How Omega 3 Fish Oil Can Improve Joint Health And Reduce Arthritis Pain

What are you currently doing to aid your rheumatoid arthritis pain? If you are like most people with the condition, you take one or more prescription medications designed to keep the pain and swelling to a minimum. The most commonly prescribed medications are called nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, or NSAIDs. Brands include Advil, Aleve, Clinoril, Lodine, and Motrin. Like all drugs, side effects are prevalent with these kinds of medications. The most common of these include upset stomach, dizziness, blurred vision, and heartburn.

What if you could skip the side effects and simply experience relief from arthritis pain? With omega 3 fish oil, your wish can become reality.

Not only does this supplement provide essential fatty acids to reduce pain and inflammation associated with rheumatoid arthritis, it can also offer protection from heart disease. You may be surprised and excited to learn that omega 3 has proven so successful in various studies that all subjects of the trials were able to reduce their drug intake and 75% were able to completely eliminate their need to take NSAIDs.

Conditions of painful joints and severe morning stiffness normally experienced by rheumatoid arthritis sufferers were lessened to a degree of manageability without the need for drugs.

In the study published in the October 2006 edition of the Journal of Rheumatology, other aspects of the patients' health were measured as well. Get this: instead of unpleasant side effects and an increased risk for heart attack, omega 3 fish oil actually raised the participants' HDL cholesterol levels.

By increasing this good cholesterol, the balance between LDL and HDL is improved. Also triglyceride levels were decreased in the patients of the experiment as well. The conclusion of this specific study, as with many other rheumatoid arthritis studies, is that fish oil should be considered an effective means of reducing rheumatoid arthritis symptoms while simultaneously providing a number of other health benefits.

According to the American Heart Association, you should each two fatty fish meals per week to get between 650mg to 1,000mg of omega 3 fish oil. This can also be accomplished by supplementing your diet with fish oil supplements.

If you are ready to reduce your rheumatoid arthritis pain and improve your heart health at the same time, you should obtain a trustworthy source of omega 3 fish oil supplements. It is truly the best thing you can do for your joints as well as your heart.

How Bad is Juvenile Psoriatic Arthritis?

Juvenile psoriatic arthritis is a child's disease that is not long term and relatively mild in its symptoms. Just like psoriatic arthritis juvenile psoriatic arthritis affects a person's joints. It is a bit like rheumatoid arthritis but not as severe.

What Causes It?

There are still a lot of question marks surrounding psoriatic arthritis. There is no real explantation as to its cause. There has been much speculation as to what causes this disease. But nothing definite has been determined and studies continue to be conducted to see if a sure cause can be uncovered.

There are some theories as to the causes. There is some evidence that points to certain genes that cause the disease. The study of the appearance of certain genes is not the only line of research being done on the disease. Other evidence points to the surroundings in which a person is raised. Since a person's environment is thought to be a factor parents who have a history of psoriatic arthritis in their family are more likely to have children with psoriatic arthritis.

Juvenile psoriatic arthritis is not an easy thing to diagnose. Sometimes it can take years for doctors to pinpoint the problem as being juvenile psoriatic arthritis. One reason is because often before there are any visual signs of redness or a rash there is pain from arthritis.

The symptoms of psoriatic arthritis include extreme swelling of the affected joints such as the fingers and toes or soreness in hip joints. There is also the symptom of discolored toenails and fingernails. These have somewhat of a yellow tint. Small patches of scaly flesh can appear on a persons stomach around the belly button area, on their scalp and other places.

Juvenile psoriatic arthritis can have some deforming affects. It can cause joints to become unnaturally large due to damage to the cartilage. A persons sight can be affected and they can loose some of their mobility in the affected joints. Arms and legs and be affected by becoming longer or shorter.

If a child shows signs of juvenile psoriatic arthritis then you will want to get him in to see a doctor as soon as possible so treatment can begin. Since a significant number of children who suffer from psoriatic arthritis also have some affect to their eyes it would be good to get him to an eye doctor as well, and make sure he sees his eye doctor every year for checkups. There is treatment available so it is important to get your child the right care as soon as you discover the disease.

Can Shingles Cause Back Pain in the Shoulder Blades?

The term "shingles" refers to a condition caused by the varicella zoster virus, the same virus that causes chicken pox disease. After a person has had the chicken pox, the virus remains dormant, residing in nerve cells. Later on, as a result of many different factors, the virus may reactivate and leave the nerve cell and this is what causes herpes zoster, or shingles.

Reactivation usually occurs as a result of immune function abnormalities. Age, the presence of disease such as rheumatoid arthritis, or the use of immunosuppressive drugs all are risk factors.

Symptoms of shingles consist of an early prodrome or "time before the storm". A patient will experience flu-like symptoms, headache, and possibly a low grade fever and chills.

Shortly thereafter, the patient will notice an itching, burning, uncomfortable sensation. This discomfort usually takes place on the chest or back, but it may also occur on the abdomen, head, face, neck, or an arm or leg.

Swelling of the lymph nodes near the area of discomfort may also be present.

The next phase after the prodrome is the active phase when the rash appears. The rash is fairly typical in its appearance. It presents as a small area or band of reddish, slightly raised bumps. While the rash can occur in a number of locations as mentioned above, shingles only affects one side of the body. As the rash evolves it becomes blister-like.

During this period of time the pain may intensify and if it occurs on the upper back can cause pain radiating into the shoulder blades.

If the rash presents on the forehead or face, the danger is eye involvement which can lead to blindness.
Over a period of days, the blisters open up, ooze, and then begin to crust over. While the healing process can take a few weeks, some patients are left with scarring.

The unfortunate issue is if a patient goes into the chronic phase which is called post-herpetic neuralgia. This is a dreadful complication which may last years. The key symptoms are persistent burning, stabbing pain in the area where the shingles rash was present. Because the pain is chronic and persistent, it interferes with activities of daily living.

One fact is that shingles can occur without producing a typical rash. However, the other symptoms of burning pain are present.

There is a shingles vaccine. It is a live vaccine meaning it contains live virus and shouldn't be given to patients who are on biologic drugs. While the vaccine is not effective for everyone, it is highly recommended for the following situations according to the CDC...

"The vaccine for shingles (Zostavax簧) is licensed for use in people 60 years old and older to prevent shingles. The older a person is, the more severe the effects of shingles typically are, so all adults 60 years old or older should get the shingles vaccine."

Arthritis Digest - What is Palindromic Rheumatoid Arthritis?

Palindromic rheumatoid arthritis is characterized by episodes of pain, swelling, warmth and stiffness of the joints. Individuals affected by the disease also experience recurrent attacks of transient inflammation in and around the joints. It normally afflicts two to three joints and has some typical symptoms and is very difficult to treat.

Fast Facts About Palindromic RA

* Palindromic rheumatoid arthritis is a rare kind of inflammatory arthritis with very distinctive features. It is sometimes referred to as a syndrome, which means that it is a typical condition with a collection of several symptoms

* This type of arthritis is generally characterized by episodes or attacks of pain and swelling of the joints. It also affects tissues that surround the joints.

* These attacks generally involve one to three joints

* The attacks attributable to palindromic rheumatism start suddenly and would last for hours or days before the attacks quickly recede.

* There is high probability of recurrence but with unpredictable frequency.

* This syndrome does not usually lead to permanent joint damage, as differentiated to RA.

* About 30-40 % of those affected by the syndrome develop more frequent episodes as the disease progresses. This may lead to complications including rheumatoid arthritis and their rheumatoid factor may become positive.

* The joints commonly involved with palindromic rheumatism include: the large joints, knees and fingers

* X-ray results will indicate normal condition as joint space narrowing id not present.

Recurrent Episodes of Pain

This type of arthritis gives rise to episodic articular, or periarticular pain. The most common joints that are affected by the disease are those of the fingers and knees.

The pain caused by palindromic rheumatoid arthritis can get intense but will not last longer than two or three days. These episodic attacks stop as quickly as they begin. In about 60% of cases, individuals suffering from this disease may have pain-free phases lasting up to weeks or months. In some instances, the attacks can return after years and may cause no permanent damage.

Rheumatoid Factors in Palindromic RA

There are several factors typical of rheumatoid which are observable in some of the palindromic rheumatoid arthritis patients. Some of these factors include:

* The large joints are the more commonly involved when recurrent episodes of attacks are considered

* Soft tissues of the heel pads and finger pads are the ones affected by the swelling of the periarticular tissues.

* Nodules will develop below the skin in the subcutaneous tissues

* During a typical blood test, increased ESR and CRP levels indicate a rheumatoid factor

Treatment of Palindromic RA

NSAIDs are usually prescribed during attacks associated with palindromic rheumatoid arthritis. The treatment for the syndrome may also include steroid injections or oral steroids. DMARDs and colchicine are now also emerging as modalities to prevent future attacks of palindromic rheumatism.

Generally, the factors that give rise to palindromic rheumatoid arthritis are still uncertain. In the absence of substantive study results, medical experts consider the disease to be a special form of RA.

Coming to Terms With Crippling Arthritis

The first hurdle is getting past the shock of hearing that diagnosis. Still today, when medical science has wrought huge improvements in the treatment and management of RA, the news comes as a shock. Even the doctors who must deliver that news are burdened by the knowledge of what lies ahead for their patients.

I will never forget seeing the expression on my rheumatologist's face one day when I asked what was troubling him and got this reply: 'The young man who left before you - I've just had to diagnose him.' Another day, I asked how he felt about a little boy out in the waiting room, and the experienced specialist told me: 'It's better with children, in a way. They've never known what it's like without RA. They accept it more easily than adults.'

• Let me repeat here the Good News: the new medications, used early and in the correct dosage, have been proved to 'stop RA in its tracks.' That is to say, the destructive progression of the disease is slowed, although nobody in Medicine talks of a 'cure.' At least, not yet.


• Research goes on, but funding is not so easily raised for:


• a disease that is still seen as 'only affecting old people'


• one which can't help but trigger the public's 'Compassion Fatigue' because of


• its stop-and-start cycle of remission and relapse,combined with


• its confusing jumble of symptoms, and


• its lack of any clear prediction of a limit - the 'sentence length' a judge would hand out to the condemned in a court of law.

We, who know this condition at first hand, or through caring for someone we love who is afflicted, can tell our own stories of coping with it, and help others to understand it more. I've been persuaded to 'come out' for that reason so here's my personal recollection:

Like anyone who has been there, I vividly remember the day I first heard that news. As an energetic 25-year-old mother, actively involved with the community affairs of our small country town, the diagnosis shocked me. My invariable reaction to a crisis situation set in. Under cover of an icy-cool, businesslike manner, I held down the dread that I feared would overwhelm me if I let it show. In a brisk way, I asked: 'Well, how do we fix it?'

The doctor was very young, a new graduate, acting as locum for the regular GP, but he wasn't fooled. Rising from his chair, he walked around his desk to perch on the edge of it as he stared gravely at me. In all the years that followed, I came to know he was the only doctor who told me the unvarnished truth. What he said that day was: 'We can give you medications to deal with inflammation and help with the pain. But in reality, there's not much we can do until you are crippled. Then, surgery comes into it.'

My only clear memory, after leaving that office, was of sitting on the kitchen stool back home, wondering how I could break the news to my husband. He knew about the beloved grandmother I used to visit after she became confined to bed with this thing the doctors called RA. Through the devoted care of her younger daughter, my aunty Dorothy and her husband, my uncle Ranald, my grandmother survived for eight years. All of them lived from that bed.

• For anyone newly diagnosed, there are a number of issues: shock, fear, dread of future disablity and incapacitation.

Everyone will deal with this first stage according to their innate character, and each of us will do it differently. If we're lucky enough, we may have good friends and family standing by as we come to terms with what's happened. Our expectations of life, any plans we had made, are now changed, forever. But we have to do that part of it - the coming to terms - on our own.

Once again, my hands have reached their limit of endurance at the keyboard, so I ask for you to excuse me until next time, when I will pass along some of the strategies that have worked best for me - and I'm sure will help you, too - in dealing with Rheumatoid Arthritis.

Causes of High White Blood Cell Count

There are several possible causes for a high white blood cell count. This count is high when there are more disease-fighting cells in your body. The technical term for this condition is leukocytosis.

Different medical practices may have different limits by which they define high white blood cell count. A count of 10,500 leukocytes in one microliter of blood is widely accepted as a high count. The threshold may vary between sex and age.

White blood cells are categorized by five subtypes, and each type has a different activity in fighting disease. When you get the results of your white blood cell count, they will usually specify what the levels are of all the different types. Usually, a high count is only caused by an increase in one type of white blood cells.

A high white blood cell count is indicative of an immune system problem that increases their production; a disease in your bone marrow that causes high blood cell production; a reaction to some drug that is used to enhance cell production; or the increase expected when your body is fighting off an infection.

There are some more specific reasons why your white blood cell count may be high:

Acute lymphocytic leukemia (ALL) is a cancer that lives in the bone marrow and blood. This disease is a rapidly progressive one. Children are more affected by this than any other type of cancer, although adults can develop the disease as well.

Drugs like epinephrine and corticosteroids can affect your white cell count.

Measles is an infection that affects mainly the respiratory tract. It is very contagious. The signs include skin rash, fever, sore throat, inflamed eyes, runny nose and cough. The measles vaccine is an excellent way to protect children against this disease, but outside of the civilized countries, many children are not vaccinated. This disease will spread rapidly among people who have not had the vaccination.

Rheumatoid arthritis is a serious type of arthritis from which you will experience joint damage and pain. It attacks your joints' lining and this causes swelling. In turn, that leads to throbbing, aching pain and possibly eventual deformity. Rheumatoid arthritis, also called RA, can make even the easiest of normal activities hard to accomplish.

Some of the other causes of high white blood cell count include:

Stress, be it emotional or physical
Smoking
Tuberculosis
Tissue damage, like one receives with burns
Acute or chronic myelogenous leukemia
Chronic or acute lymphocytic leukemia
Whooping cough
Severe allergic reactions
Myelofibrosis
Polycythemia vera
Other viral infections
Other bacterial infections

How Proteolytic Enzymes Work For RA

Proteolytic Enzymes are commonly known as proteases which work in harmony with body mechanics to break down proteins. Trypsin from the pancreas, papain and bromelain are three common examples for Proteolytic Enzymes.

When it comes to rheumatoid arthritis, Proteolytic Enzymes are known to work positively by breaking down complex components that build up between antibodies and antigens. Rheumatoid arthritis being an autoimmune system disease benefit through proteases because it facilitates and eases the body mechanics that gets congested due to inflammations that are caused by rheumatoid arthritis.

Proteolytic Enzymes is known to contain anti inflammatory properties and therefore, scientists look hopeful on the fact of being able to use it in order to relieve pain from rheumatoid arthritis sufferers. And who could predict, maybe it could even cure the condition up to a certain extent?

There's also a theory which is yet to be proven that states proteases has the ability to dismantle a fibrin mantle that builds itself around affected areas of the immune system caused by rheumatoid conditions. If this notion is true and if Proteolytic Enzymes can actually make a break through, we can consider ourselves to be very much near a new discovery of a rheumatoid arthritis cure because breaking down the fibrin mantle will mean that the immune system can once again; resume its normal duties relieving pain and all other symptoms of rheumatoid arthritis. However, all this will be possible only if the suspected root cause of rheumatoid arthritis is true and accurate.

Although the theory sounds simple enough, putting it in to practice is not. After all, experiments will need to be longitudinal in nature in order to determine the proper outcomes. Therefore, perhaps we should not get too excited. Instead, let's try to figure out how best we could use proteases for our advantage.

Contrary to the popular myth, Proteolytic Enzymes do not have to be derived from food because our bodies are known to be capable of manufacturing enough of it to suffice body functions. But Proteolytic Enzymes deficiencies do come about giving rise to various illnesses including pancreatic diseases.

If you suffer from rheumatoid arthritis, it is a good idea to seek professional advice with regards to using a supplement for proteases. Not many traditional medical practitioners will approve you to follow this experimental path however, if you find someone who's willing to support your journey with Proteolytic Enzymes, you may be able to find out the results for yourself.

Living with rheumatoid arthritis is a challenge and getting in to different types of treatments for RA is no second to challenges posed by the disease, itself. Therefore, if you are willing to take a risk, face the challenges in a positive light and move on with whatever circumstances that you may confront in life, enzyme therapy for Proteolytic Enzymes may be the right choice for you.

Before you proceed any further, make it a point to read further more on the topic - purchase a few ebooks on the subject if possible and educate yourself on the matter so that you know what to expect and what not to.