What are the symptoms of rheumatism?

Classification: medical and health care

Problem description:

Let's briefly talk about the main situation of rheumatism. It is rheumatism that happens like a young man. My mother now has a sore left arm muscle, a sore shoulder axis and sometimes her left arm is numb. Is this rheumatism? If so, is it serious? What should I do? Are there any tips in daily life that can be alleviated? Thank you for knowing everything.

Analysis:

Common symptoms of rheumatism

Rheumatology is a young clinical medical discipline. Due to the late start, people's understanding of rheumatism is still very shallow, which is easy to cause missed diagnosis and misdiagnosis. Rheumatism refers to diseases that mainly invade joints, muscles, bones and soft tissues around joints, such as tendons, ligaments, bursa of fabricius and fascia. Common autoimmune connective tissue diseases, systemic vasculitis and bone and joint diseases have the following common symptoms:

1. Fever is a common symptom of rheumatism, which can be divided into mild, moderate or severe. Usually manifested as irregular fever, generally no chills, ineffective antibiotics and rapid ESR. Such as systemic lupus erythematosus, adult Stier's disease, acute neutrophilic febrile dermatosis and panniculitis. A fever may be the first symptom.

2. Pain is the main symptom of rheumatism and an important cause of dysfunction. Pain originating from joints and their subsidiary structures is the most common pain in rheumatism, but pain in limbs and trunk can also be seen in visceral and nervous system diseases. Joint pain, neck and shoulder pain, low back pain and heel pain are often the main manifestations of rheumatism, sometimes accompanied by joint swelling. Rheumatoid arthritis often has symmetrical joint swelling and pain, especially finger joints and wrist joints; Ankylosing spondylitis lumbago, aggravated at rest, may be accompanied by heel pain and red eye; Rheumatic polymyalgia includes neck and shoulder pain, limb muscle pain and muscle weakness.

3. Skin and mucous membrane symptoms: Systemic lupus erythematosus, dermatomyositis/polymyositis, Behcet's disease, panniculitis and Sjogren's syndrome may include rash, photosensitivity, oral ulcer, vulvar ulcer, eye symptoms, reticular cyanosis and skin ulcer.

4. Raynaud's sign: fingers (toes) turn white when they are cold or emotional, and then turn purple to red or accompanied by numbness and pain at the fingers (toes). In severe cases, skin ulceration can occur, which can be seen in scleroderma, rheumatoid arthritis, mixed connective tissue disease and systemic lupus erythematosus.

5. Muscle may have myalgia, myasthenia, increased muscle enzymes, myogenic damage of electromyography, such as dermatomyositis/polymyositis, mixed connective tissue disease, systemic lupus erythematosus, etc.

6. Systemic damage: Some rheumatism, especially autoimmune connective tissue diseases, such as systemic lupus erythematosus and rheumatoid arthritis, can cause multiple organ damage, such as carditis (pericarditis, myocarditis, endocarditis), renal damage (proteinuria, hematuria, edema, hypertension, renal failure), and blood system (leukopenia, erythropenia, thrombocytopenia, blood tolerance, etc.). ) and respiratory system (interstitial).

7. There are often autoantibodies: antinuclear antibodies, anti-ds-DNA antibodies, anti-ENA antibodies, anti-platelet antibodies, anticardiolipin antibodies, rheumatoid factors, etc.

Can rheumatism be cured?

In the concept of modern medicine, rheumatism is the abbreviation of rheumatic diseases, which generally refers to a large group of diseases affecting bones, joints, muscles and their surrounding soft tissues, such as bursa, tendon, fascia, blood vessels and nerves. Rheumatic diseases include diffuse connective tissue disease (such as rheumatoid arthritis, systemic lupus erythematosus, Sjogren's syndrome, inflammatory myopathy, scleroderma, mixed connective tissue disease, Behcet's disease, etc. ), systemic vasculitis, spinal arthropathy (such as ankylosing spondylitis, reactive arthritis, Rhett syndrome, etc. ), osteoarthritis, osteoporosis, etc. 100 more than a variety of diseases mainly involving connective tissues such as bones and joints.

Rheumatism has been an independent scientific research in the world for one hundred years. 65438-0927, the International Anti-Rheumatism Alliance was established on five continents. Rheumatology is the youngest clinical discipline of internal medicine in China. China Rheumatology Society was founded in 1985, and dozens of big hospitals in China have set up rheumatology immunology departments. Through the efforts of several generations of rheumatologists, the level of diagnosis and treatment of rheumatism in China is catching up with the advanced level in the world. But the knowledge of rheumatism has not been widely popularized in China, and the phenomenon of misdiagnosis and mistreatment is still very common. The so-called "secret recipe", quack doctor and fake medicine take advantage of this situation and inappropriately exaggerate the side effects of western medicine, which makes a considerable number of rheumatism patients suffer greatly. The diagnosis and treatment of rheumatism can only be guaranteed by large hospitals with rheumatology or rheumatology immunology.

Various rheumatic diseases, especially autoimmune rheumatism, often appear systemic multi-system and multi-organ damage, with complex symptoms and complicated clinical manifestations, which often become intractable diseases. The course of rheumatism is chronic and persistent, and some of them will attack, so the diagnosis and treatment are quite complicated. If drugs are not used regularly, it will often increase the difficulty of diagnosis and treatment.

The diagnosis of patients requires not only detailed medical history and physical examination, but also various antibody tests. The treatment after diagnosis is a long-term process. Most rheumatism is difficult to cure and often requires long-term or even lifelong medication. Although most rheumatism is difficult to cure, it can still be treated. Through regular and systematic drug treatment, most patients can control their illness, relieve symptoms, prevent disability, improve their quality of life and save lives. Suffering from rheumatism, if not treated or not treated systematically, it will often delay the illness, lead to disability and even life-threatening. With the in-depth study of the pathogenesis of rheumatism, stem cell transplantation and other radical methods for rheumatism are being tested in clinical trials, and there is reason to believe that rheumatism can be cured in the near future.

How to see a doctor

Many rheumatic diseases belong to chronic progressive diseases. Therefore, after suffering from rheumatism, you should always communicate with doctors, so it is very important for patients to choose doctors. So, what kind of doctor do you choose? For most rheumatism patients, it is best to see internal medicine. Because doctors have received special training in the diagnosis and treatment of diseases and have a certain understanding of rheumatism, they can deal with a wide range of rheumatism. In hospitals with rheumatology or rheumatology immunology, it is more convenient for patients to go directly to rheumatology. Rheumatologists have received special training in rheumatology, have a comprehensive and systematic understanding of rheumatism, and are also skilled in the diagnosis and treatment of specialized diseases. For complicated and refractory rheumatic diseases, you should see a rheumatologist. At present, many hospitals have set up rheumatism specialties. Therefore, if your rheumatism is complicated and can't be diagnosed in time, or your condition doesn't improve after being treated by a general practitioner for a period of time, or you have severe rheumatoid arthritis, systemic lupus erythematosus or ankylosing spondylitis, you should see a rheumatologist as soon as possible, which is beneficial to patients. It is worth noting that many patients spend a lot of time. They watched one advertisement after another, found one doctor after another, and took one medicine after another, but often their diseases could not be cured. This is because the treatment of many rheumatism takes a long time, and doctors need to have a long-term plan and observe the curative effect. According to the change of the condition, they need to adjust the treatment plan in time. Therefore, it is best to fix it in the rheumatology department of the hospital. Some rheumatology departments also have special patient follow-up medical records, which is conducive to long-term systematic treatment so as not to delay treatment.

Common inspection methods of rheumatism

Common rheumatic diseases include autoimmune connective tissue disease (systemic lupus erythematosus, rheumatoid arthritis, Sjogren's syndrome, scleroderma, dermatomyositis/polymyositis, mixed connective tissue disease, Behcet's disease, etc. ) and systemic vasculitis (Takayasu's arteritis, Takayasu's arteritis nodularis, Weger's granuloma, microscopic vasculitis, giant cell arteritis/rheumatic polymyalgia, allergic purpura, Kawasaki disease, etc. ). Wright syndrome, reactive arthritis, psoriatic arthritis, enteropathic arthritis, gouty arthritis, osteoarthritis, etc. ), the etiology is often related to autoimmunity and heredity, and the clinical manifestations are often fever, joint pain and swelling, rash, muscle pain, Raynaud's syndrome and so on. And the condition is often very complicated. Therefore, in the process of clinical diagnosis, in addition to knowing the medical history in detail and doing some routine examinations, it is necessary to pass some special examinations of rheumatism, such as clinical immunology examination, audio-visual examination of bones and joints, genetics, pathological biopsy and arthroscopy, so as to make a clear diagnosis. Common college examination methods: 1. Clinical immunological examination includes antinuclear antibody spectrum, anti-ds-DNA antibody, anti-ENA antibody, anti-neutrophil cytoplasmic antibody, anti-platelet antibody, anticardiolipin antibody, rheumatoid factor, anti-perinuclear factor, anti-keratin antibody, anti-mitochondrial antibody, anti-smooth muscle antibody, complement, T lymphocyte subsets and so on. 2. Audio-visual examination of bone and joint includes joint MRI, vascular MRI, joint CT examination, angiography and bone scanning. 3. Heredity: major histocompatibility antigens MCH(HLA) such as HLA-B27 and HAL-DR4；; 4. Pathological examination: renal biopsy (immunohistochemistry), skin lupus band, lip gland biopsy, blood vessel biopsy, lymph node biopsy, etc. 5. Arthroscopy; 6. Others: bone mineral density, corneal fluorescence staining, tear film rupture test, Smith test, saliva flow, joint fluid examination, etc.

Common treatment methods of rheumatism

Rheumatic diseases are a group of musculoskeletal diseases mainly treated by internal medicine, including diffuse connective tissue diseases and diseases of joints and soft tissues around joints caused by various reasons, including muscles, tendons and ligaments. Common treatment methods:

1. Rheumatism often invades joints, muscles, bones and soft tissues, and the symptoms such as pain, swelling, joint dysfunction and fever are more prominent. The primary purpose of treating these diseases is to reduce fever, relieve pain, diminish inflammation and relieve symptoms. Therefore, non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, such as Voltalin, Mobike, Le Song, Tianxinlide, celebrex and Wanluo, are often used, and the new non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs are effective and highly effective.

2. If rheumatic diseases are not treated correctly and reasonably, diseases such as joints, muscles and bones will lead to dysfunction and deformity, leaving lifelong disability, affecting life and labor, and bringing economic losses to individuals and society. Judging from the tissues invaded by rheumatic diseases, systemic lupus erythematosus, rheumatoid arthritis, scleroderma, polymyositis, necrotizing vasculitis and ankylosing spondylitis, which used to be called connective tissue diseases, all have autoimmune disorders and belong to a group of autoimmune disorders. Gouty arthritis has been clearly defined as purine metabolism disorder, which leads to urate crystal deposition in joints, often involving joint cavities, bones and ligaments. Therefore, the treatment of rheumatism needs not only symptomatic treatment to relieve symptoms, but also etiological treatment. Autoimmune diseases need immunomodulation, such as corticosteroids and immunosuppressants. Great progress has been made in immunosuppressive therapy, and new drugs have been found for clinical use, such as Xiao, Ai and so on. New treatments are constantly being discovered. For example, for mild systemic lupus erythematosus, low-dose combination therapy of prednisone, chloroquine and MTX can significantly reduce side effects; ② Rheumatoid arthritis was treated with combination therapy, including first-line drugs, second-line drugs and second-line drugs. ③ Treatment of severe rheumatism with large dose of gamma globulin.

3. Biotherapy and bone marrow transplantation have also been used in clinical trials.

4. Arthroscopy can also be used to treat joint diseases, which greatly improves the curative effect, improves the prognosis of diseases, significantly reduces the disability rate and improves the quality of life of patients.

Self-exercise and nursing of rheumatoid hand

Rheumatoid arthritis is a systemic inflammatory disease with unknown etiology. Autoimmune dysfunction is its pathogenesis. Although it is a systemic disease, it is mainly joint swelling and pain, especially the small joints of both hands appear stiff and swollen in the early stage and deformed and stiff in the late stage, which is called rheumatoid hand. Traditional Chinese medicine believes that the disease is due to the invasion of pathogenic wind, cold and dampness, deficiency of liver and kidney essence and blood, obstruction of meridians and stagnation of qi and blood, so it is swelling and pain. "The liver is the main reinforcement and the kidney is the main bone". A long illness will invade the bones and muscles, and the liver and kidney will be more deficient due to a long illness. If you can't nourish the bones and muscles, there will be muscle contracture, bone hunger and joint deformation.

Besides systematic treatment, we should also pay attention to prevent the occurrence of hand rheumatoid disease. The specific method is as follows:

First, self-massage exercise:

1 shaking method: shake the wrist, palm and interphalangeal joints every morning to achieve the effect of detumescence and pain relief, and maintain and help restore the normal function of joints.

2. Kneading fingering: insist on twisting ten knuckles alternately with both hands every day, and massage joints and related acupoints to achieve the purpose of spasmolysis, pain relief and swelling reduction.

Second, self-care:

Because hands are often exposed, they have the widest contact with the outside world and are most vulnerable to wind, cold and humidity. Therefore, patients should pay attention to keep their hands warm, windproof and moistureproof. Attention should also be paid to maintaining the normal functional posture of each joint to avoid ankylosis.

What should patients with rheumatic diseases pay attention to when cooking food?

Food not only provides nutrition for the human body, but also plays a role in treating diseases, that is, dietotherapy, if cooked properly. Where food is used for dietotherapy, it is generally not appropriate to use cooking methods such as frying, roasting, boiling and explosion, so as to avoid excessive destruction of its effective components or change its nature and lose its due role in diseases. Dietetic foods should be steamed, stewed, boiled and soup. Diet therapy should be a small amount of meals, long water flow, not too much at a time, so as not to damage the spleen and stomach function.