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Rheumatoid arthritis and pain in the legs

 
, medical expert
Last reviewed: 23.04.2024
 
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Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is a common autoimmune disease that can cause chronic inflammation of the joints, in particular, the joints of the legs. This insidious disease can also cause inflammation and damage to the internal organs. What are the causes of rheumatoid arthritis, affecting the legs, and how to deal with it?

Why does rheumatoid arthritis occur?

trusted-source[1], [2], [3], [4], [5]

Why does rheumatoid arthritis occur?

Rheumatoid arthritis can affect a person and cause pain in the legs, as well as in other organs, when the tissues of the body are erroneously attacked by their own immune system. It contains a complex of cells and antibodies that are called to "find and destroy" invaders of the body, causing various diseases, in particular, infection.

People with autoimmune diseases have antibodies in their blood that have the purpose of destroying their own tissues, where inflammatory processes take place. This can affect other parts of the body, in particular, leg health. Rheumatoid arthritis is also called rheumatic fever.

The most dangerous age for patients who suffer from rheumatoid arthritis and suffer from leg pain is 20 to 50 years. Female joints are a disease, like rheumatoid arthritis, capable of hitting more often than men. Children also do not spare this disease, usually hitting the joints of the knees. For men, changes in the joints of the feet, toes, knee and hip joints are more common. For women, rheumatoid arthritis starts with pain in the hands, and then switches to the wrists, then the joints of the legs may be badly hurt. True, there is no typical localization of pain for women - limbs can be affected - both hands and feet.

What are the causes and risk factors for rheumatoid arthritis?

The causes of such a disease, as rheumatoid arthritis, are unknown. Although scientists have long suspected the effects of infectious agents, such as viruses, bacteria and fungi, their effects have not been proven to be a cause. In the field of world studies, these causes are being actively investigated. It is believed that the tendency to develop rheumatoid arthritis can be genetically inherited.

Some genes that increase the risk of the disease have been identified. Some infectious diseases or environmental aggression can cause activation of the immune system in hypersensitive people. This immune system goes into an attack on the own tissues of its own organism. This leads to inflammation in the joints, and sometimes in various organs of the body, such as the lungs or eyes. Or legs - that more often.

It is not known what causes the onset of rheumatoid arthritis. Regardless of the exact trigger, the resulting immune system is aimed at promoting inflammation in the joints, and sometimes other body tissues. Immune cells, called lymphocytes, are activated and act as chemical couriers of cytokines that cause tumors, this is also a necrosis factor, especially expressed in inflamed parts of the body. In particular, the joints of the legs, which are very sore.

Environmental factors also play a role in the occurrence of rheumatoid arthritis. For example, scientists reported that smoking tobacco, the effect of silica on plants. Which we are consuming in food, and chronic periodontal diseases significantly increase the risk of development of an insidious and dangerous disease, like rheumatoid arthritis.

Features of the course of the disease

Rheumatoid arthritis is a chronic disease, which means that it can last for many years, so people with this disease can experience the flow, but without any symptoms. However, rheumatoid arthritis is usually a progressive disease that tends to cause the destruction of leg joints and lead a person to functional disability.

The joint is the place where two bones meet to provide a limb movement for a person, for example, legs. Arthritis of the legs is an inflammation of the joints of the legs. Inflammation of our joints during the course of rheumatoid arthritis causes swelling, pain, stiffness and redness in the joints. Inflammation can also last in tissues located around the joints, for example, such as tendons, ligaments and muscles.

In some people affected by the disease, chronic inflammation leads to a prolonged destruction of the cartilage, bones and ligaments, which eventually leads to deformation of the joints. Damage to the joints can be in the initial stage of the disease and be progressive. In addition, studies have shown that progressive damage to leg joints does not necessarily correlate with the degree of pain, stiffness, swelling in the joints.

Rheumatoid arthritis is a common rheumatic disease that affects 1.3 million people in the US alone, according to current census data. This disease is three times more common in women than in men. Rheumatoid arthritis and associated pain in the legs affect people of all races equally.

This disease with painful pain can capture the limbs of a person at any age and even affects children (this is so-called juvenile rheumatoid arthritis), but most often this disease starts at the age of 40-60 years. In some fairly sporting families, several people can be struck immediately, which indicates the genetic causes of this autoimmune disorder.

trusted-source[6], [7], [8], [9], [10]

What are the symptoms of rheumatoid arthritis associated with leg pain?

Symptoms of dangerous rheumatoid arthritis appear and disappear, depending on some degree of inflammation in the tissues of the legs. When these tissues become inflamed, the disease is active. When the inflammation of the tissues of the legs goes away, the disease becomes inactive (it is now in remission). Remission can occur spontaneously or can last for years, months, weeks. Symptoms of the disease during the remission phase may disappear, and people usually feel good. When the disease becomes active again (relapse), the symptoms of rheumatoid arthritis return.

The return of the disease activity and its vivid symptoms are called a flash or an attack. The intensity with pain in the legs varies depending on the overall health of the affected, periods of outbreaks and remissions for leg pain are typical.

When the disease is active, the symptoms may include leg fatigue, total energy loss, loss of appetite, subfebrile fever, pain in the muscles and joints of the legs, muscle stiffness and joint stiffness. As a rule, they are most noticeable in the first half of the day and after a period of inactivity of the disease.

During flashes of pain, the joints of the feet often become red, swollen, painful. This is due to the fact that the lining of the joint tissue inflames, resulting in excessive production of joint fluid (synovial fluid). The synovial membrane of the joint of the legs thickens and its inflammation (synovitis) arises.

Symmetry of pain in the legs

Rheumatoid arthritis usually flares up in several joints of the legs symmetrically (on both sides of the affected body). Early symptoms can be almost invisible. The small joints of the hands and especially the wrists are often attached to this process. People suffering from rheumatoid arthritis can not perform even the simplest tasks of everyday life, such as turning the door handle and opening the can. Small foot joints are also often involved in the pain process, it can lead to painful walking, especially in the mornings, when a person has just got out of bed. Sometimes only one joint becomes inflamed.

When only one joint is involved in the pain process, inflammation of the joints, caused by other forms, such as gout or joint infections, may occur. Chronic inflammation can lead to damage to body tissues, including cartilage and leg bones. This leads to loss of cartilage, erosion and weakness of bones, as well as muscles, which leads to joint deformation, destruction and loss of leg and hand function.

Rarely, rheumatoid arthritis is able to greatly affect the joint, which is responsible for tightening our vocal cords to change the tone of the voice. When the joint becomes inflamed, it can lead to hoarseness of the voice. Symptoms in children with rheumatoid arthritis include limping, irritability, frequent crying and poor appetite.

The condition of people and rheumatoid arthritis

Rheumatologists also classify the functional state of people who suffer from rheumatoid arthritis, this is as follows:

  • Class I: a person is fully able to perform ordinary daily activities
  • Class II: a person is able to perform ordinary activities for self-care and work, but is limited in activities outside of work (for example, can not engage in sports, household chores)
  • Class III: the ability to perform routine self-service activities, but has limitations in work and other activities
  • Class IV: a person is limited in his ability to perform routine self-service, work and other activities

The doctor can choose another method of diagnosing the disease, this procedure is called joint puncture. In this procedure, sterile needles and syringes are used to drain articular fluid from the joint and are intended for study in the laboratory.

An analysis of the articular fluid in the laboratory can help to eliminate the presumed causes, such as infections and gout. Sometimes, cortisone drugs are injected into the joint during joint puncture in order to quickly remove the inflammation of the joint of the diseased leg and ensure a further reduction in symptoms.

Seropositive rheumatoid arthritis

It refers to the number of diseases with unclear causes. Our body, until now remains for scientists a great mystery, which is difficult to unravel even with the availability of high-tech equipment. Scientists, as well as physicians, can only assume that the main negative factors triggering the mechanism in the body, as a result of which the seropositive rheumatoid arthritis begins to develop, are: 

  • Virus attacks.
  • Autoimmune processes (failure in the immune system, in which immunity is fighting with their own cells).
  • Hereditary predisposition.
  • Age changes in the structure of the joint tissue. 
  • Negative external factors.
  • Harmful production.
  • Excessive strain on the joints.
  • Frequent bruises and injuries.

How to suspect seropositive rheumatoid arthritis

It is enough to be attentive to your body, in order to react sensitively to all of its signals. The human body is a supersensitive biological machine and it is capable of self-regulation, but if it is used excessively and improperly, with careless attitude to its resources, failures begin that require specialized intervention.

The first bells, which will allow to suspect the wrong with the joints, begin to show up in the morning in the form of an unpleasant sensation in the hands and feet, the stiffness of the motor activity in the fingers, and their insignificant puffiness. In the early stages of the onset of rheumatoid arthritis painful sensations, as such, can not be life. However, there is a constant slight increase in body temperature, weakness and malaise. Closer to the middle of the day, the morning stiffness in the limbs passes, but the next morning everything repeats again.

The course and clinical picture

Predicting the course of this disease is almost impossible. In some cases, seropositive rheumatoid arthritis may not produce obvious manifestations for many years, limited only to minor soreness in the joints in the mornings and during stress on them. In other cases, the development of the disease is violent, in a short time deforming all small joints, including the vertebrae of the cervical spine, leading a person to disability.

Curved fingers and toes due to swollen and unnaturally deformed joints - such a picture can be seen if you look at the hands of grandmothers in public transport or in shops, markets. Often this disease is perceived precisely as an integral companion of old age. But, according to medical statistics, young people suffer from seropositive rheumatoid arthritis, and every year the age limit is getting lower, hence the disease is getting worse every year.

It is worth knowing and remembering that seropositive rheumatoid arthritis is not only a joint disease. Progressing it is able to infect the entire connective tissue in the body, and it is part of all our organs. Thus, the patient who is diagnosed with the above diagnosis automatically falls into the risk group for the development of diseases of the lymph nodes, liver, heart, spleen, lungs, organs of the gastrointestinal tract.

Due to the fact that the digestive system is drawn into the general pathological process, dyspeptic disorders are often observed in patients suffering from rheumatoid arthritis: nausea, often accompanied by vomiting, changes in the stool, frequent bloating, intestinal pain.

The disease can be cured

If you consult a doctor already at the morning stage uncomfortable fettering sensations in the hands and feet, hand over all the necessary tests, including the determination of a rheumatoid in the blood, then the treatment that is started in a timely manner will allow you to make the necessary health adjustments and will not allow further development of the negative process.

Even if the treatment of the disease begins at a later stage, a full recovery is also possible, only to achieve it, it will take more time, patience and a lot of restraint, going through all the procedures, observing the necessary strict rules of the daily routine, refusing the usual nutrition in the the use of a strict therapeutic diet, maintaining an emotional background at a high level.

Great importance in achieving recovery always has an unshakable belief in success. Seropositive rheumatoid arthritis can be defeated - it's worth knowing and remembering.

Seronegative rheumatoid arthritis

One of the types of joint damage is the principle of arthritis. Only professionals are able to distinguish among themselves seronegative rheumatoid arthritis and seropositive. For a person without medical education, it is enough to know that a negative one develops rapidly, without a preliminary stage of morning stiffness in the limbs.

Symptomatics and Diagnosis

If we consider more detailed differences in different forms, it is worth noting that only one joint suffers at the beginning of the disease, and if several, then the symmetry of the location of the lesions is not typical for conventional arthritis. The onset of the disease from one knee joint is also a distinctive and indicative factor that allows the exclusion of common arthritis. Many joints are affected, but in the end, the most favored place of localization of this particular form is the wrist joints.

In laboratory studies of blood analysis, an important and significant indicator is the absence of a rheumatic factor against the background of the presence of other high indices characterizing the presence of a strong inflammatory process in the body. Suffice it to say that with other forms of rheumatoid arthritis, a blood test yields positive results for rheumatic tests.

Diagnostics rely mainly on laboratory data on blood analysis and X-ray images of affected joints, which clearly show changes, both in the joint itself and the adjacent bone part.

Treatment and prognosis

Seronegative rheumatoid arthritis is also more complex in terms of treatment. In order to select the main components for basic treatment, it is necessary to approach strictly individually, because the standard treatment regimens of the classical form do not work properly with this variant, despite the fact that the general principle in treatment is preserved. The whole complexity is in the high probability of developing side effects from taking many medications that greatly complicate the treated algorithm.

The overall prognosis of this disease largely depends on the age characteristics, the presence of other types of chronic processes, from the stage at which the treatment was started. In general, full recovery is not always possible.

Classification of types of arthritis

The American College of Rheumatology has developed a system for the classification of rheumatoid arthritis, based on x-rays of the joints. This system helps medical professionals classify the severity of rheumatoid arthritis in relation to cartilage, ligaments and bones.

Stage I

  • Joints and bones without damage are visible on the x-ray, although there may be signs of bone thinning

Phase II

  • on the x-ray, thinning of the bones around the joint or minor damage to the bones can be seen
  • slight damage to the cartilage
  • mobility of joints can be limited, there is no deformation, but there is
  • atrophy of adjacent muscles
  • visible disorders of soft tissues

Stage III

  • damage to the cartilage and bone tissue and thinning of the bones around the joint can be seen on the x-ray
  • joint deformities and extensive muscle atrophy
  • of soft tissue disorders around the cartilage

Stage IV

  • damage to cartilage and bone tissue and osteoporosis can be seen on X-ray
  • joint deformation of the joints with a permanent fixation of the joint (called ankylosis)
  • extensive muscle atrophy
  • soft tissue disorders around the joints

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Complications of rheumatoid arthritis

Arise due to the fact that the disease is, in the main, a protracted nature. Any pathological process occurring in the body can not be limited to any one area. Complex systems of interaction of life cycles, of which the whole organism is composed, are subjected to the permanent destructive effect of foreign agents, which leaves an imprint in the form of a rupture or violation of the exchange of useful substances, a malfunction in normal functionality.

The main complications of rheumatoid arthritis, just the same affect a fairly large proportion of organs and systems. This list includes diseases: 

  • skin (ulcerative vasculitis, rheumatoid nodules, dermatitis).
  • eye (from minor redness to severe inflammation of the eyeball, leading to loss of vision).
  • cardiovascular system (pericarditis, both chronic and exudative, heart attack, stroke, vasculitis).
  • blood (anemia, thrombocytopenia).
  • lungs (pleurisy, rheumatoid nodules in the lung tissue)

In addition to these complications, patients have increased susceptibility to infectious diseases and reduced emotional protection, which manifests itself in the form of frequent depressions.

In other words, complications of rheumatoid arthritis cover all spheres of vital activity of our body. Against the background of taking medication, every new symptom, sensation, should be discussed with the attending physician, possibly the emerging problems are associated with a specific drug and its replacement is necessary.

trusted-source[12], [13], [14]

What are the complications for leg work with rheumatoid arthritis?

Rheumatoid arthritis is associated with an increased risk of heart attack, and the heart is very involved with leg work, which is also broken. Rheumatoid disease can reduce the number of red blood cells in the blood (cause anemia). Reduction of white blood cells can be associated with an increase in the spleen (called Felty's syndrome) and increase the risk of infection.

Nodules under the skin (rheumatoid nodules) can occur around the elbows and fingers where they experience pressure. Even if these nodules usually do not cause symptoms of pain, they can be infected. Rarely serious complications of rheumatoid arthritis give the inflammation of the blood vessels of the legs (vasculitis). Vasculitis can disrupt the flow of blood to the tissues and lead to the death of tissues, in particular, the legs (necrosis). They are most often first seen as tiny black areas of the body around the nails or as ulcers on the legs.

How is rheumatoid arthritis of the joints of the legs diagnosed?

There is not one test for the diagnosis of rheumatoid arthritis of the leg joints. Rheumatoid arthritis of the joints of the legs is diagnosed on the basis of a combination of joint diagnosis, characteristic for arthritis of joint stiffness in the morning, the presence of rheumatoid factor and citrulline antibodies in the blood, as well as rheumatoid nodules and radiographic changes (x-ray testing).

The first step in the diagnosis is the interaction between the patient and the doctor. The doctor analyzes the history of the symptoms, examines the joints of the leg joints, the possibility of their inflammation, tenderness, swelling, deformity of the skin in the rheumatoid nodules (the bumps under the skin, most often on the elbows or between the toes) , as well as other parts of the body with inflammation.

Some blood tests and X-rays often provide exhaustive information about rheumatoid arthritis of the joints of the legs. The diagnosis is based on a model of symptoms, the distribution of the tumor in the inflamed joints, as well as blood and x-ray studies. Several visits to the doctor may be necessary before the doctor is sure of the diagnosis. A doctor with special training in the diagnosis and treatment of arthritis and diseases associated with it is called a rheumatologist.

Establishing diagnosis

In the diagnosis is very important distribution of inflammation in the joints of the legs. Small joints of wrists, hands, feet and knees, as a rule, have a symmetrical distribution of inflamed areas. This is rheumatoid arthritis, affecting both sides of the body, that is, symmetrical. In the case of foot diseases, both legs.

When only one or two leg joints become inflamed, the diagnosis of a disease such as rheumatoid arthritis becomes more difficult. For certainty, the doctor may prescribe other tests to rule out arthritis due to infection or gout. The detection of rheumatoid nodules (described above), most often around the elbows and fingers, can help to presume a diagnosis.

Abnormal antibodies can be detected in the blood of patients suffering from a disease such as rheumatoid arthritis. An antibody called "rheumatoid factor" (RF) can be found in 80% of people suffering from this disease. Patients who have rheumatoid arthritis and do not have a positive rheumatoid testing factor are referred to as having "seronegative rheumatoid arthritis." Citrulline antibodies (also known as anticitrulline) are present in most women and men with this disease.

This is useful for diagnosing a disease such as rheumatoid arthritis, when assessing cases of unexplained inflammation of the joints. The test for antibodies-citrulline is most useful in finding the causes of previously not detected non-inflammatory arthritis, when a traditional blood test for rheumatoid arthritis does not show anything at all. Citrulline antibodies are a good indicator of this disease in the early stages of the disease. Other antibodies are called "antinuclear antibodies" (ANA) - they are also often found in people who suffer from rheumatoid arthritis.

trusted-source[15], [16], [17], [18], [19], [20], [21]

Erythrocytes in Diagnosis

The analysis of blood on ESR (the reaction of erythrocyte sedimentation) is an indicative measure of how quickly red blood cells fall to the bottom of the tube. This analysis is used as a measure of inflammation of the joints. This analysis is usually more indicative during outbreaks and the rate of erythrocyte deposition is slower during remissions. Another blood test, used to measure the degree of inflammation in the body, is the C-reactive protein. A blood test can also detect anemia, as anemia is common, in part because of frequent chronic inflammation of the joints of the legs.

Rheumatoid factor, ANA, erythrocyte sedimentation, and C-reactive protein tests may also not be very indicative for the diagnosis of other systemic autoimmune and inflammatory diseases.

Thus, abnormalities in these blood tests alone are not sufficient for the diagnosis of rheumatoid arthritis.

Radiography can be indicative or only demonstrate swelling of soft tissues during the course of early stages of arthritis. As the disease progresses, x-rays can reveal bone erosions typical of rheumatoid arthritis joints.

Radiography can also be useful in controlling the progression of the disease and damage to the joints of the legs. Procedures using a small amount of radioactive material can also be used to demonstrate inflamed joints. An MRI scan can also be used to identify joint damage.

trusted-source[22], [23], [24], [25], [26]

Differential diagnosis of rheumatoid arthritis

It is mainly performed with other types of arthritis, in particular, with a reactive form. In addition, work is carried out on a thorough examination, in order to exclude osteoarthritis. Thus, we get two diseases that can give adjacent symptoms, increasing the likelihood of an incorrect diagnosis - it's reactive arthritis and osteoarthritis.

Considering these three diseases in the framework of differential diagnostics, compare the existing symptoms and complaints with the presence and specificity of this symptom in adjacent diagnoses.

It is most convenient to explain using a specific example. Let's consider some data that are important for an accurate diagnosis and compare three diseases. So, we are interested in: 

  • Age of the patient.
  • Severity of joint pain.
  • Presence of morning stiffness in the limbs.
  • Symmetry of joint damage.
  • Indicators of ESR.
  • Presence of a rheumatoid in the blood.

These indicators in three cases will, by and large, be different. With such a disease as rheumatoid arthritis, the picture will be as follows: the patient's age is medium or slightly above average, severe pain in the joints, with the presence of a feeling of stiffness in the limbs in the morning. The joints are symmetrical. In the blood excessively high index of ESR. Revmofactor is positive for seropositive form of the disease.

The same parameters for the two other diseases we consider through an apostrophe, in the sequence - reactive arthritis / osteoarthritis: 

  • Age: young / senior.
  • Severity of joint pain: intensively / moderately.
  • Presence of morning stiffness in the extremities: moderate / absent.
  • Symmetry of joint damage: completely absent / not expressed.
  • Indicators of ESR: increased \ within normal limits.
  • Presence of a rheumatoid in the blood: absent in both cases.

We have not considered all the key indicators on the basis of which differential diagnostics of rheumatoid arthritis is carried out, but for a general understanding of the process itself, the above example is sufficient. Such a comparative analysis of symptoms is carried out for all types of diseases. This method allows you to exclude from the list of possible diagnoses a large number of those not suitable for an objective picture of the disease, which in turn gives the right without doubt to put the right diagnosis and to prescribe adequate and appropriate treatment.

trusted-source[27]

Methotrexate in rheumatoid arthritis

Methotrexate in rheumatoid arthritis has been effectively used for more than a decade and has shown excellent results in achieving the removal of the main symptoms of the disease. The treatment of rheumatoid arthritis based on the drug group - metabolites, which have an antitumor effect and is aimed at suppressing the inflammatory processes, is good because methotrexate, which is the leading representative of this group, tends to accumulate directly in the joint tissue, which has a direct effect on the inflammatory process, suppressing all negative manifestations.

The drug methotrexate is very fast, the first positive results can be noticed already at the end of the third week of its administration. As with any medication, methotrexate has, in addition to indications for use, contraindications, individual intolerance and a number of limitations that should not be ignored.

The group of people who are contraindicated in methotrexate in rheumatoid arthritis include patients suffering from all kinds of diseases of the blood, liver, stomach and duodenum (mainly ulcers), infectious diseases, both acute and chronic forms. A special group, when prescribing any medicines, are pregnant women and nursing mothers. For treatment during the period of variability and after childbirth should only pass through individual sparing schemes.

When taking methotrexate, in the absence of contraindications, one should not exclude the appearance of side effects, among which the most common are: 

  • nausea, rarely vomiting;
  • reactions of an allergic type; 
  • problems with the liver and pancreas; 
  • anemia; 
  • changes in blood composition, in particular thrombocytopenia; 
  • interstitial lung fibrosis, a rare but very severe consequence of taking methotrexate. This disease has the nature of an irreversible process, difficult to cure.

Indications for the use of methotrexate should be justified by the attending physician rheumatologist. In addition to the main drug, whose role is assigned to methotrexate, a number of concomitant medications are required that will counterbalance the negative manifestations of methotrexate as much as possible, enhancing its positive effects.

Alternative remedies for rheumatoid arthritis

A long struggle with severe illness causes people to seek various methods of treatment. Often considered alternative means, like a saving straw drowning in a deep pool. One of the most popular searches in the search engines of the network is rheumatoid arthritis treatment by alternative means.

Rheumatoid arthritis, indeed, the disease is one of the most complex, both in symptomatology and in the treatment process. For many years, people have been unsuccessfully searching for the most effective methods of treatment, taking a large number of medicines and agreeing to the most complicated injections and surgeries.

However, there are alternative means, which, according to many who have been healed with their help, help to remove the main manifestations of the disease quite quickly. How correct is this approach to solving the problem? Probably, this business is purely personal. As they say, if necessary, knock on all the doors, somewhere, they'll open it. Therefore, you can name a few recipes that, if they do not bring a visible result, then there will be no harm from them.

If you, or a close person, have rheumatoid arthritis treatment with the following alternatives: 

  • For grinding: take 150 ml, turpentine, alcohol 70%, olive oil. Add 3 ml. Camphor. Mix all the ingredients. Rinse twice a day, morning and evening. After rubbing it is desirable to wrap the joint with an elastic cloth for several hours. 
  • Mix camphor and mustard powder (50 grams of each component), pour alcohol (100 ml.). In a separate bowl, beat egg white, the total mass of which roughly corresponds to 100 grams. Combine with an alcohol mixture of camphor and mustard powder. Apply daily, twice a day, in small portions rubbing into diseased joints. The mixture should be stored in the refrigerator for no more than three days. 
  • Paraffin compresses on the aching joints are prepared as follows. Take the medical paraffin, melt in a water bath. Goose fat and camphor are added to it in equal parts. Before applying the paraffin paste on the joints, an anti-inflammatory or anesthetic ointment is applied, the healing cream is the means by which the joints are most often lubricated and then the paraffin is applied.

Cover the paraffin with a cellophane film, wrap it in a warm cloth, leave it on the joints for an hour. After removing the paraffin on the joints again apply a medical ointment.

There are many alternative recipes that recommend the use of a variety of products, which sometimes quite unexpectedly appear as therapeutic. Anyone who sets himself the goal of finding exactly the alternative means of saving himself from ailment will certainly find at least hundreds of ways to recover from improvised means.

Once again, it should be noted that this is a personal matter for everyone, it is only necessary to remember that our body is a sensitive machine that reacts unpredictably to interference in its work. So, before experimenting, to enter a request for rheumatoid arthritis treatment by alternative means, it would be nice to get a professional advice. And if you make a choice in favor of alternative means, then let them be recommended to you by the checked up people, for example, fito therapists.

trusted-source[28], [29], [30], [31], [32]

Diet for rheumatoid arthritis

It has its own supertask to ensure sufficient content of components necessary for the maintenance of the organism. The main restrictions apply to salt, protein, carbohydrates and fats of animal origin. Completely abandon the period of exacerbation of sweets. Adults are advised to avoid drinking alcohol.

It should pay special attention to food, with a high content of vegetable fats, low-fat dairy products, cottage cheese, vitamins, especially group B, PP, C. Add more fruits, vegetables and berries to the diet, use fruit, vegetable or fruit and berry juices as a drink , without the addition of sugar.

It is good to diversify the menu with fish dishes, porridges, especially buckwheat. Bread these days should be from bran or from a meal of coarse grinding. White bread, as well as bakery products, is contraindicated.

A correct and strict diet, during the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis, in many ways contributes to the speedy recovery of the body. In some cases, a diet with rheumatoid arthritis is the only way to solve an important problem that can severely hamper recovery - getting rid of excess weight.

trusted-source[33], [34], [35], [36], [37]

Facts about rheumatoid arthritis

  • Rheumatoid arthritis is a dangerous autoimmune disease that can lead to chronic inflammation of the joints of the legs and other areas of the body.
  • Rheumatoid arthritis can affect people of all ages.
  • The causes of such a disease, as rheumatoid arthritis, often remain unknown.
  • Rheumatoid arthritis of the joints of the legs is a chronic ailment characterized by periods of outbreaks of the disease and then its remission.
  • Rheumatoid arthritis is characterized by the fact that several joints of the legs often, but not always, suffer symmetrically.
  • Chronic inflammation can lead to irreversible damage to the joints and deformation.
  • Damage to the joints of the legs can occur early and does not correlate with the severity of the symptoms.
  • "Rheumatoid factor" is an antibody that can be found in the blood of 80% of people for rheumatoid arthritis of the joints of the legs.
  • Treatment of insidious rheumatoid arthritis combines a combination: medication, rest and exercise, and sometimes surgical intervention.
  • At the beginning of the treatment of a disease such as rheumatoid arthritis, affecting the joints of the legs, leads to better results than in chronic form.

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