Treatment of psoriatic arthritis
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Loading ...A doctor will normally come to the diagnosis of psoriatic arthritis after hearing a description of the symptoms the patient suffers, and also physically examining the patient for any of the scaly patches of skin caused by psoriasis which is related to psoriatic arthritis. The doctor may also insist on X-rays to determine what type of arthritis the patient is actually suffering from.
There are quite a lot of treatments available to help psoriatic arthritis sufferers, of course medical treatments are available but there are non medical treatments that can help relieve the joint pain caused by psoriatic arthritis.
Since many people experience psoriasis before the onset of psoriatic arthritis they should already be aware what causes their psoriasis to get worse. The things that cause psoriasis to flare up are often the same as the things that cause psoriatic arthritis to get worse, the patient can therefore avoid anything he or she is aware makes their condition worse.
Physiotherapy can help in relieving some of the symptoms, hot or cold treatment can be used along with exercises that are designed to improve and maintain the strength of the muscles.
There are several drug treatments available, as psoriatic arthritis is a disease where joints are inflamed, anti-inflammatory drugs can be used to reduce the inflammation in these joints and tissues. Non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs are used to block the inflammation and also help to relieve pain; the effects of these drugs can be noticed within hours rather than days.
Disease modifying drugs (DMD) are also used and their job is to slow down the progression of the arthritis, these take much longer to work they can take a couple of weeks before any beneficial affect is noticed, the patient should give such drugs a chance to work. However if they have not improved the situation after a couple of weeks then perhaps other medications should be considered.
PUVA is a common treatment for the skin disease psoriasis, it is where the patient takes a chemical called psoralen and also undergoes ultraviolet A treatment. PUVA treatment can lead to some benefits in sufferers of psoriatic arthritis however this treatment must be closely monitored by a skin specialist due to the increased risk of skin cancer.
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