Saeed Ahmad Khan, a Gulfnews.com reader, asks: My wife is 57-years old and for the past one year she has been suffering from swelling in the central joints of her finger and severe pain in that area. Her left hand thumb’s joint has been swollen, the central line of the thumb seems to have moved a little towards the right side. She has been experiencing extreme pain and discomfort as a result of the condition.
Please guide me? Please advise me as to what I should do? I want to avail a complete checkup and treatment for her.
Dr Abdelraouf Ahmed Fouad (MRCGP, MD), Senior Specialist - Family Medicine and Diabetes at ASTER Medical Centre – Business Bay, replies: The symptoms draw the probable diagnosis of the patient sufferings from Osteoarthritis Arthritis, which is commonly known as Rheumatoid Arthritis (RA). RA is a complex disease of the immune system that affects around 1 per cent of the population and can worsen over time and can cause permanent joint damage. RA also can impact an individual physically and emotionally.
With RA, the body mistakenly attacks healthy joints, causing joint pain, swelling, stiffness, and damage that can worsen over time. In some patients, the RA will become a serious disease with permanent joint damage that can begin to happen within the first 12 months, though for some people, it can take much longer.
The incredibly painful disease can cause severe disability, if left without treatment. It mainly affects the joints but can impact other organs. It is imperative that individuals are well educated of the signs and symptoms of RA to ensure early diagnosis, have access to the most appropriate treatments. If diagnosed and treated early, disability can be prevented.
To better verify that whether the case of your wife is RA, we have to investigate on some other signs and symptoms that she may be suffering from such as:
Whether the center joints of all her fingers have swollen? If yes, normally what time of the day the patient experiences worsening of the swelling and related pain – in morning or evening?
Does she suffer from stiffness in her joints in the early morning? Is she obese or suffering from complications related to having overweight? Whether she is on a regular medication for any other disease?
Apart from these elements, we should also check out the patient’s past medical history, which includes diabetes, hypertension, high cholesterol, history of recurrent joints disorders, vitamin D deficiency and trauma. Family medical history of the patient should also be checked for diabetes, RA, thyroid diseases and osteoarthritis.
After all have been investigated, we should examine the patient physically, and can be followed by some investigations like CBC, ESR, CRP, Rheumatoid factor, ANF, Serum Vitamin D, RBS, X-Ray for hand and fingers to confirm the diagnosis or to rule out other diseases. It’s easy to manage the condition, after knowing results of the investigations as well as physical examination. If the patient is diagnosed with RA, she should stringently continue the course of treatment, in order to keep the arthritis well-managed as possible. It is also imperative to have the support and understanding of other family members.
I suggest you take your wife to a specialist doctor to better understand the condition and manage it according to the expert advice. She requires more effective diagnosis and therapeutic treatment, which will ultimately result in providing better care for the patient, with relief from the her severe pain of joints and preventing her from the possibilities of disability.
The good news is that the disease can be treated affectively with medications that can cure the painful symptoms and inflammation, as well as offer an improved quality of life.
Disclaimer: This blog is a conversation and is not an alternative for treatment. The recommendations and suggestions offered by our panel of doctors are their own and Gulf News will not take any responsibility for the advice they provide.
