[Healthcare Network/Reporter Lin Yiting reported]A casual joke in the office resolved a health crisis! The 32-year-old Li Mei (pseudonym) works as a secretary. One year ago, she chatted with her colleagues in the tea room during her lunch break at work. The colleague joked that she had noticed that her fingers had become “fat” recently. Kaka often still has a little pain. When I wake up in the morning, my finger joints will be swollen and tight. It takes about an hour to feel relieved, so I went to the hospital for examination and found that I have “rheumatoid arthritis”!”
Autoimmune diseases are not easy to detect and take over-the-counter medicines indiscriminately, which may damage the kidneys!
Su Qinfang, a physician from the Department of Allergy, Immunology and Rheumatology, Shuanghe Hospital, who treated the case, said that rheumatoid arthritis is a disease caused by autoimmune disorders. The majority of patients are women, about three times as many as men. The common age of onset is between Between 30 and 50 years old. Patients usually start to develop lesions in the joints of the limbs such as fingers and wrists, such as swelling and pain or stiffness in the morning. People should be alert if they feel like their fingers are stuck after getting up in the morning, and it lasts for more than 30 minutes. .
Physician Su Qinfang said that clinically, it has been found that people generally ignore joint swelling and pain due to busy work or household chores. Sometimes they only rely on painkillers or off-the-shelf medicines to relieve them. Therefore, occasionally there are patients with rheumatoid joints who take rheumatoid joints for a long time during the consultation. A patient who is finally referred by the nephrology department due to the over-the-counter medicine that causes kidney problems. Remind patients that if they have symptoms, they should seek medical attention as soon as possible. Otherwise, when the symptoms are severe, it will not only cause joint swelling, deformation, and even muscle atrophy, but also affect the quality of work and life.
Double the chance of suffering from chronic diseases
Dr. Su Qinfang explained that according to clinical statistics, patients with rheumatoid arthritis are 1.5 to 2 times more likely to suffer from cardiovascular disease than the average person. disease. Patients with rheumatoid arthritis may also experience systemic organ complications. Without active treatment, the lungs may be affected, resulting in interstitial lung disease and even pulmonary fibrosis! Therefore, in the course of treatment, in addition to checking the safety of medication, physicians will also comprehensively assess the risk of each complication. For example, for menopausal female patients, in addition to reminding the patient to take or supplement enough vitamin D and calcium to avoid the risk of osteoporosis, it will also use height records, kyphosis, spine X-rays, etc. to detect possible osteoporosis problems early.
There are many treatment weapons to choose from, full discussion of medical treatment and recovery of quality of life
Physician Su Qinfang said that the goal of rheumatoid arthritis treatment is to slow down inflammation, reduce pain and prevent joint deterioration, so that patients can return to a normal life. However, the course of treatment varies from person to person. Patients can fully discuss the treatment plan with the doctor, and do not stop the drug at will! At present, there are quite a few options for therapeutic drugs. In addition to anti-inflammatory painkillers and immunomodulators, current biological agents can also accurately block inflammatory factors and achieve disease remission. Like the above case, Limei uses biological agents suitable for pregnancy and breastfeeding for regular treatment. , and gave birth to a baby successfully last month, which is quite gratifying to the doctor.
Physician Su reminded that the early onset of rheumatoid arthritis is the golden period of treatment. The sooner the disease can be detected, the better the effect of treatment. Patients should take regular medication and return for regular visits in order to regain their quality of life.