Very often, patients complain that their knuckles hurt. All pathologies have specific pronounced symptoms, so a specialist will quickly make a diagnosis and prescribe the appropriate treatment.
Rheumatoid arthritis
Rheumatoid arthritis is a serious disease accompanied by an inflammatory process. It causes joint pain and deformity. Pathology usually appears in people over 30 years old. Women suffer from it 3 times more often than men.
Rheumatoid arthritis appears suddenly and is associated with impaired functioning of the immune system. In this disease, immune cells mistake the joint cells for viruses or bacteria and try to eliminate them. The destruction process can last for many years.
The following symptoms of the disease are distinguished:
- severe joint pain, which worsens at night or in the morning;
- stiffness in the joints after sleep;
- high body temperature;
- sleep disturbance;
- rapid fatigue;
- decreased appetite;
- sudden weight loss;
- the formation of joints in the elbow area.
Rheumatoid arthritis develops due to the following factors:
- previous sore throat or flu;
- joint injuries;
- infectious pathology;
- long-term stress and depression;
- genetic predisposition.
A distinguishing feature of rheumatoid arthritis from arthrosis is the reduction of pain during exercise. If the knuckles of the fingers of the right hand hurt and swell, then the same symptoms appear in the left hand. Over time, the disease can affect other joints.
If you start therapy at an early stage, you can avoid joint deformation and destruction.
Hue!Breastfeeding for two years reduces the risk of rheumatoid arthritis in women by 2 times.
Treatment
Modern methods of treating rheumatoid arthritis include the following:
- aurotherapy;
- cytostatics;
- taking antimalarial drugs;
- sulfonamides;
- D-penicillamine.
On average, even an experienced rheumatologist takes about 6 months to choose the right treatment method, as he examines the patient's characteristics and his tolerance to medication.
What is aurotherapy?
Aurotherapy involves taking medications containing gold salts.
Doctors recommend the use of gold preparations in the initial stage of the disease. With their help, it is possible to achieve a positive effect in the treatment of acute, rapidly developing pathology with severe pain and early degenerative changes in the joints. Gold-based drugs are prescribed to patients when non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs have not relieved their condition.
The main advantage of aurotherapy is that it can be used for accompanying inflammatory pathologies and the presence of malignant tumors. Also, during research, scientists discovered that gold salts actively fight fungi and some bacteria, including Helicobacter pylori.
The course of treatment with gold preparations is 2-3 months. If during this period the patient's condition has not improved, then this technique is cancelled.
Note!Many people experience a relapse of rheumatoid arthritis some time after gold treatment. The rheumatologist can re-prescribe aurotherapy. Sometimes such treatment can last for years if it does not cause negative consequences in other organs.
Is cytostatic therapy effective?
To eliminate the symptoms of rheumatoid arthritis, it is customary to use cytostatics.
Since the disease is of autoimmune origin, it is not surprising that doctors prescribe immunosuppressants. Their main advantage is their high efficiency at a relatively low dose. Patients with rheumatoid arthritis are prescribed 5 or even 20 times less dose of cytostatics than cancer patients. Medicines have proven themselves in the fight against severe forms of the disease with a high rate of progress.
Another advantage of treatment with immunosuppressants is the minimal number of side effects. Very rarely, patients complain of the following symptoms:
- skin rash;
- bowel dysfunction;
- chills;
- difficulty urinating.
If the drug is stopped or the doctor adjusts the dose, the side effects disappear quickly. The course of treatment is 1 month.
Treatment of finger joints with antimalarial drugs
Treatment of rheumatoid arthritis with antimalarial drugs is extremely rare. The main advantage of this treatment is the good tolerability of the drugs. A significant disadvantage of this treatment is that antimalarial drugs act slowly. Their effect is visible after 6-12 months, but the therapeutic effect is quite weak.
Will sulfonamides help with rheumatoid arthritis?
Drugs from the group of sulfonamides are used successfully to treat finger pain. Their advantages include:
- Good tolerance.
- Low complication rate, if any.
- Affordable price.
The disadvantage of these drugs is their slow action. The positive effect is visible only 3 months after the start of the course of therapy.
How to treat the disease with D-penicillamine?
If the patient is suitable for treatment with gold preparations or the use of a cytostatic, then there is no need to prescribe D-penicillamine. It is much inferior to the listed treatment methods in terms of effectiveness, but significantly exceeds them in the number of side effects, the frequency of their occurrence and the rate of complications. Therefore, treatment with D-penicillamine is used in cases where patients do not tolerate gold salts and cytostatics well.
D-penicillamine is used effectively in patients who have heart, respiratory or kidney complications. It should be taken for 3 to 5 years, then a break of several years will be required, after which the course must be repeated.
Gout - symptoms and treatment
One of the dangerous diseases of joints and tissues is gout. It occurs due to a metabolic disorder in the body. Gout is characterized by an increased amount of uric acid in the lymph.
Symptoms of the disease include:
- inflammation of the thumb joint;
- severe pressing pains in the morning or at night;
- increase in body temperature;
- skin rash;
- growth in legs or arms.
If treatment is not started immediately, the patient may develop gouty arthritis. Possible complications also include urolithiasis and kidney failure, which can lead to death.
For the treatment of gout, non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs are used for 1-2 weeks.
To quickly reduce the concentration of uric acid in the body, anti-gout drugs are prescribed.
To eliminate the acute symptoms of gout, experts prescribe a medicine based on the alkaloid of the corms of the magnificent lily family. Glucocorticoids are used to relieve swelling and pain. These drugs quickly remove inflammation, but have a negative effect on the immune system.
Psoriatic arthritis
About 15% of patients diagnosed with psoriasis have problems with finger joints. The signs of this disease are:
- joint deformity;
- pain syndrome at night;
- numbness of limbs;
- burgundy skin spot at the site of the disease;
- swelling of fingers;
- limited mobility.
Most patients suffering from psoriatic arthritis experience damage to the nail plates. First, small pits are formed on their surface, then their color changes due to the breakdown of microcirculation.
Very often, pregnant women are diagnosed with psoriatic arthritis. This is due to the fact that the disease is also of hormonal origin, and a woman undergoes hormonal changes in her body during pregnancy. Increased symptoms of arthritis in pregnant women are often accompanied by weight gain.
The following causes of psoriatic arthritis have been identified:
- injuries;
- severe stress and emotional stress;
- excessive physical activity;
- infectious diseases;
- hereditary predisposition.
The following groups of drugs are used to treat psoriatic arthritis:
- Nonsteroidal drugs. Designed to eliminate inflammation and reduce pain.
- Glucocorticosteroids: injected into the joint cavity.
- Cytostatic from the group of folic acid antagonists: it is the most popular systemic drug.
- An immunosuppressant that acts selectively on T lymphocytes: it is used to slow down the changes that occur in bone and cartilage tissue.
For psoriatic arthritis, it is recommended to give up alcoholic beverages, reduce the consumption of citrus fruits and smoked foods, and stick to a low-calorie diet.
Osteoarthritis - how to treat it and what are the consequences of the disease?
Elderly people often complain that their knuckles are swollen. This can be one of the signs of osteoarthritis. The disease can appear for the following reasons:
- hormonal imbalance;
- genetic predisposition;
- stress and injuries at work;
- age-related metabolic disorder.
Joint pain can help identify the disease. An accurate diagnosis is made by a specialist after X-ray and MRI examination.
Gymnastics will help alleviate the patient's condition. The set of exercises is selected by the doctor, focusing on the individual characteristics of the patient with osteoarthritis. Therapy also includes following a diet to lose excess weight, if any. You can not do without thermal procedures. Paraffin baths are recommended, to which mineral oil should be added.
To eliminate pain and relieve swelling, a non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug from the group of propionic acid and acetylsalicylic acid derivatives is prescribed. Among analgesics, a drug from the anilide group is often used. Massage sessions will help warm up the muscles and improve blood circulation.
If treatment is not started at the right time, the person will become unable to cope with daily activities in the future. In such cases, joint replacement surgery cannot be avoided.
What is rhizarthrosis?
If a patient has pain in the big toe, this may indicate that he has rhizarthrosis. The reasons for this phenomenon can be:
- joint overload;
- past infectious disease;
- injuries;
- intoxication of the body.
Treatment of rhizarthrosis in stages 1-2 includes taking chondroprotectors. They activate the process of the appearance of new cartilage cells, which helps to eliminate the disease.
It is quite popular to use manual therapy for the treatment of rhizarthrosis. The therapist can reorganize the changed joint, as a result of which the pain syndrome will disappear. In addition, you can massage the thumb to increase the tone of the cartilage tissue and improve the mobility of the joints.
If the patient is diagnosed with the third stage of rhizarthrosis, then intra-articular injections of hyaluronic acid are prescribed. The use of glucocorticosteroids and non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs is also effective. They increase blood flow to the affected joint, eliminate pain and relieve swelling.
Traditional medicine for finger pain
You can cope with the pain not only with the help of medicines, but also by resorting to folk remedies. For acute pain, it is effective to use a gauze bandage soaked in apple cider vinegar. To relieve swelling, compresses using baked onions or boiled potatoes are perfect. It is helpful to warm the sore joint with hot sea salt and rub it with fir oil.
tinctures
A common method of treatment is tinctures. You can use vodka for preparation. You need to take 50 ml of vodka and 30 ml of valerian tincture, mix both ingredients and add a few pods of red pepper. After 3 hours, soak a cotton swab in the resulting mixture and apply it to the phalanx. The positive effect is visible after a month of such treatment.
Another effective remedy is a tincture based on chestnut flowers. It is enough to collect the raw materials and mix them with vodka. Leave it for 14 to 20 days. Rub the product when your fingers are numb and feel pain. Instead of chestnut blossom, it is allowed to use lilac.
ointment
If your joints hurt when you squeeze your fingers, you should use an ointment with mustard and honey. To prepare it, combine 5 g of mustard and 15 g of honey. Then, add 30 ml of olive oil, evaporate the mixture in a water bath to a thick consistency, cool and use every day to treat the affected joints.
For pain in the joint of the index finger of the right hand, an ointment based on bay leaves and juniper needles is recommended. Both ingredients should be mixed in equal proportions, then add 50 g of butter. You can use the ointment during regular joint massage.