Arthritis is a medical term that collectively describes different types of joint inflammation. There are more than 100 types of arthritis, including the most prevalent ones, which are gout, rheumatoid arthritis, and osteoarthritis. For instance, osteoarthritis results from the degradation of the cartilage protecting the end of bones as they form a joint. The leading symptoms of arthritis Rockville are pain in the joints, swelling, and stiffness, which tend to worsen as you age. In America, about 60 million adults and 300 000 children have joint inflammation.
Numerous health conditions may make your body produce similar symptoms associated with arthritis. Consequently, below are some of those conditions.
Lupus
When you have the disease, your body’s immune system wrongly attacks healthy organs and tissues. The swelling from the condition may affect different parts of your joints and organs, including kidneys, lungs, brain, and heart.
Joint inflammation often occurs in the small joints found in your feet and hands.
Since the signs and symptoms of lupus are similar to those of other conditions, including arthritis, diagnosing it may not be straightforward. A distinct potential symptom of lupus is a rash on your face resembling butterfly wings opening across your cheeks.
Fibromyalgia
The chronic condition often leads to you feeling musculoskeletal pain throughout your body. Although the symptoms may mislead you into believing you have arthritis, the musculoskeletal pain results from issues with the muscles, not the joints.
Apart from widespread body pain, other fibromyalgia symptoms may include sleeping difficulty as the pain occurs at night, tiredness, headaches, and difficulty remembering or concentrating.
Researchers believe that fibromyalgia results from frequent stimulation of your nerves, causing changes in your spinal system and brain. As a result, there is unusual production of some pain chemicals across your body.
Polymyalgia rheumatica
Known also as PMR, the condition causes widespread body aching and stiffness, especially common in people over 50 years old. PMR leads to stiff and painful muscles in your hips, thighs, neck, and shoulders. In the worst-case scenario, the person needs to go through hip arthritis treatment.
The common condition makes it harder for you to comfortably lift your arms beyond your head, and the discomfort you experience worsens during the morning.
Other potential symptoms of PMR are tiredness, joint tenderness, and feeling unwell.
If you have PMR, it is also possible that you may suffer from giant cell arteritis, which is an inflammation affecting the lining of your blood vessels (arteries).
Primarily it affects arteries around your scalp, causing discomfort and tenderness in your head. Still, the condition may also affect the blood vessels of your jaw, tongue, or eyes. Therefore, you may have trouble chewing and suffer from blindness.
Backache
The pain or discomfort you feel may come from anywhere in your back or spine, extending to your buttocks and legs. Back pain may be due to a strain, sprain, herniated discs, degeneration of the intervertebral disc, narrowing of your spinal column, and slipping forward of spinal bones. Numerous medical conditions may also cause backaches, such as kidney infections, spinal tumors, and endometriosis.
Contact Quality Primary Care today for specialist diagnosis and treatment of your arthritis.