Ms. Feng is 38 years old this year, and although her family life is not rich, she is still happy. But since she gave birth to her second child, she obviously felt that her physical fitness had deteriorated a lot. Especially in the joints, there is always a sudden pain.
One weekend, my girlfriend came to the house as a guest, and the two chatted about their postpartum recovery. "I used to be full of energy, and I was very sharp in everything, but now I have either this pain or that pain in three days and two heads, and I can only rely on painkillers, and I can't do it if I don't take old age." Ms. Feng said helplessly.
"I was weak after giving birth, and it took me a long time to recover. However, like you have been giving birth for 3 years, and it hurts every day, taking painkillers is not a good phenomenon. Let's go to the hospital to investigate, in case there is really any problem, it can not be solved by taking medicine alone. The girlfriend persuaded.
Ms. Feng went for a medical examination the next day and was diagnosed with osteoarthritis. After getting to know the doctor, I learned that Ms. Feng's pain in large and small joints had been going on for a long time. There were signs after giving birth to the first child, but because the pain was less frequent, Ms. Feng did not take it seriously.
The consumption caused by re-pregnancy on the body, including phased changes in eating patterns, large weight gain, and the emergence of problems such as overwork with two children, further increased the burden on the joints, which made Ms. Feng's condition worse. So much so that now the pain is unbearable every three to five.
In response to Ms. Feng's behavior of taking painkillers, the doctor suggested that drugs can be used to assist analgesia when she is in pain, but the medication needs to be symptomatic. At the same time, it is necessary to reduce joint pressure by adjusting lifestyle practices, so as to facilitate the control of the disease.
In fact, many people in life are deeply afflicted by osteoarthritis, especially when it rains on cloudy days, pain will sweep the whole body. So what exactly causes osteoarthritis? How do I take medication when I have pain? In addition to medication, how to help control the disease in life?
First, painful osteoarthritis, or caused by these factors
How painful osteoarthritis is, only those who have actually experienced it can understand. This type of condition causes pain, mainly related to the type of occurrence, which is damage to the soft tissues of the joints. Pain occurs when soft tissues degenerate, break, fibrosis, or, in special cases, defects in the joint surfaces that lose cushioning.
Relevant data show that there are more than 130 million patients with osteoarthritis in mainland China, accounting for 9.2%, mainly concentrated in people over 65 years old. Affected by physiological attributes, life characteristics and other factors, the proportion of female patients is higher than that of male patients.
It is not difficult to find that if the number of elderly people in mainland China continues to increase in the future, the incidence of this disease will further increase. More importantly, the disease is now showing a younger trend, and there is also a low probability of onset in people around 40 years old. Due to neglect of early attention, the condition is often delayed or aggravated.
The condition causes pain, mainly on weight-bearing joints such as knees, hips, cervical spine, lumbar spine, and distal joints such as ankles, wrists, and knuckles. If neglected for a long time, it will not only make people suffer from persistent pain, but also seriously affect mobility and even lead to disability.
The direct cause of pain in the onset of osteoarthritis is unknown, but it is certain that the condition can develop under the influence of a variety of factors. The normal functioning of the human body depends on the cooperation of multiple functions, and any abnormality in either party will cause the emergence of related diseases.
Clinical observations have found that the occurrence of osteoarthritis is usually related to abnormal cartilage metabolism and water ratio imbalance. In addition, under certain objective factors, such as climate change, neglect of warmth, excessive fatigue, joint damage, excess weight, etc., may also induce the occurrence of this disease.
Assuming that a person's usual work and rest are irregular, there are endocrine disorders or uneven nutritional intake, then the physiological environment of his bones and joints will deteriorate. If combined with excessive joint burden caused by cooling neglect to keep warm or obesity, the risk of osteoarthritis skyrockets.
The course of the disease is long and generally divided into three stages. In the initial stage, patients may feel pain under certain specific conditions, such as physical labor, cooling, trauma, etc., which is not obvious enough and is the most easily overlooked stage.
If it is not controlled in the early stage, after entering the middle stage, the patient's pain will become more and more obvious, and even cause various adverse reactions. At this stage, the patient will significantly feel more pain and joint flexibility will decrease, but the symptoms will be reduced with reasonable activity or rest.
In the advanced stages, the controllable, relievable, intermittent pain can become persistent pain, even at rest. As the soft tissues of the joint are further damaged and proliferated, the joints will be abnormally swollen or deformed.
Second, arthritis pain is unbearable, how to use medicine?
1. Nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs
This class of drugs is a common labor pain and anti-inflammatory drug in clinical use, and is widely used to relieve various pain symptoms caused by osteoarthritis. It can directly act on the central nervous system, and then play the function of analgesic, anti-inflammatory, and swelling, and also has a certain effect on preventing pain sensitivity.
There are many kinds of such drugs, mainly divided into two categories: selective and non-selective. Selective drugs include ericoxib, nimesulide, etocoxib, celecoxib, etc. Non-selective drugs include ibuprofen, proxen, indomethacin, dilufenac, etc.
Selective drugs mainly rely on the passage of the blood-brain barrier to exert their effects to improve pain sensitivity and inhibit pain sensitivity to reduce pain. At the same time, it can also rely on its anti-inflammatory properties to effectively alleviate the disease, which is a highly effective analgesic and anti-inflammatory means.
Non-selective drugs, after entering the human body, the blood concentration is generally low, can not directly act on the pain nerve. That is, the drug requires a certain reaction time to truly achieve the purpose of analgesia.
It should be noted that this class of drugs is generally suitable for the early and middle stages of osteoarthritis, such as intermittent pain, redness and swelling, but long-term use is not recommended. If it is dependent for a long time, it is easy to cause a variety of side effects, such as peripheral edema, intestinal damage, abnormal liver function, etc., please use with caution.
2. Acetaminophen
Friends who have experienced large-scale infection of the new crown must be familiar with such drugs. Yes, in addition to alleviating various adverse reactions caused by new crown infection, it can also be used to relieve pain caused by osteoarthritis.
These drugs are common painkillers, but they are suitable for relieving pain caused by mild or moderate osteoarthritis. However, due to differences in the propensity of drug action, this class of drugs is more suitable for analgesia than for relieving inflammation.
The risk of adverse reactions of such drugs is very low, it does not stimulate the gastrointestinal tract, does not affect platelet function, and has a high safety profile. Only in a very small number of special populations can liver and kidney damage or malignant skin reactions occur. Therefore, the drug can often be used as a long-term analgesic.
However, its drug effect is limited, and although it can be used as the first choice for long-term use, its analgesic effect is not obvious enough. If the patient already has severe and persistent pain, it is better to choose a nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug.
3. Topical medication
This class of drugs mostly appears in the form of creams, gels, and liquids, and the most common in life are safflower oil, activating oil and capsaicin. This class of drugs mainly relies on its constituent properties to exert medicinal effects, such as safflower, pepper, chuanwu, aconite, etc., all of which have the effect of dispelling cold and dampness and activating the bloodline.
If the patient's course of the disease is in the early stage, only the knee joint, knuckles and other local pain are felt, it can be improved by topical drugs. Apply cream, gel and liquid to the affected area, rub in circular motions and massage for 10 minutes, and the fever and pain in the affected area will be relieved.
4. Injectable drugs
As the name suggests, this class of drugs needs to be injected by puncture to make the drug work, commonly used drugs include glucocorticoids and sodium hyaluronate. Although it belongs to the same injectable drug, the type of patients targeted by the drug is different.
Glucocorticoids are predominantly short-term analgesia and can be used to relieve severe disease types. This class of drugs not only has a highly effective analgesic effect, but also relieves the inflammatory response inside the joint, reduces swelling, congestion, exudation and infiltration of interstitial fluid, and improves joint flexibility.
Sodium hyaluronate is used to lubricate joints, which can relieve the pain caused by physical collision caused by soft tissue damage, and has a certain anti-inflammatory effect, which can protect joints and repair soft tissues to some extent. With cushioning between bones and joints, physical collisions are reduced, and pain is naturally relieved.
It should be reminded that injectable drugs are generally carried out under the evaluation of a doctor. Because such drugs have certain requirements for patients, such as infection, recent surgery, or the condition of an underlying disease, there are restrictions. Please also actively seek medical attention to understand your situation before deciding whether to take such measures.
5. Opioids
This class of drugs includes fentanyl, oxycodone, tramadol, etc., mainly by acting on opioid receptors in the nervous system to achieve analgesic effects. Considering the high risk of adverse effects of these drugs, they are generally not used as the first choice.
However, if the patient does not respond well to other analgesic treatments, or if the body is intolerant and the pain cannot be effectively relieved, doctors may consider opioids. Simply put, opioids may be the last option for pain caused by osteoarthritis.
Third, in addition to medication, how to assist labor pain in life?
1. Reasonable weight control
Long-term heavy physical work increases joint wear and tear, and once soft tissues are damaged, the risk of osteoarthritis increases. Compared with people who actually perform physical work, the joint pressure of people with large weights tends to be greater, because such people are in a state of weight bearing all the time.
Clinical observations have found that people who are significantly overweight generally have joint abnormalities, such as abnormal walking posture and frequent abnormal joint noises, which to some extent indicate joint damage. Some people even have minor fractures due to overweight, which shows the impact of weight on bone health.
You can increase your own consumption by adjusting your diet and strengthening exercise, which is not only conducive to weight loss, but also improves physical fitness. More importantly, it can improve the state of the joints during exercise and keep them in good flexibility.
2. Keep warm and happy
Do a good job of daily warmth, scientific addition and reduction of clothing needless to say that everyone understands, especially at a certain age, mother does not need to urge, she wears autumn pants. The temperature difference in the changing stage is large, and the joints are easily affected by cold, so doing a good job of keeping warm can effectively prevent poor circulation.
Maintaining a good mood is also very simple, the body's operation and mood swings are closely linked, if the long-term mental pressure is too large, the body's metabolism will be abnormal, and then cause endocrine disorders. Learning to self-regulate and protect metabolic function can prevent joint damage to some extent.
3. Pay attention to changes in somatosensory sensation and actively seek medical treatment
It should be known that if this kind of disease is not intervened for a long time, it will not only aggravate the pain, but also may cause limb deformation or disability, and even bear the mental and financial burden of "fighting a protracted war". As a result, some patients begin to abandon themselves and neglect to seek medical treatment.
In fact, no matter what stage the course of the disease enters, patients should be highly sensitive to changes in pain and body changes, and should not be too negative. The disease can be reduced by early intervention, active medical treatment, reasonable intervention, in order to prevent the aggravation of the disease.
Summary:
Osteoarthritis is unbearable and can be relieved by drugs, but the symptomatic drugs are different for different patients' conditions and pathogenesis. Please also protect your joints in your daily life, and seek medical attention in time if there is any abnormality.