Osteo Arthritis (OA) was the main subject of September’s post about arthritis, today other causes of arthritic pain will be looked at. Auto immune diseases such as Rheumatoid Arthritis (RA), Systemic Lupine Erythromatosis (SLE or Lupus), Polymyalgia Rheumatica (PMR) and Fibromyalgia (Fm) are some of the more commonly known of which.
Auto immune disease sees the body’s own defenses attack the body’s own healthy tissue, there are slightly more than eighty of them, nobody knows why they occur or how to cure or prevent them. The whole focus of treatment for auto immune disease is to manage the symptoms, in Western Medicine (WM) this is done with anti-inflammatory drugs such as cortico steroids whilst in alternate medicine the use of diet and soft tissue therapies are more common place though anti-inflammatory herbs and mineral suppliments are also employed.
Auto immune diseases tend to be episodic in nature and they can start with quite vague symptoms such as a persistent low grade fever, fatigue, irritability, joint and muscle pain, weakness and lowered resistance to infections and allergies. The next stage of symptoms onset of auto immune diseases can be intense and have you fearing the worst. PMR for instance can make your shoulders very stiff and sore very quickly, it affects people (mainly women) in the 50+ age group.
Auto immune diseases that produce arthritic symptoms can affect other tissues also, Lupus can inflame your skin and produce digestive problems, RA can weaken your heart and Fm (fibromyalgia) often will manifest with chronic fatigue symptoms alongside the stiff muscle and joint sensations. Self diagnosis is futile, if you get your problems properly diagnosed to begin with you can get help much faster.
Even if you get very satisfactory relief from the medications you take there are other forms of treatment that can improve the management of your auto immune arthritis. Your ability and desire to exercise can be really tested with getting diseases like PMR and fibromyalgia, for months you may only be able to do gentle “nana exercises”, for a previously fit and strong person this can be truly demoralising, keeping your morale up can become a big issue in itself.
If you are a person who is quite happy to avoid exercise arthritis might be a tempting excuse to avoid it altogether but it is important to stay as physically active as your symptoms will allow you too because of all the benefits exercise gives you. Your circulation, posture, lung capacity and even your digestion benefit along with your muscles and joints when you exercise.
Getting expert advice on how you should exercise when you have strong arthritic symptoms is important, there will be activities that normally are no problem for you that become impossible and even embarrassing when your arthritis is acute, like a chameleon we must mentally adapt when things like this happen. Massage, chiropractic and osteopathy can all help you exercise more efficiently.
I have met several people over the years who have found low acid diets to be effective in combatting the symptoms of rheumatoid arthritis, if you want to go down this path figure out a plan with a nutritionist so you don’t miss out on any important nutrients when you adjust your diet.