Rheumatism, in the concept of traditional medicine, is summarized as paralysis, and Chinese medicine believes that the three qi of wind and humidity are mixed and combined into paralysis. Rheumatism, in the early Western medical system, refers to chronic pain in joints and the soft tissues surrounding them. In the 3rd century BC, rheumatism was used in the Greek word rheuma, which means flow. At present, there are as many as 10 types of rheumatic immune diseases, more than 100 kinds of diseases, involving various systems of the body, and the incidence is also increasing. Therefore, it is necessary for ordinary people to learn to self-examine and timely detect rheumatic immune diseases through relevant symptoms and manifestations.
Rheumatism, the first category of manifestations, is joint symptoms, mainly joint swelling and pain, may be accompanied by skin redness and fever around the joint, the duration and extent of pain, there are differences, may be migratory, may be fixed, or occasionally attacked. Usually, the swollen and painful metatarsophalangeal joints of the foot are first considered, gout, wandering swelling of the whole body, rheumatoid arthritis, wandering pain, rheumatic polymyalgia or fibromyalgia, and also need to be distinguished from pain caused by osteoporosis. Alternating hip pain, feeling stiff when getting out of bed, lessening after activity, accompanied by swelling pain in the knee or ankle joint, ankylosing spondylitis should be considered.
Rheumatism, the second type of manifestation, is a muscle symptom, if the muscles of the limbs are found to be painful and weak, after squatting, difficulty standing up, at the same time, difficulty lifting the arms, purple around the eyes, rash on the front chest and back, dermatomyositis or polymyositis needs to be considered. Rheumatism, but also cause morning stiffness, early in the morning after getting up, feel the joints and lower back stiff feeling, after activity can be alleviated. Rheumatoid arthritis, morning stiffness can last more than 1 hour, rheumatism can also appear to varying degrees of morning stiffness, which requires relevant tests to confirm the diagnosis.
The third manifestation of rheumatism is mucosal and skin changes. Mouth ulcers are the window of observation of rheumatic immune diseases. Among them, the typical representative is Behcet's disease, which will recur oral and vulvar ulcers, which are usually 3 to 5 rice-grain-sized ulcers in the soft palate or throat area, or deep or shallow, with a yellow necrotic base in the center, which generally lasts for 1 to 2 weeks with varying degrees of pain. Patients also present with dry mouth, dry eyes, parotid gland enlargement, hair loss, conjunctivitis, sensitivity to light, rash, nodules, skin hardening or pigmentation, cold discoloration of fingers, and finger ulcers. In short, the recurrence of unexplained skin symptoms, in addition to visiting the dermatologist, should think of rheumatic immune disease related tests.
The possibility of rheumatic immune diseases should be thought of in the case of rheumatic immune diseases, which are manifested in the case of unexplained wasting and fever lasting more than 2 weeks, especially when antibacterial or antituberculous therapy is ineffective. Category 5 manifestations are recurrent miscarriages. Category 6 is other manifestations, such as susceptibility to colds, recurrent thrombosis, recurrent pinna swelling and pain, abnormal limb fear of cold or heat, local or systemic skin hardening, and generalized pain. In short, because rheumatic immune diseases can affect organs throughout the body, the symptoms are diverse and complex, and clues need to be carefully identified.
To confirm rheumatism, there are a variety of tests, and the basic tests are often referred to as rheumatism 4 items. The first item is anti-streptolysin O, referred to as ASO, the normal value of this test will be affected by age, climate, streptococcal epidemic, etc., and need to be combined with other test results to make a comprehensive judgment. Elevated ASO suggests streptococcal A infection and its immune response, e.g., rheumatic fever and infective endocarditis. The second item, C-reactive protein, referred to as CRP, is an acute phase protein, in the early stage of acute rheumatism or rheumatoid, C-reactive protein levels can be increased, this index can also be rheumatic fever and other diseases, dynamic disease observation.
The third test to confirm rheumatism is rheumatoid factor, rf for short, which is an autoantibody produced by a bacterial or viral infection that can assist in distinguishing rheumatoid arthritis from rheumatoid arthritis. Rheumatoid arthritis, systemic lupus erythematosus, scleroderma, dermatomyositis and other diseases will be RF positive. Item 4, erythrocyte sedimentation rate, referred to as ESR, is mainly used for dynamic observation of rheumatic fever and rheumatoid arthritis and other diseases, as well as the differential diagnosis of certain diseases. In addition, rheumatism diagnostics also performs tests for anticyclic citrullinated peptide antibodies, circulating immune complexes, antinuclear antibodies, anti-double-stranded DNA antibodies, and other abnormal antigens or antibody tests.
Whoever loves, pass on health to whom.
Your health, my concern. Professionals observe health from a scientific and humanistic perspective, including a series of express reports, details, reminders, doubts, observations, opinions, historical stories, etc., with the content of the original works of the author Wei Hongling and the team. All forms of misappropriation and reproduction without permission will be refused, otherwise they will be prosecuted in accordance with relevant laws.