Most often, patients complain of pain in the joints of the fingers. All pathologies have pronounced specific symptoms, so a specialist will quickly make a diagnosis and prescribe the correct treatment.
Rheumatoid arthritis
Rheumatoid arthritis is a serious disease accompanied by an inflammatory process. It causes pain in the joints and their deformation. The pathology usually occurs in people over the age of 30. 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 joint cells for viruses or bacteria and try to eliminate them. The destruction process can last many years.
The following symptoms of the disease are distinguished:
- severe joint pain, which worsens at night or in the morning;
- joint stiffness after sleep;
- high body temperature;
- sleep disorders;
- rapid fatigability;
- decreased appetite;
- sudden weight loss;
- formation of nodules 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 distinctive feature of rheumatoid arthritis from arthrosis is a decrease in pain during exercise. If the joints of the fingers of the right hand hurt and swell, the same symptoms appear on the left hand. Over time, the disease can affect other joints.
If you start therapy at an early stage, you can avoid deformation and destruction of the joints.
Shade!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;
- take antimalarial drugs;
- sulphonamides;
- D-penicillamine.
On average, even an experienced rheumatologist takes about 6 months to select the correct treatment method, examining the patient's characteristics and his tolerability to drugs.
What is aurotherapy?
Gold therapy involves taking drugs that contain gold salts.
Doctors recommend the use of gold-based 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 in cases where nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs have not alleviated their condition.
The main advantage of aurotherapy is that it can be used in case of concomitant inflammatory pathologies and in the presence of malignant tumors. Also, during research, scientists found that gold salts actively fight fungi and some bacteria, including Helicobacter pylori.
The course of treatment with gold-based preparations lasts 2-3 months. If during this period the patient's condition has not improved, this technique is canceled.
Note!Many people experience rheumatoid arthritis relapses some time after gold treatment. The rheumatologist may prescribe aurotherapy again. Sometimes such treatment can last for years if it does not lead to negative consequences on other organs.
Is cytostatic therapy effective?
To eliminate the symptoms of rheumatoid arthritis, it is customary to use cytostatics.
Since the disease is autoimmune in origin, it is not surprising that doctors prescribe immunosuppressants. Their main advantage is high efficiency with a relatively low dosage. Patients with rheumatoid arthritis are prescribed a dosage of cytostatics 5 or even 20 times lower than patients with cancer. The drugs have proven to be effective in combating severe forms of the disease with a high degree of progression.
Another advantage of immunosuppressant treatment is the minimal number of side effects. Very rarely, patients complain of the following symptoms:
- rash;
- intestinal dysfunction;
- chills;
- difficulty urinating.
If the drug is stopped or the doctor changes the dosage, the side effects quickly disappear. 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 noticeable after 6-12 months, but the therapeutic effect is rather weak.
Will sulfonamides help with rheumatoid arthritis?
Drugs from the sulfonamide group are successfully used to treat finger pain. Their advantages include:
- Good tolerance.
- Low degree of complications, if any.
- Affordable price.
The disadvantage of these drugs is their slow action. The positive effect is evident only 3 months after starting the course of therapy.
How to treat the disease with D-penicillamine?
If the patient is suitable for treatment with gold-based preparations or the use of cytostatics, it is not necessary to prescribe D-penicillamine. It is much inferior to the listed treatment methods in terms of effectiveness, but significantly surpasses them in the number of side effects, the frequency of their occurrence and the degree of complications. Therefore, D-penicillamine treatment is used in cases where patients do not tolerate gold salts and cytostatics well.
D-penicillamine is used effectively in patients who have complications of the heart, respiratory system, or kidneys. It should be taken for 3-5 years, then a break will be needed for several years, after which the course will have to be repeated.
Gout: symptoms and treatment
One of the dangerous diseases of the joints and tissues is gout. It occurs due to a metabolic disorder in the body. Gout is characterized by an increase in the amount of uric acid in the lymph.
Symptoms of the disease include:
- inflammation of the big toe joint;
- severe urgent pain in the morning or evening;
- increased body temperature;
- skin redness;
- growths on your legs or arms.
If treatment is not started promptly, the patient may develop gouty arthritis. Possible complications also include urolithiasis and kidney failure, which can lead to death.
To treat gout, nonsteroidal 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 drug based on the alkaloid of corms from 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 their finger joints. Signs of this disease are:
- joint deformation;
- pain syndrome at night;
- numbness of the limbs;
- discoloration of the skin in burgundy color at the site of development of the disease;
- swelling of the fingers;
- limited mobility.
Most patients with psoriatic arthritis suffer damage to their nails. Initially, small cavities form on their surface, then their color changes due to disruption of microcirculation.
Most often, pregnant women are diagnosed with psoriatic arthritis. This is due to the fact that the disease is also hormonal in origin and a woman experiences hormonal changes in her body during pregnancy. Increased signs of arthritis in pregnant women are often associated with weight gain.
The following causes of psoriatic arthritis are identified:
- injuries;
- severe stress and emotional distress;
- excessive physical activity;
- infectious diseases;
- hereditary predisposition.
The following groups of drugs are used to treat psoriatic arthritis:
- Non-steroidal 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: used to slow changes that occur in bone and cartilage tissue.
With psoriatic arthritis it is recommended to give up alcoholic beverages, reduce the consumption of citrus fruits and smoked foods and follow a low-calorie diet.
Osteoarthritis – how to treat it and what are the consequences of the disease?
Elderly people often complain of swelling in the joints of the fingers. This could be one of the signs of osteoarthritis. The disease may appear for the following reasons:
- hormonal imbalance;
- genetic predisposition;
- stress and accidents at work;
- age-related metabolic disorder.
Joint pain can help identify the disease. An accurate diagnosis is made by a specialist after radiographic examination and MRI.
Gymnastics will help alleviate the patient's condition. The series of exercises is selected by the doctor, focusing on the individual characteristics of the patient with osteoarthritis. The therapy also involves following a diet to lose any excess weight. You can't do without thermal procedures. Paraffin baths are recommended, to which mineral oil is added.
To eliminate pain and relieve swelling, nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs from the group of propionic acid and acetylsalicylic acid derivatives are prescribed. Among analgesics, a drug from the anilide group is often used. Massage sessions will help warm up your muscles and improve blood circulation.
If treatment is not started promptly, the person will no longer be able to cope with daily activities in the future. In these cases, joint replacement surgery cannot be avoided.
What is rhizarthrosis?
If a patient has thumb pain, this may indicate that she 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 appearance of new cartilage cells, which helps to eliminate the disease.
It is quite popular to use manual therapy to treat rhizarthrosis. The therapist can realign the changed joint, so that the pain syndrome disappears. Additionally, you can massage your thumb to increase the tone of cartilage tissue and improve joint mobility.
If the patient is diagnosed with the 3rd stage of rhizarthrosis, intra-articular injections of hyaluronic acid are prescribed. The use of glucocorticosteroids and nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs is also effective. They increase blood flow in the affected joint, eliminate pain and relieve swelling.
Traditional medicine for finger pain
You can cope with pain not only with the help of medications, but also by resorting to folk remedies. For acute pain, the use of a gauze bandage soaked in apple cider vinegar is effective. To relieve swelling, compresses with baked onions or boiled potatoes are perfect. It is useful to warm the sore joint with warm sea salt and rub it with fir oil.
Dyes
A common treatment method is tinctures. You can use vodka for preparation. You should take 50 ml of vodka and 30 ml of valerian tincture, mix both components and add a couple of pods of hot pepper. After 3 hours, moisten a cotton ball in the resulting mixture and apply to the phalanx. The positive effect is noticeable after a month of such treatment.
Another effective remedy is a tincture based on chestnut inflorescence. Simply collect the raw materials and mix them with vodka. Leave for 14-20 days. Rub the product when your fingers become numb and you feel pain. Instead of chestnut inflorescences, it is allowed to use lilac.
Ointments
If your joints hurt when you squeeze your fingers, you should use mustard and honey ointment. To prepare it, combine 5 g of mustard and 15 g of honey. Next, add 30 ml of olive oil, evaporate the mixture in a water bath to a thick consistency, cool and use daily to treat the affected joints.
For pain in the index finger joint of the right hand, an ointment based on laurel and juniper needles is recommended. Both components should be mixed in equal proportions, then add 50 g of butter. You can use the ointment during regular joint massage.