Very often, patients complain of pain in the joints of the fingers. All pathologies have pronounced specific symptoms, so a specialist will quickly make a diagnosis and prescribe the appropriate treatment.
Rheumatoid arthritis
Rheumatoid arthritis is a serious disease accompanied by an inflammatory process. This causes pain in the joints and their deformation. The 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 immune system dysfunction. In this disease, immune cells mistake joint cells for viruses or bacteria and try to eliminate them. The destruction process can last for many years.
The following symptoms of the disease are distinguished:
- severe joint pain, worse at night or in the morning;
- stiffness in the joints after sleep;
- high body temperature;
- sleep disorder;
- rapid fatigability;
- decreased appetite;
- sudden weight loss;
- formation of nodules at the elbow.
Rheumatoid arthritis develops due to the following factors:
- previous sore throat or flu;
- joint injuries;
- infectious pathology;
- long-term stress and depression;
- genetic predisposition.
A distinctive feature of rheumatoid arthritis compared to osteoarthritis is a decrease in pain during exercise. If the finger joints of the right hand hurt and swell, the same symptoms appear on the left hand. Over time, the disease can affect other joints.
If you start treatment at an early stage, you can avoid deformation and destruction of the joints.
Nuance!Breastfeeding for two years reduces the risk of rheumatoid arthritis in women by 2 times.
Treatment
Modern methods of treating rheumatoid arthritis include:
- aurotherapy;
- cytostatics;
- take antimalarial medications;
- sulfonamides;
- D-penicillamine.
On average, even an experienced rheumatologist takes about 6 months to select the right treatment method, as he examines the patient's characteristics and drug tolerance.
What is aurotherapy?
Aurotherapy involves taking medications containing gold salts.
Doctors recommend using gold preparations at the initial stage of the disease. With their help, it is possible to achieve a positive effect in the treatment of rapidly developing acute pathology accompanied by severe pain and early degenerative changes in the joints. Gold drugs are prescribed to patients in cases where nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs have not improved their condition.
The main advantage of aurotherapy is that it can be used for concomitant inflammatory pathologies and the presence of malignant tumors. In addition, during their research, scientists discovered that gold salts actively fight fungi and some bacteria, including Helicobacter pylori.
The duration of treatment with gold preparations is 2-3 months. If during this period the patient's condition has not improved, then this technique is canceled.
Note!Many people experience relapses of rheumatoid arthritis some time after gold treatment. The rheumatologist can prescribe aurotherapy again. Sometimes such treatment can last for years if it does not lead to negative consequences on other organs.
Is cytostatic therapy effective?
To eliminate the symptoms of rheumatoid arthritis, it is customary to use cytostatics.
Since the disease is autoimmune in origin, it is not surprising that doctors prescribe immunosuppressants. Their main advantage lies in their high effectiveness at a relatively low dosage. Patients with rheumatoid arthritis are prescribed 5 or even 20 times less cytostatics than patients with cancer. The drugs 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. Quite rarely, patients complain of the following symptoms:
- itchy skin;
- intestinal dysfunction;
- chills;
- difficulty urinating.
If the medication is stopped or the doctor adjusts the dosage, the side effects disappear quickly. The duration 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 tolerance of the drugs. A major disadvantage of this treatment is that antimalarial drugs work slowly. Their effect is noticeable after 6 to 12 months, but the therapeutic effect is rather weak.
Will sulfa drugs help with rheumatoid arthritis?
Drugs from the sulfa group are successfully used to treat finger pain. Their benefits include:
- Good tolerance.
- Low degree of complications, if any.
- Affordable price.
The disadvantage of these drugs is their slow action. The positive effect is noticeable only 3 months after the start of treatment.
How to treat the disease with D-penicillamine?
If the patient is suitable for treatment with gold preparations or the use of a cytostatic, then there is no need to prescribe D-penicillamine. It is much inferior to the listed methods of treatment in terms of effectiveness, but significantly exceeds 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 used effectively in patients with cardiac, respiratory or renal complications. It must be followed for 3-5 years, then a break of several years will be required, after which the course will have to be repeated.
Gout - symptoms and treatment
Gout is one of the dangerous diseases of joints and tissues. This happens due to a metabolic disorder in the body. Gout is characterized by an increase in the amount of uric acid in the lymph.
Symptoms of the disease include:
- inflammation of the big toe joint;
- severe pressing pain in the morning or evening;
- increased body temperature;
- redness of the skin;
- growths on the legs or arms.
If treatment is not started promptly, the patient may develop gouty arthritis. Possible complications also include urolithiasis and kidney failure, which can lead to death.
To treat gout, nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs are used for 1 to 2 weeks.
In order to quickly reduce the concentration of uric acid in the body, anti-gout medications are prescribed.
To eliminate acute symptoms of gout, experts prescribe a drug based on an alkaloid from the bulbs of the magnificent lily family. Glucocorticoids are used to relieve swelling and pain. These drugs quickly eliminate 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. The signs of this disease are:
- joint deformity;
- pain syndrome at night;
- numbness of the limbs;
- discoloration of the skin to burgundy color at the site of development of the disease;
- swelling of the fingers;
- reduced mobility.
Most patients with psoriatic arthritis experience nail plate damage. First, small pits form on their surface, then their color changes due to disruption of microcirculation.
Very often, pregnant women are diagnosed with psoriatic arthritis. This is because the disease is also hormonal in origin and a woman experiences 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 are identified:
- injuries;
- severe stress and emotional stress;
- excessive physical activity;
- Infectious diseases;
- hereditary predisposition.
The following groups of medications are used to treat psoriatic arthritis:
- Non-steroidal drugs. Designed to eliminate inflammation and reduce pain.
- Glucocorticoids: injected into the joint cavity.
- Cytostatic from the group of folic acid antagonists: is the most popular systemic drug.
- An immunosuppressant that acts selectively on T lymphocytes: used to slow changes that occur in bone and cartilage tissues.
For psoriatic arthritis, it is recommended to abandon alcoholic beverages, reduce the consumption of citrus fruits and smoked foods, and follow a low-calorie diet.
Osteoarthritis – how to treat it and what are the consequences of the disease?
Older people often complain of swelling in their finger joints. This can be one of the signs of osteoarthritis. The disease can appear for the following reasons:
- hormonal imbalance;
- genetic predisposition;
- workplace stress and injuries;
- age-related metabolic disorder.
Joint pain can help identify the disease. A precise diagnosis is made by a specialist after x-ray examination and MRI.
Gymnastics will help alleviate the patient's condition. The set of exercises is selected by the doctor, focusing on the individual characteristics of the patient suffering from osteoarthritis. Therapy also includes following a diet in order to lose excess weight, if any. You cannot do without thermal procedures. Paraffin baths are recommended, to which mineral oil should be added.
To eliminate pain and relieve swelling, a nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug from the group of propionic acid derivatives and acetylsalicylic acid is prescribed. Among pain relievers, 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 become unable to cope with daily activities in the future. In such cases, joint replacement surgery cannot be avoided.
What is rhizarthrosis?
If a patient feels pain in their thumb, it may indicate that they have rhizarthrosis. The reasons for this phenomenon can be:
- joint overload;
- previous infectious disease;
- injuries;
- intoxication of the body.
Treatment of rhizarthrosis in stages 1 and 2 includes taking chondroprotectors. They activate the process of the appearance of new cartilage cells, which helps eliminate the disease.
It is very common to use manual therapy to treat rhizarthrosis. The therapist can realign the altered joint, which will make the pain syndrome disappear. In addition, you can massage the thumb to increase the tone of the cartilage tissue and improve joint mobility.
If the patient is diagnosed with the 3rd stage of rhizarthrosis, then intra-articular injections of hyaluronic acid are prescribed. It is also effective to use glucocorticoids and nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs. They increase blood flow to the affected joint, eliminate pain and relieve swelling.
Traditional medicine for finger pain
You can cope with pain not only with the help of medications, but also by resorting to folk remedies. For acute pain, it is effective to use a gauze dressing soaked in apple cider vinegar. To relieve swelling, compresses containing baked onions or boiled potatoes are perfect. It is useful to warm the sore joint with hot sea salt and rub it with fir oil.
Dyes
Tinctures are a common treatment method. You can use vodka for preparation. You need to take 50 ml of vodka and 30 ml of valerian tincture, mix the two components and add a few pods of red pepper. After 3 hours, moisten a cotton swab in the resulting mixture and apply to the phalanx. The positive effect is noticeable after a month of such treatment.
Another effective remedy is a tincture based on chestnut inflorescences. Simply collect the raw materials and mix them with vodka. Leave for 14 to 20 days. Rub the product in when your fingers are numb and you feel pain. Instead of chestnut inflorescences, it is allowed to use lilac.
Ointments
If your joints hurt when you squeeze your fingers, you should use an ointment made from mustard and honey. To prepare it, 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, then add 50 g of butter. You can use the ointment during a regular joint massage.