Rheumatoid arthritis patients are most afraid of typhoon days! Do two things to avoid acute pain.

When the typhoon season strikes in August, most people only need to worry about whether they have taken preventive measures against Taiwan, but it is not so simple for patients with rheumatoid arthritis. Besides worrying about the weather, you should pay more attention to your physical condition. What I am most afraid of is that arthritis takes the opportunity to make trouble, and it will be troublesome when it hurts!

Rheumatoid arthritis is an autoimmune disease. Simply put, the antibodies and cytokines produced by patients are abnormal, not against external viruses and bacteria, but against their own body tissues. The most obvious symptom is joint pain, which is found all over the body, mainly in symmetrical small joints.

At present, we don't know what the cause of rheumatoid arthritis is, but it has been found clinically that this disease is easy to happen to people who like smoking and drinking. In addition, people with a family history of immune system should pay more attention.

Cai Changyou, director of the Department of Allergy, Immunology and Rheumatology at Taipei Veterans General Hospital, said, "Although this disease is called rheumatoid arthritis, the cause of the disease has nothing to do with weather phenomena such as wind speed and humidity. The main condition to judge the disease is to find the relevant antibodies in human serum during blood test. 」

Although the storm will not make everyone suffer from rheumatoid arthritis, it will make the patient's disease break out. Cai Changyou described that patients with acute attacks will feel severe joint pain, especially when moving. If it is long-term, it will even lead to joint deformation.

"High humidity, strong winds and cloudy days in the air may indeed cause patients' pain to increase. Cai Changyou pointed out that, therefore, typhoon days such as strong winds and heavy rains are the moments that patients should be vigilant. However, this kind of pain can be relieved by long-term treatment. According to the clinical response, usually after receiving treatment, it can effectively slow down the pain and attack frequency of patients.

Daily keys to rheumatoid arthritis: keeping warm and hot compress are helpful. Cai Changyou said that rheumatoid arthritis is not a disease caused by diet, so it is less likely to control pain or avoid disease through diet. "If you want to avoid diseases, you still have to work and rest regularly in your daily life. 」

If you feel uncomfortable, you can also apply heat to your joints. Cai Changyou explained that rheumatoid arthritis can cause inflammation, and the waste produced in the inflamed area can cause pain and swelling of nerve endings. Therefore, hot compress can make local blood circulation better and metabolize waste, so it will not cause pain to nerves.

In addition, cold can make muscles contract and aggravate the pain and stiffness of joints, so keep your body and joints warm, such as wearing more clothes, socks and gloves. In the case of acute attack, you can use painkillers prescribed by doctors to relieve symptoms; In special circumstances, you need to take a small amount of steroids.

Cai Changyou appealed that the "quinine" contained in rheumatoid drugs does not mean that the drugs for patients with immune rheumatoid arthritis in COVID-19 contain quinine, but now he says that quinine can treat COVID-19. In this regard, Cai Changyou specially reminded whether patients with rheumatoid arthritis will increase their resistance to COVID-19 because of taking quinine. At present, there is no study to confirm this.

On the contrary, the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis, an autoimmune disease, will make patients take other drugs, which may weaken their resistance. Therefore, patients with rheumatoid arthritis should pay more attention to health and safety during drug treatment to prevent bacterial infection.