Inflammation is a situation whereby the white blood cells and some other chemicals in our bodies protect it from infection and foreign substances like bacteria and viruses. There are some cases; however, where the body’s immune system will for some reason, trigger the release of an inflammatory response when there are no bacteria or viruses to fight. In such instances, the body tissues will be damaged. The body will respond as though its own normal cells are abnormal. Sometimes the chemicals released by the body may leak into the tissues resulting in a swelling causing a lot of pain.
There are those diseases that are caused by inflammation. Most of them are arthritis, but not of all kinds. The reason as to that assumption is because arthritis is a type of inflammation; and so most people will tend to assume that it is so. The arthritis associated with inflammation are:
• Rheumatic arthritis
• Bursitis
• Gout arthritis
• Polymyalgia
Other painful conditions that are not associated with arthritis are neck pain, painful joints, lower back muscular pain and osteoarthritis.
Symptoms of these include:
• Redness of the joint
• The joint becoming swollen and warm to touch
• Stiff joints
• Pain in the joints
• Inability to use the joint.
One cannot have all these symptoms; only a few are present at one particular time. The reason as to why these symptoms are experienced at the joint is because it is inflamed.
To diagnose this, you will need to do the following:
• Look at the complete medical history of the patient
• Establish which of the joints are painful
• Check if there is stiffness of joints in the morning
• Take an x-ray rest or any other relevant test
Inflammation can affect other parts of the body in the following ways:
• It causes the swelling of the heart where a person may run short of breath or get swollen legs.
• It may block the small tubes that supply air to the lungs; thus causing an asthma attack
• It may cause kidney failure or high blood pressure
• It may cause swelling of the large intestine, cramps and diarrhea
Treatment:
Pain may not be the only symptom of the disease given that there are many organs that do not have the pain nerves. Therefore, the treatment will be directed to the cause. There are several options including resting, exercising, medication and surgery; but the type of treatment chosen will depend on a person’s age, health status and medical history.
The goal of the treatment is usually to avoid or modify the pain, reduce it through analgesics, maintaining movement of the joints through physical therapy and reducing stress on the joints by use of braces and splints.
The common medicines that doctors mostly prescribe are:
• Aspirin and naproxen that do not contain any form of steroids
• Anti-malaria medications like those that contain leflunomide
• TNF medications
• Any other anti inflammatory drugs
When the medications that have been prescribed, it is important to constantly visit the physician so that they can monitor all the progress taking place
