Monday April 30, 2012
Laundry isn't much fun under the best of circumstances. It's one of those tasks that has to get done eventually. People without arthritis don't really think twice about it. Well, I take that back. They may think about how long they can delay doing it. But, they don't think about laundry in the same way that people with arthritis think about it.
Physical limitations caused by arthritis make it more difficult to do laundry. Imagine adding grasping, bending, reaching, lifting, and carrying into an already painful day. We've put together some tips that will help you get the job done. Pre-planning can make a big difference. Learn more in Laundry Tips for People With Arthritis.
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Saturday April 28, 2012
Obesity is becoming more common. So is rheumatoid arthritis. Could there be a connection? According to Mayo Clinic researchers, in a study published in the April 2012 issue of Arthritis Care & Research, the answer to that question is yes -- for women.
To study the potential link between obesity and rheumatoid arthritis, Mayo Clinic researchers looked at medical records used in the Rochester Epidemiology Project. Researchers compared 813 adults with rheumatoid arthritis to 813 without. It was determined that rheumatoid arthritis cases increased by 9.2 per 100,000 women from 1985-2007. Obesity was linked to 52% of the increase.
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Wednesday April 25, 2012
The American College of Rheumatology (ACR) has released recommendations for the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis. The 2012 ACR recommendations, an update of the 2008 recommendations, focuses on the use of disease-modifying anti-rheumatic drugs (DMARDs) and biologic drugs for rheumatoid arthritis.
Patients often are confused by certain issues, such as when they should start a DMARD or biologic drug, how long they should stick with a particular medication, or when they should switch to another drug. The recommendations address those and other issues. Learn more in Rheumatoid Arthritis Treatment - 2012 ACR Recommendations.
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Friday April 20, 2012
It is known that inflammatory types of arthritis, such as rheumatoid arthritis and ankylosing spondylitis, are associated with an increased risk of cardiovascular disease. Dutch study results, published in the Annals of the Rheumatic Diseases, have revealed that inflammatory arthritis patients who also have hypothyroidism (underactive thyroid) are at even higher risk for cardiovascular disease.
Of 1,500 inflammatory arthritis patients in the study, 6.5% of women and 2.4% of men also had hypothyroidism compared to 3.9% of women and 0.8% of men without inflammatory arthritis. After adjusting for other cardiovascular risk factors, researchers found that women with both inflammatory arthritis and hypothyroidism had 3.7 times higher rate of cardiovascular disease than the control group which consisted of women with neither condition. There were not enough men with both conditions to draw a conclusion. Have you discussed your thyroid status with your doctor?
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