are done are renal function tests, liver enzymes, calcium, protein electrophoresis, C-reactive protein, and erythrocyte sedimentation rate.

Treatment of arthritis includes use of heat, physical therapy, massage, nonsteroidal antiinflammatory drugs, such as aspirin, ibuprofen, naproxen. If the symptoms of arthritis recur, then remission can be achieved by giving medicines such as methotrexate, gold, and prednisone.

There was a research that was conducted, which showed that diet rich in oily fish raises the production of antiinflammatory fat and thus the effects of arthritis can be reduced.

As a last note, arthritis is a crippling disease and one needs to get that diagnosed as early as possible.

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