Joint pain, is it rheumatism or rheumatoid? Many people are confused

In life, many people confuse rheumatism and rheumatoid, and mistake them for the same disease. The two are different in many aspects such as pathogenesis, clinical manifestations, treatment and prognosis.

Only after fully understanding the relevant medical knowledge of the two can we better distinguish between rheumatoid arthritis and rheumatoid arthritis, and don't be foolish enough to distinguish them.

01

Etiology and pathogenesis are different

Rheumatoid arthritis is an inflammatory response of the connective tissue of the human body caused by hemolytic streptococcus infection. The disease can occur at any age, but is more common in children and adolescents. Epidemiological studies have shown that there is no significant difference in the incidence of males and females.

Rheumatoid arthritis is an autoimmune disease caused by inflammatory mediators, chemokines, and immune disorders, and is a systemic diffuse connective tissue disease. The disease can also occur at any age, but clinically, about 80% of patients begin to develop clinical symptoms around the age of 35 to 50. And epidemiological data show that the probability of women suffering from rheumatoid is about three times that of men.

02

patients with different symptoms

Rheumatoid arthritis is an inflammatory disease caused by streptococcal infection, so the typical symptoms are joint inflammation: redness, swelling, burning and tenderness of large joints such as knee, wrist, shoulder, and elbow.

Joint pain can be aggravated in cold, autumn and winter rainy seasons, and most patients have a history of upper respiratory tract infection before joint symptoms appear. Since rheumatism is self-limiting, joint pain is usually relieved within a month.

The clinical manifestations of patients with rheumatoid arthritis are quite different. Some patients only show mild joint swelling, and some patients have severe symptoms. There will be persistent pain in small joints such as wrists, metacarpophalangeal joints, and interphalangeal joints. In addition to pain in the joint, chronic inflammation of the synovial membrane can lead to swelling of the soft tissue around the joint and muscle contracture deformity.

Advanced rheumatoid arthritis patients have joint ankylosis and fibrotic changes, and joint dysfunction will seriously affect the patients' daily life.

03

Treatment is different

The clinical treatment of rheumatism requires the elimination of streptococcal infection foci, combined with anti-rheumatic therapy. First of all, to eliminate the infection focus is to carry out antibiotic treatment, generally choose penicillin, cephalosporin drugs.

Secondly, anti-rheumatic treatment is to quickly relieve joint inflammation and improve clinical symptoms, so aspirin is often chosen for anti-inflammatory and analgesic treatment. If rheumatic fever involves not only the joints, but also carditis and subcutaneous nodules, oral glucocorticoid therapy can be used.

However, rheumatoid arthritis cannot be cured, and clinical treatment can only relieve symptoms, protect joint function, and reduce the disability rate. First, rheumatoid arthritis requires bed rest during acute attacks such as morning stiffness, joint tenderness, and joint swelling.

In addition, active drug treatment should follow the principle of individualization and early stage. In addition to non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (such as aspirin) and glucocorticoids, commonly used clinical drugs include methotrexate, sulfasalazine, and leflunomide tablets. These drugs can delay the progression of rheumatoid disease, but there are also significant adverse drug reactions, which should be prescribed by a doctor.

04

different clinical outcomes

The clinical prognosis of rheumatism is good. Generally, after active treatment, the joint inflammation will subside within 2 to 3 months, and no joint damage will be left.

Relatively speaking, the prognosis of patients with rheumatoid arthritis is worse. If the patient fails to seek medical treatment in time, joint deformity, loss of joint function, or damage to other organs such as rheumatoid vasculitis, pulmonary fibrosis, and pleurisy may occur.

To sum up, although "rheumatism" and "rheumatoid" are two words different, they are two completely different diseases.