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Arthritis Medication |
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Arthritis is a
painful condition of the joints that causes swelling and inflammation. It
can occur at any time of a person’s life, no matter the gender. As of now,
medical science has yet to find a cure to arthritis, but there are several
treatment methods available to alleviate the symptoms, the most common of
which is pain.
Below are some arthritis medications that have been approved for consumer
use:
NSAIDs (Non Steroidal Anti Inflammatory Drugs)
NSAIDs are the most common arthritis medications, available in most
drugstore shelves, supermarket, and even discount or convenient stores. As
an over the counter drug, you do not need a physician’s prescription to
start using this arthritis medication.
The main purpose of the drug is to reduce pain – from muscles aches and
headaches to minor joint pains and fever, all of which are common symptoms
of arthritis. In addition to pain reduction, NSAID can also help alleviate
joint inflammation.
NSAIDs are available in three basic categories: traditional NSAIDs, COX-2
inhibitors, and salicylates.
Analgesics
Analgesics are like NSAIDs in that they can provide relief for pain.
However, that is all that this arthritis medication can do. It cannot reduce
inflammation or swelling of the joints. Nevertheless, analgesics are most
helpful if, for some reason, the patient cannot take NSAIDs (like if he is
allergic to it or suffers stomach problems if he takes that arthritis
medication) to help relieve pain.
Biologic Response Modifiers
Most arthritis medications are symptom-specified. That is, they commonly
target only the signs and symptoms of arthritis, such as joint pains and
inflammation, not the disease itself. However, there is a class of arthritis
medications that aim at halting disease progression. They are called
biologic response modifiers or BRMs. This class of arthritis medication
works in different ways, although all of them have something to do with a
protein called cytokines. By inhibiting the production of cytokines, BRMs
can effectively stop inflammation.
Corticosteroids
Corticosteroids, more commonly known as steroids, make up some of the oldest
and most effective arthritis medication. It is also one of the fastest
working. Joints, eyes, and internal organs that have been damaged due to
arthritic inflammation can be spared with the application of steroids. Not
only that, but there have been many cases where steroids saved lives.
However, this arthritis medication needs to be used properly and sparingly.
Because while steroids have the potential to help arthritic patients, they
also have the potential to do great harm by causing bones to become brittle,
cataracts to occur, and blood sugar levels to elevate.
DMARDs (Disease Modifying Anti Rheumatic Drugs
This is another arthritis medication that targets arthritis as a disease and
not just its symptoms. In this aspect, DMARDs are similar to BRMs, which
also aims to halt progression of the disease. One key difference is that
DMARDs, while effective, work slow and produce gradual results. Some types
of this drug, like hydroxychloroquine for instance, may take three or four
months before you notice any results. This gives you all the more reason to
start it early.
This type of arthritis medication is commonly used for rheumatoid arthritis,
as what its name suggests. However, there have been cases where this DMARDs
were also used to treat juvenile rheumatoid arthritis, ankylosing spndylitis,
psoriatic arthritis, and lupus. |
| This article
is provided courtesy of Roxanne Courtmanch. Please visit
www.thehelpingcircle.com for more articles on arthritis
as well as many other topics that may be of interest to you.
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Arthritis Medication
Arthritis is a
painful condition of the joints that causes swelling and inflammation. It
can occur at any time of a person’s life, no matter the gender.
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