Have ever you felt the pain in the feet or hands in the morning? If you have, then you must be alert and immediately find ways to overcome them. It may be that you suffer from rheumatoid arthritis. This disease can cause permanent disability and even premature death.

Rheumatoid arthritis is an autoimmune disease that attacks the joint tissue. It is possibly also attack other organs. If it is not treated immediately, there will be joint damage and disability, and even premature death. Rheumatoid arthritis is not an independent disease, but rather a group of diseases. But the cause is still unknown.

The disease is caused by many factors. Can be genetic, could also be due to an unhealthy lifestyle. If any family members who suffer from rheumatoid arthritis, chances are the child or offspring suffer the same disease. Unhealthy lifestyles such as smoking may like to increase the risk of rheumatoid arthritis.

It is a general think that all of rheumatic diseases are caused by uric acid. Whereas rheumatic disease because of uric acid (gout arthritis) is only approximately 7 percent of the rheumatic diseases. This disease can attack all people, both children and adults. But the most frequently attacked are young adults to the elderly.

Rheumatoid arthritis is a disease that is widespread and involves all racial and ethnic groups in the world.  It usually starts in children before the age of 16 years. Generally, this disease attacks the joints of the fingers, wrists, shoulders, knees, and feet. At an advanced stage, patients will not be able to perform daily activities and quality of life decreases.

Factors Causes and Symptoms

Autoimmune disease occurs because of interference with the normal functioning of the immune system, so that the immune system attack the body’s own tissue. It could also be due to the failure of antibodies to recognize his own body cells and considered a foreign body so destructive.

Rheumatoid arthritis attacks the joints wrapped in a layer commonly called sinovium and cause inflammation of the joints wrappers. Result sinovitis (inflammation of the sinovium) that chronic damage to joint cartilage, bone, tendons and ligaments in the joints. Inflammation causes sinovium out some substances that undermined cartilage cells, causing damage to bone and may result in the disappearance of the joint surface that would interfere with joint motion. If it is not immediately treated, can occur permanent disability.

Rheumatoid arthritis usually causes problems in several joints in the same time.

In the early stages, this disease usually attacks the small joints such as wrists, hands, ankles, and feet. Next it will attack shoulder joint,  elbows, knees, hips, jaw, and neck. Generally, this disease attacks the joints of the fingers, wrists, shoulders, knees, and feet.  This situation will occur in the morning and will disappear in the afternoon.

Other symptoms include fever, decreased appetite, weight loss, weakness, and less blood. Sometimes the patient does not feel the symptoms.

Diagnosis and Treatment

Diagnosis is usually established from the patient history. Diagnosis of rheumatoid arthritis can be said positively when the patient is experiencing as described above for 6 weeks.They will also be carried out laboratory and radiology tests to determine the condition of the patient’s joints.

It can also be carried out joint fluid analysis. The doctor will take joint fluid with a sterile needle, and joint fluid will be analyzed whether there are elevated levels of leukocytes or not.

The goal of treatment is to reduce joint inflammation and prevent or slow joint damage that can cause permanent disability. Besides treatment is also intended to prevent muscle weakness. Early treatment is to improve the comfort and maintain the independence of patients in order not to depend on others.

Previously, the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis symptoms start to eliminate the pain such as reducing swelling dab pain. Now, treatment is intended to stop the disease in order not to continue, to prevent loss of joint function, and prevent disability, thus preventing premature death. In the future, treatments directed to reduce the disease despite treatment is stopped.

Treatment of this disease is divided into two, namely treatment with drugs and therapies such as physiotherapy, psychological, and surgery. Lack of drug consuming could occur side effects, the use of fairly complex procedures, slow effects, and the failure rate is quite large.

If the various treatments have been carried out and did not succeed and there is a strong enough reason, it is recommended for surgery. Surgery is an option if the provision of drugs failed to prevent and slow down joint damage. Surgery can restore function to damaged joints.

Addiction to alcohol is not a new phenomenon. That is a common problem which is faced by the society for quite a long period of time. Drinking alcohol in some way or the other is a common fact and the result is that several people gets addicted to this without even knowing the fact that they are becoming a slave to that day by day. Similar problem which becomes common issue is the case of painkiller addiction.

Nowadays using painkillers for the slightest reason has become an usual fact for many people without even giving the slightest thought to its outcome. These prescription drugs are becoming such a threat these days because of their misuse that it is really tough to control their use. Read the rest of this entry »

The recurrent and excessive use of alcohol is the definition of alcohol abuse. Left untreated it would become a psychological or physical dependence referred to as an addiction. While each alcoholic is already engaged in alcohol abuse, it is possible for an individual to abuse alcohol and even not be an addict by the strictest definitions. Determining whether the line has been crossed between abuse and addiction is significant but regardless of whether an individual is a drug user or an addict, getting help is vital.

Behaviors often associated with alcohol abuse include DUI’s, unstable social relationships, and organ or neurological damage due to excessive and/or prolonged alcohol intake. Alcoholic addiction is characterized by an obsessive need to drink alcoholic beverage and physiological and or psychological dependence on its substance. The family relationship that exists between alcohol and an alcoholic could be likened to an all-consuming matter with an abusive lover that alienates its victim from every other relationship in his or her life. Read the rest of this entry »

Diabetes is a problem that affects so many people, both in the U.S. and worldwide, surprisingly, however, very little is known about the disease.

There are a number of organizations that are researching exactly what causes diabetes, as well new and better methods for controlling it, monitoring blood sugar levels, getting insulin into the blood, newer medicines to correct the problems and even how to stop it before it starts.

There are numerous groups and organizations involved in research such as the FDA, Read the rest of this entry »

The Dutch Minister Of Health, after conducting some studies on magic mushrooms or ’shrooms’ which concluded that these mushrooms aren’t at all hazardous to the public health, still decided that they should be declared illegal.
A remarkable decision, because although many experts affirm that the effects experienced from psilocybin are caused by a poisonous nature of the compound, the National Institute For Occupational Safety And Health ( a branch of the Center For Disease Control ) rated the psilocybin less toxic in comparison with regular aspirin. In other words, hallucinogenic mushrooms do not pose a real threat. On the contrary, its positive effects are truly remarkable. Among these positive effects we see: Read the rest of this entry »