Barry Fox - Arthritis For Dummies

Some people prefer heat, others cold, but use whatever works for you. Hot baths, heating pads, electric blankets, and hot tubs can relax painful muscles, while ice packs can numb the affected area. To avoid damaging tissues, just make sure you don’t use either method for longer than 20 minutes at a time. (See Chapter 10for more information on physical therapy for pain relief.)

Always give your skin time to return to its usual temperature before reapplying hot or cold packs.

If you’re overweight, your hips, knees, and ankles are probably suffering. Not only are they subjected to a force equal to three times your body weight each time you take a step, they can be pummeled by ten times your body weight if you jog or run! So that extra 10 pounds around your middle may translate to an extra 100 pounds slamming away on certain joints at certain times. And that’s only one reason why keeping your weight at an acceptable level is so important. (See Appendix Cfor more information on diet and weight control.)

Fifty percent of patients who develop knee osteoarthritis have been overweight for three to ten years.

Strategies for pain management, foods and supplements that may help ease symptoms, positive thinking, prayer, spirituality, massage, relaxation techniques, and alternative healing methods can add to your arsenal in the fight against pain and disability. Don’t ignore their enormous potential to improve the quality of your life. (See Chapters 10, 11, and 15through 19for more information on these topics.)

When you have a painful joint that isn’t going to get better, and the pain is seriously compromising your level of function and the quality of your life, you may want to consider surgery. These days, routine surgeries like arthroscopic surgery, cartilage transplants, and joint replacement surgery can make a huge difference for those who live in pain. (See Chapter 9for more information on surgery.)

Mark, a 35-year-old television executive, had been a hotshot college quarterback in his younger days. But after winding up at the bottom of one too many half-ton pileups, his knees were shot.

“I was a sitting duck for those guys,” Mark says ruefully. “They just couldn’t wait to pounce on me, no matter what the play. After two years of getting hit over and over again, my body just couldn’t take it anymore. I was permanently sidelined.”

Sidelined from football, perhaps, but not other sports. Over the next several years he took up jogging, karate, fencing, and weight lifting. “I tried to do something every day,” Mark said. “But it wasn’t just because I wanted to keep in shape. I would get itchy if I didn’t get a certain amount of exercise on a daily basis.” In spite of his efforts, though, he managed to pack an extra 20 pounds onto his once rock-hard body. (“Beer and nachos while watching football,” Mark explained, smiling.)

Then one day, right in the middle of a fencing match, his right knee began to hurt. “It was a deep pain, way inside my knee, a pretty intense soreness that lasted through the match and really bugged me,” Mark said. Afterward, he iced his knee, and the pain went away. But it began to bother him now and again, often during fencing, and also when he was jogging or in the bent-knee stance of karate. When the pain became present more often than not, Mark went to see a sports medicine doctor.

“Sounds to me like osteoarthritis,” his doctor said. An X-ray confirmed that the cartilage in his knee was “rough” and quite thin. “Arthritis!” Mark exploded. “But that’s for old people. I’m only 35!”

Two years later, Mark’s osteoarthritis is pretty well under control. He rarely has pain, unless he stands in line for long periods of time. And although he has given up certain knee-thrashing sports (such as football, karate, and fencing), he has found that he’s still physically able to do just about whatever he wants.

“I chalk my recovery up to two main things,” Mark says. “Losing weight and switching activities. Once I dropped that extra 20 pounds I’d been lugging around, my knee pain also dropped about 50 percent. Then I started swimming every day — a real boon to my joints since I could keep them loosened up without the slamming impact of jogging or jumping rope. Yoga has also helped me gain some flexibility while getting rid of some tension. And I’ve been taking a few supplements that seem to help. All in all, I feel like a brand new guy.”

Chapter 3

IN THIS CHAPTER

Understanding what causes rheumatoid arthritis

Recognizing the warning signs of rheumatoid arthritis

Pinpointing who is most likely to develop the disease

Confirming the diagnosis

Treating rheumatoid arthritis

Differentiating between rheumatoid arthritis and osteoarthritis

Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is a case of the human body’s good intentions gone awry. Your body is equipped with a very effective immune system that fights off bacteria and other foreign bodies. Specialized immune cells attack these invaders, surround them, paralyze them, and destroy them. A strong, intact immune system is absolutely essential to your survival — without it, you would quickly become consumed by infections and disease. But if your immune system should suddenly go haywire and start attacking your body’s own tissues, it could become your worst enemy. Such is the case with RA. When you have RA, your immune system attacks the tissues that cushion and line your joints, eventually causing entire joints to deteriorate.

RA doesn’t have to be all bad news though; check out the sidebar “ Overcoming RA: Lucy’s Story” later in the chapter to learn how actress Lucille Ball stayed active and healthy until the end of her life, despite having rheumatoid arthritis.

For reasons that aren’t completely understood, in rheumatoid arthritis the white blood cells of the immune system attack the joint lining (synovial membrane) as if it were a foreign object. And pain, swelling, loss of movement, and joint destruction are the unhappy results. After the immune system goes to work on the joint lining, here’s what happens:

1 The assaulted membrane becomes inflamed and painful, the entire joint capsule swells, and the synovial cells start to grow and divide in an abnormal way.