Meanwhile, these diseases have a completely different nature and a different treatment.Knowing these differences does not mean giving an illness a chance to prevail over you.
Difference 1. source of the problem
Osteoarthritis is a degenerative process, accompanied by deformation and abrasion of the joint capsule, which allows the joints to move easily and freely.In addition to the elderly, osteoarthritis often suffers from athletes who, due to constant overloads, from cartilage, covering the surface of the joints, cracks, thinning.
Arthritis is an inflammatory disease associated either with a failure of the immune system (rheumatoid arthritis), or with an infection - genitorerinary, intestinal (reactive arthritis, ankylosing spondylitis).
Difference 2. Symptoms
Arthrosis is not always declared with pain that occurs during morning movement or stiffness, which disappears after several movements.The joints affected by osteoarthritis first click and crunchy, to which the potential victims of the disease do not pay any attention, continuing to load the worn joint.
Arthritis begins with acute pain, swelling, redness of the skin around the sick joint, fever.But at the beginning, it can happen in a hidden form.Impulse to the development of the disease can give stress, overwork, hypothermia, infection - a cold, cystitis.
Difference 3. The nature of joint lesions
Arthrosis most often affects the leg joints (hip, knee, ankle), which explain the maximum load.
With rheumatoid arthritis, the joints of a brush or feet, the wrists suffer.Then, the elbow and knee joints are affected (generally symmetrically), and sometimes the disease affects the internal organs (liver, kidneys).
With reactive arthritis, the inflammation of the joints is more often asymmetrical: the two joints do not suffer, but one.The pain works, as in the steps, with a walk.
Difference 4. Treatment
Arthrosis, especially in a neglected state, is impossible to heal finally.But with a competent and constant contribution of oral drugs that stimulate the regeneration of cartilage, it is possible to slow its development considerably and improve the quality of the patient's life.Anti-inflammatory drugs suffering from osteoarthritis play an auxiliary role because of their negative effect on the mucosa of the gastrointestinal tract.
Arthritis of infectious origin is completely healed if the treatment is started in time with drugs that affect immunity, antibiotics.In particularly serious advanced cases, the course of treatment is repeated several times.
It will be necessary to treat rheumatoid arthritis for doses for life of corticosteroids, anti-inflammatory drugs, cytostatics.But other drugs appear.Thus, in the mid -90s, the era of genetically genius biological drugs began, which made it possible to reach prolonged remission of the disease, as well as to reduce the dose of hormonal agents.