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By Chris Brown
Arthritis sufferers have to treat their ailment with a wide range of treatments including medication. Currently there are over 100 medications available for athritis treatment. However, at this stage there is only relief medicine available to reduce pain, improve joint mobility, decrease flare-ups and reduce inflammations. Unfortunately researchers are still looking for an arthritis cure.
Following you can learn about medicines available for arthritis patients. There are four main categories on the market: pain-relieving medicines, anti-inflammatory medicines, disease-modifying medicines and biologic response modyfying medicines.
The first category are the pain-relieving medicines which include aspirin, paracetemol and ibuprofen. As a matter of fact, aspirin and ibuprofen are mainly anti-inflammatory drugs; however they also contain small amounts of pain killing doses. These pain relieving drugs are available at almost all chemists over the counter, a doctor's subscription is not required.
Anti-inflammatory medicines have the intented purpose to relieve flare-ups and reduce swelling. There are two forms available: Non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) and steroids. NSAIDs need to be taken over an extended period of time so to make it more effective. However there are undesirable side effects such as stomach problems. Despite the side effects it is the most common prescribed medicine against arthritis. Some NSAIDs include naproxen (Naprosyn), fenbufen (Lederfen), piroxicam (Feldene) and Cox - 2 inhibitors. However there have been concerns raised about the safety of Cox-2. Steroids have proven very effectives against inflammation a concern however is that they can cause harm to the body when it is used for a long period of time. Therefore they are preferably used to bring severe cases of arthritis under control before switching to gentler medication.
Disease-modifying medicines are primarily used with cases where damage to the immune system such as by rheumatoid arthritis and juvenile idiopathic arthritis has already occured. They can be either taken orally or through injections. Those drugs deal with the whole of immune system, instead of just relieving the symptoms. Some types of this kind of medicine are methotrexate, sulfasalazine and gold (sodium aurothiomalate).
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Biologic response modifiers (BRMs) are becoming increasingly popular in the treatment of arthritis. Originally they were only used to treat severe cases of rheumatoid arthritis, however now they have assumed a new role and are primarily used to treat patients in the early stages of arthritis, so to prevent profound damage to the joints. Even though a lot of arthritis sufferers concerned with rheumatoid arthritis find BRMs effective, it is still not suitable for everyone with arthritis. The major disadvantage of these products is that they are expensive and can only be given through injections or infusion.
All medicines contain some sort of side effects that usually vary from patient to patient. Many patients taking arthritis related medicines experience certain side effects such as stomach pain. But because arthritis medicines can be very powerful and can have a profound positive effect on the body there are now several approaches that deal with reducing the side effects.
For example it is highly important to take the dosage of the medicines according to instructions such as 2 times in the day. A doctor must constantly be supervising the patient so that he or she can see whether the intake is going according to the plan. Another important aspect to be taken into account is that the benefit of taking the medicine shall be weighed against the harm of not taking them. Arthritis can worsen if it is not dealt with through medication.
The demands of an arthritis patient are many. To cater for the individual needs of the various forms of arthrits many different types of medicines have been produced to meet the specific demand. Also as dicussed above using medicines for arthritis relieve can have side effects. Therefore a wide range of medicines allows a person to choose ones that gives least side effects to him or her.
Before you start taking any medicine, it is essential for you to contact your doctor so to understand the actual situation and choose the medicine that best caters to your needs. It is especially important for pregnant women to consult their doctors as some medicines contain strong side effects and can be harmful to the baby. Therefore it is essential to adjust medication in such cases.
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