Psoriatic Arthritis Symptoms And Treatment
What are the symptoms and treatment for psoriatic arthritis?
Psoriatic arthritis is a condition characterized by swelling of joints coupled with pain and scaly patches on the skin. Many a people suffer from the skin disease called psoriasis which leads to swelling and scaling of fingertips, scalp, tip of the elbows and knees. Also, the genital areas may suffer from this condition. It may further aggravate to psoriatic arthritis and treatment of the same is of utmost importance.
Psoriatic arthritis is very much similar to rheumatoid arthritis, scientifically. Those who have a family history of psoriatic arthritis or pitting of the fingernails are more prone to this disease. Usually, men and women are equally affected by this disorder. But, when it involves spinal compression as well then men may be the more affected lot. It leads to limited motion coupled with pain and stiffness in the spine. Psoriatic arthritis may affect a single joint or many joints in a symmetrical manner.
To diagnose this problem evidently, the doctor would ask you to go for an X-ray and some blood tests. You could also notice the onset of this disease if you start to see some symptoms like pitting of fingernails. The nails of the toes and the finger start to loose grip on the nail bed and lose their place or develop a yellowish orange color. Pain and stiffness in the joints may follow later. It could be a mild as well as a deadly problem. The severity could even lead to permanent disabling of the affected joints. Psoriatic arthritis demands timely cure so that the problem may not aggravate further. Treatment procedure involves reduction of inflammation, preservation of function of the affected joint and the inducing the correct remission. The non medicinal treatment involves lifestyle changes, diet regulations, and joint protection. For the drugs, the doctor might prescribe some ointments and topical medications to cure the scaly skin. Some anti inflammatory drugs may be prescribed to control inflammation. Low doses of steroids and injecting may be used in severely affected joints. Disease modifying anti rheumatic drugs (DMARDS) such as methotrexate are the commonly used medicine to treat psoriatic as well as rheumatoid arthritis. For those patients that are worst affected, surgery may be recommended to avoid pain and loss of function. So, psoriatic arthritis is a serious disorder that must be checked in time. Now that you know everything about psoriatic arthritis and treatment, diagnosing it in time should not be much of a problem. Consult your healthcare provider as soon as you witness any of its signs and symptoms.
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