Often, patients complain that their finger joints hurt. All pathologies have pronounced specific symptoms, so an expert will quickly make a diagnosis and prescribe the correct treatment.
Rheumatoid arthritis
Rheumatoid arthritis is a serious disease accompanied by an inflammatory process. It causes pain in the joints and their deformation. Pathology usually occurs in people over 30 years old. Women suffer from it 3 times more often than men.
Rheumatoid arthritis appears suddenly and is associated with impaired functioning of the immune system. In this disease, immune cells mistake joint cells for viruses or bacteria and try to eliminate them. The destruction process can take many years.
The following symptoms of the disease are distinguished:
- severe pain in the joints, which is worse at night or in the morning;
- stiffness of joints after sleep;
- high body temperature;
- sleep disorder;
- fast fatigue;
- decreased appetite;
- sudden weight loss;
- formation of nodules in the elbow area.
Rheumatoid arthritis is caused by the following factors:
- previous sore throat or flu;
- joint injuries;
- infectious pathology;
- long-term stress and depression;
- genetic predisposition.
A characteristic feature of rheumatoid arthritis from arthrosis is the reduction of pain during exercise. If the knuckles of the fingers of the right hand hurt and swell, then the same symptoms appear on the left hand. Over time, the disease can affect other joints.
If you start therapy at an early stage, you can avoid deformation and destruction of the joint.
Nuance!Breastfeeding for two years reduces the risk of rheumatoid arthritis in women by 2 times.
Treatment
Modern methods of treating rheumatoid arthritis include the following:
- aurotherapy;
- cytostatics;
- taking antimalarial drugs;
- sulfonamides;
- D-penicillamine.
On average, even an experienced rheumatologist needs about 6 months to choose the correct treatment method, because he examines the patient's characteristics and his tolerance to drugs.
What is aurotherapy?
Aurotherapy involves taking medicines containing gold salts.
Doctors recommend the use of gold preparations in the initial stage of the disease. With their help, it is possible to achieve a positive effect in the treatment of acute pathology that develops rapidly with severe pain and early degenerative changes in the joints. Gold-based drugs are prescribed to patients in cases where non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs have not relieved their condition.
The main advantage of aurotherapy is that it can be used for accompanying inflammatory pathologies and the presence of malignant tumors. Also, during research, scientists discovered that gold salts actively fight against fungi and some bacteria, including Helicobacter pylori.
The course of treatment with gold preparations is 2-3 months. If the patient's condition has not improved during that period, this technique is cancelled.
Note!Many people experience relapses of rheumatoid arthritis some time after gold treatment. A rheumatologist can prescribe aurotherapy again. Sometimes such treatment can last for years if it does not have negative consequences on other organs.
Is cytostatic therapy effective?
To eliminate symptoms of rheumatoid arthritis, it is common to use cytostatics.
Since the disease is of autoimmune origin, it is not surprising that doctors prescribe immunosuppressants. Their main advantage is high efficiency at a relatively low dose. Rheumatoid arthritis patients are prescribed 5 or even 20 times less cytostatic doses than cancer patients. Medicines have proven themselves in the fight against severe forms of the disease with a high degree of progression.
Another advantage of treatment with immunosuppressants is the minimal number of side effects. Very rarely, patients complain of the following symptoms:
- rash;
- bowel dysfunction;
- chills;
- difficulty urinating.
If the drug is stopped or the doctor adjusts the dose, the side effects disappear quickly. The course of treatment is 1 month.
Treatment of finger joints with antimalarial drugs
Treatment of rheumatoid arthritis with antimalarial drugs is extremely rare. The main advantage of this treatment is the good tolerability of the drugs. A significant disadvantage of this treatment is that antimalarial drugs work slowly. Their effect is visible after 6-12 months, but the therapeutic effect is quite weak.
Will Sulfonamides Help Rheumatoid Arthritis?
Medicines from the group of sulfonamides are successfully used to treat pain in the fingers. Their benefits include:
- Good tolerance.
- Low rate of complications, if any.
- Affordable price.
The disadvantage of these drugs is their slow action. A positive effect is visible only 3 months after the start of therapy.
How to treat the disease with D-penicillamine?
If the patient is suitable for treatment with gold preparations or the use of cytostatics, then there is no need to prescribe D-penicillamine. It is much inferior to the mentioned treatment methods in terms of effectiveness, but it significantly surpasses them in terms of the number of side effects, the frequency of their occurrence and the degree of complications. Therefore, treatment with D-penicillamine is used in cases where patients do not tolerate gold salts and cytostatics well.
D-penicillamine is effectively used in patients who have heart, respiratory or kidney complications. It should be taken for 3 to 5 years, then a break of several years will be required, after which the course must be repeated.
Gout - symptoms and treatment
One of the dangerous diseases of joints and tissues is gout. It is caused by a metabolic disorder in the body. Gout is characterized by an increased amount of uric acid in the lymph.
Symptoms of the disease include:
- inflammation of the thumb joint;
- severe pressure pain in the morning or evening;
- increased body temperature;
- skin redness;
- growths on the legs or arms.
If treatment is not started on time, the patient may develop gouty arthritis. Possible complications also include urolithiasis and kidney failure, which can lead to death.
For the treatment of gout, non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs are used for 1-2 weeks.
In order to quickly reduce the concentration of uric acid in the body, anti-gout drugs are prescribed.
To eliminate the acute symptoms of gout, experts prescribe a drug based on the alkaloids of the lily family. Glucocorticoids are used to relieve swelling and pain. These drugs quickly remove inflammation, but have a negative effect on the immune system.
Psoriatic arthritis
About 15% of patients diagnosed with psoriasis have problems with their finger joints. Signs of this disease are:
- joint deformation;
- pain syndrome at night;
- numbness of limbs;
- a change in the color of the skin in a dark red color at the site of the development of the disease;
- swelling of fingers;
- limited mobility.
Most patients suffering from psoriatic arthritis experience damage to the nail plates. First, small dimples form on their surface, and then their color changes due to microcirculation disorders.
Very often pregnant women are diagnosed with psoriatic arthritis. This is due to the fact that the disease is also of hormonal origin, and a woman undergoes hormonal changes in her body during pregnancy. Increased signs of arthritis in pregnant women are often associated with weight gain.
The following causes of psoriatic arthritis have been identified:
- injuries;
- severe stress and emotional stress;
- excessive physical activity;
- infectious diseases;
- hereditary predisposition.
The following groups of drugs are used to treat psoriatic arthritis:
- Nonsteroidal drugs. Designed to eliminate inflammation and reduce pain.
- Glucocorticosteroids: injected into the joint cavity.
- Cytostatic from the group of folic acid antagonists: it is the most popular systemic drug.
- An immunosuppressant that selectively acts on T-lymphocytes: it is used to slow down the changes that occur in bone and cartilage tissue.
In psoriatic arthritis, it is recommended to refrain from alcoholic beverages, reduce the consumption of citrus fruits and smoked foods, and adhere to a low-calorie diet.
Osteoarthritis - how to treat it and what are the consequences of the disease?
Elderly people often complain that their knuckles are swollen. This can be one of the signs of osteoarthritis. The disease can occur for the following reasons:
- hormonal imbalance;
- genetic predisposition;
- occupational stress and injuries;
- metabolic disorder associated with aging.
Joint pain can help identify the disease. An accurate diagnosis is made by a specialist after X-ray examination and MRI.
Gymnastics will help alleviate the patient's condition. A set of exercises is selected by the doctor, focusing on the individual characteristics of the patient with osteoarthritis. Therapy also includes following a diet to lose excess weight, if any. You can't do without thermal procedures. Paraffin baths to which mineral oil should be added are recommended.
A non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug from the group of derivatives of propionic acid and acetylsalicylic acid is prescribed to relieve pain and swelling. Among the analgesics, a drug from the anilide group is often used. Massage sessions will help warm up your muscles and improve blood circulation.
If treatment is not started on time, the person will not be able to cope with daily activities in the future. In such cases, joint replacement surgery cannot be avoided.
What is rhizarthrosis?
If the patient has pain in the thumb, it may mean that he has rhizarthrosis. The reasons for this phenomenon can be:
- joint overload;
- past infectious disease;
- injuries;
- body intoxication.
Treatment of rhizarthrosis in stages 1-2 includes taking chondroprotectors. They activate the process of the appearance of new cartilage cells, which helps to eliminate the disease.
The use of manual therapy for the treatment of rhizarthrosis is quite popular. The therapist can realign the changed joint, as a result of which the pain syndrome will disappear. In addition, you can massage the thumb to increase the tone of the cartilage tissue and improve the mobility of the joint.
If the patient is diagnosed with stage 3 rhizarthrosis, then intra-articular injections of hyaluronic acid are prescribed. The use of glucocorticosteroids and non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs is also effective. They increase blood flow in the affected joint, remove pain and swelling.
Traditional medicine for finger pain
You can deal with pain not only with the help of medicines, but also by resorting to folk remedies. For acute pain, the use of a gauze bandage soaked in apple cider vinegar is effective. Poultices made from baked onions or boiled potatoes are perfect for relieving swelling. It is useful to warm the painful joint with hot sea salt and rub it with fir oil.
Tinctures
One common method of treatment is tinctures. You can use vodka for preparation. You should take 50 ml of vodka and 30 ml of valerian tincture, mix both components and add a couple of pods of red pepper. After 3 hours, moisten a cotton swab in the resulting mixture and apply it to the phalanx. A positive effect is noticeable after a month of such treatment.
Another effective remedy is a tincture based on chestnut blossoms. It is enough to collect the raw materials and mix them with vodka. Allow 14 to 20 days. Rub the product when your fingers are numb and you feel pain. Instead of chestnut blossoms, it is allowed to use lilac.
Fats
If your joints hurt when you squeeze your fingers, use mustard and honey ointment. To prepare, mix 5 g of mustard and 15 g of honey. Then add 30 ml of olive oil, evaporate the mixture in a water bath to a thick consistency, cool and use daily to treat affected joints.
For pain in the joint of the index finger of the right hand, an ointment based on bay leaves and juniper needles is recommended. Both components should be mixed in equal proportions, and then add 50 g of butter. You can use the ointment during regular joint massage.