Arthritis and Gout and Osteoarthritis

Arthritis and Gout have many similarities.

Arthritis can have up to 100 distinct conditions that can affect anyone at any time in their life.

There are two of the most common forms.

Osteoarthritis and Rheumatoid Arthritis.

Both contain distinct disc and joint pain, both are very hard to contain or manage.

Both conditions have to be maintained as soon as possible to avoid serious damage.

Osteoarthritis one of the most common forms in the world, affecting at least 24% of the population at some stage in their life. This could be higher as people are tending to live longer.

Osteoarthritis is generally a breakdown of joint cartilage, affecting the Spine, hips, fingers, knees, elbows, wrists, ankles, shoulders… have a I left a joint out.? , . if I have then count what ever joint you can think of.

It can be brought on with an injury instantly or can form due to an old injury and damage.

Repetitive sports training, gardening, lifting, bending etc, that cause wear and tear on the body can all contribute to the onset of Osteoarthritis.

Repairs to a Sports injury such as a Knee reconstruction can cause Arthritis in its evil form for the future.

My knee has it from a skiing accident and reconstruction years ago. ( Now I also have arthritis and gout in the repaired area )

My mother was involved in a Car accident a few years ago in Africa and fractured her spine in 4 areas. Upon getting her home it was discovered she had it in her spine. She is 80 years young and never considered she had it until she was diagnosed with it.

She had a ever growing old person stoop but didn’t think too much about it until diagnosed.

There are many incidences that your body is indicating that it has Osteoarthritis.

Generally Swelling of the joint such as a finger for no reason, or joint stiffness, numbness in the joint extremity, hard to climb stairs due to stiffness of the knees, holding a walking stick becomes difficult, holding a steering wheel, stiffness in the back and spine when getting up from bed. (I have had some these symptoms with my Gout attacks.)

As with arthritis and gout Women can have an appearance of Osteoarthritis after Menopause, and women seem to suffer in greater numbers than men do.

There are other factors that can appear to help bring this painful problem on and that is Diet and Obesity, the heavier you are the more stress on the joints your body receives.

There are ways for your doctor to get an idea if you have Osteoarthritis.

These are MRI’s , X-rays, Joint Aspiration or drawing of the synovial fluid out of the joint.

Notice the similarities between Arthritis and Gout so far? Arthritis and Gout, Osteoarthritis, Rheumatoid Arthritis

Rheumatoid Arthritis

This affects the joints, blood, lungs, heart, organs, joints, synovial juices, glands, etc.

It can be misdiagnosed as Gout as they both have similar characteristics….such as

Joint swelling, heat coming from the affected areas, stiffness lasting for more than an hour, every joint can be inflamed from this and it can come on for no reason at all. The joint linings can be majorly affected, and like gout there can be small lumps forming under the skin in the scalp, at the ends of the elbows, hands, fingers, and other extremeties,these are called rheumatoid nodules.

It is an auto-immune disease, where the bodies immune system attacks healthy joint tissue as well as damages tissue.

This is a similar system as Gout in the way that the blood sends out more red cells to fight the intruder, which in turn gives off great heat and swelling of the affected areas.

Like Gout and Osteoarthritis this is an hereditary disease, genetics play a huge role, often triggered by damage to the joints, a virus, and bacteria invasion etc.

There is a weird side effect in which unlike Osteoarthritis and Gout which can affect one joint on one side of the body Rheumatoid Arthritis can affect the opposite side of the body at the same time, for example, two swollen knees, hips, elbows and hands.A strange affect indeed.

Blood tests and X-rays can show what the extent of the damage from this disease has done to your body.

Always seek medical attention if any symptom occurs, as early detection can save your life or at least give you a better quality of life.

Rheumatoid Arthritis can also lead to bone loss and damage which leads into the Osteoporosis area or bones that are fragile and brittle enough to fracture.

Also sufferers can also develop anemia ( lack of production of blood cells )

Neck pain, dry eyes and mouth , inflammation of the blood vessels, lung lining and sac inflammation around the heart called pericarditis.

There are some areas being studied right now linking breastfeeding to aggravate the disease.

Notice again the similarities of Arthritis and Gout?

Here is a list of some Arthritic names:

Ankylosing Spondylitis (AS)

Avascular Necrosis (Osteonecrosis) Back Pain

Behçet's Disease

Bursitis And Other Soft Tissue Diseases

Carpal Tunnel Syndrome

Collagen Vascular Disease

CPDD (Calcium Pyrophosphate Dihydrate Crystal Deposition Disease )Crohn's Disease

Degenerative Joint Disease

Dermatomyositis

DISH (Diffuse Idiopathic Skeletal Hypertosis)

EDS (Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome)

EMS (Eosinophilia-Myalgia Syndrome)

Felty's Syndrome

Fibromyalgia

Fibromyositis

Gout

Infectious arthritis

Inflammatory Bowel Disease

JH (Joint Hypermobility)

Joint Inflammation

Juvenile Rheumatoid Arthritiis

Juvenile Arthritis - Other Types & Related Conditions

Juvenile Dermatomyositis

Juvenile Non-Inflammatory Disorders

Juvenile Psoriatic Arthritis

Juvenile Rheumatoid Arthritis (JRA)

Juvenile Scleroderma

Juvenile Spondyloarthropathy Syndromes

Juvenile Systemic Lupus Erythematosis (SLE)

Juvenile Vasculitis

Lupus, Discoid

Lupus Erythematosis

Lyme Disease

Marfan Syndrome

MCTD (Mixed Connective Tissue Disease)

Myofascial Pain

Osteoarthritis

Osteogenesis Imperfecta

Osteonecrosis (Avascular Necrosis)

Osteoporosis

Paget's Disease

PMR (polymyalgia rheumatica)

Polymyositis

Polyarteritis Nodossa and Wegener's Granulomatosis

Polyarthritis

Pseudogout

Pseudoxanthoma Elasticum (PXE)

Psoriatic Arthritis

Raynaud's

Reiter's (Reactive Arthritis)

Rheumatoid Arthritis

RLD (Restless Leg Syndrome)

RSD (Reflex Sympathetic Dystrophy)

Sarcoidosis

Scleroderma

Sjogren's Syndrome

Soft Tissue Disease

Spinal Stenosis

Still's Disease

Temporal Arteritis

TMJ (Tempero-Mandibular Joint) problems

Wegener's Granulomatosis

Vasculitis

Lots aren’t there…

Arthritis and Gout, Osteoarthritis and Rheumatoid Arthritis.

You must see a specialist if you believe you have any of these deforming painful joint conditions.

Arthritis and Gout, Osteoarthritis, Rheumatoid Arthritis