Guest guest Posted June 8, 2000 Report Share Posted June 8, 2000 This is one of the regular features available at one of the very best Arthritis Websites I know of. If you haven't visited this site yet, please do. And while you're there, click on some of the sponsor banners, so they can continue to keep up the good work It's a really terrific place to learn more about this illness. ~Georgina Expert Advice from the Arthritis Insight Website http://www.arthritisinsight.com/medical/advice/ There are many questions we have for our health care providers and so often we get nervous and forget to ask them. Our expert medical advisors are available to answer some of those questions. Please be aware that the answers posted here should never replace the advice given to you by your own health care providers. They have not examined you and are not aware of your medical history, they can only answer in general terms. We'll post a couple of questions and our experts' answers here every Tuesday. Our experts cannot answer you personally, but we'll post just as many as we can. 6/6/00-This week's questions: The joints in my mom's hands are swollen, her hand appears red, and she's in a lot of pain. What should she do? Encourage your Mom to see her doctor promptly and hopefully get a referral to a rheumatologist. There are many different kinds of arthritis and different types may need different therapies. Many people tend to think - I have arthritis - I'm old, there is nothing I can do. But this is very untrue. Perhaps you can take your Mom to the appointment so that you can help her learn what kinds of arthritis she has and what the recommended treatment is. Good luck. -Dr --------------------------------------------------------------------------------\ ------ What are the most likely causes of arthritis? There are so many types of arthritis that it is hard to make any kind of blanket statement about " what causes arthritis. " The question itself suggests a simplicity of thinking regarding cause-and-affect that just isn't realistic. The human body is an extremely complex machine and determining the cause of any disease requires a more sophisticated approach. In the field of epidemiology (the scientific study of the determinants of disease), we talk about disease in terms of risk factors and webs of causation. That is because there is no disease that has a single cause. Even AIDS is not caused just by exposure to the HIV virus. Many people have been exposed to the virus but did not get AIDS. There are other factors, which we are just beginning to understand, that interact with the virus to bring about the disease. The same is true for all forms of arthritis. There are many risk factors, including many we have not yet identified, which interact to bring about disease. Some of those risk factors are: Genetic susceptability Family History Defects present at birth Gender Obesity (for OA only) Participation in high impact sports (OA) Other traumas to the joints (OA) STD exposure (reactive forms of arthritis) Exposure to other infectious agents (infectious and reactive arthritis) However, the risk factors we have identified explain only a small portion of all cases of arthritis. We can not currently explain the majority of cases. There are many theories being explored, but until these theories have been shown to be true through experimental research, we can not include them in the web of causation. There is a lot of basic research to do before we can confidently say that we know " what causes arthritis. " That is a good reason why everyone should contact their congressional representatives and ask them to support increased funding for the CDC and NIH to continue thier work unraveling this mystery. Remember that we have identified over 100 risk factors for heart disease, yet we still can't predict with any level of confidence who will have a heart attack. Understanding the 170+ diseases we call arthritis will probably be an even more difficult challenge. -Walt Hanks CHES --------------------------------------------------------------------------------\ ------ I was diagnsosed with RSD a few years back. Recently I two bone scans done and blood workup that says I have arthritis. My doctor has prescribed arthritis medications and physical therapy. On my own with the permission of my doctor I have joined a water therapy group. My question is, if I had been tested and diagnosed with the arthritis and was on a proper treatment schedule would I be better off now? My doctor says yes. Because I had been treated with pain killers only and nothing else, the doctor says my condition worsened. Could this be true? In inflammatory arthritis (Rheumatoid, psoriatic and Reither's) a delay in diagnosis can be responsible for joint damaged. In osteoarthritis treatment only covers-up the symptoms and does not change the outcome. -Barry Waters, MD Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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