FAQs

Similar to other specialities like Cardiology, Nephrology and Neurology, Rheumatology is also a medical speciality which deals with various types of rheumatic and autoimmune diseases

Rheumatologist is a qualified physician, who holds an additional degree of Rheumatology, and is also extensively trained in managing various diseases related to this speciality.

Various types of arthritis like; Rheumatoid arthritis (RA), Psoriatic arthritis (in patients with skin psoriasis), Gouty arthritis, Spondyloarthritis (Ankylosing Spondylitis), Osteoarthritis and Juvenile arthritis (in children). Other diseases are; SLE (Lupus), Sjögren syndrome, Systemic sclerosis (Scleroderma), Myositis, Vasculitis, Sarcoidosis, Osteoporosis, and many other diseases.

The most common symptom is joint pains, which can be seen in any of the above mentioned diseases. Commonly affected joints are; hand joints, wrist, elbow, shoulder, hip, knee, ankle and feet. Few or multiple can be affected. Pain can begin in one or few joints and later can affect multiple joints. Other symptoms associated with pain are, swelling of the joints (easily noticed at the hand joints), and joint stiffness, which occurs in the morning and lasts for 30 minutes to few hours. Chronic low back pain (in patients under 45 years of age), which is more on lying on bed and better with walking, associated with stiffness of back in the morning, is a symptom of spondyloarthritis. Common symptoms of SLE are; fever, decreased appetite, weight loss, fatigue, excessive hair fall, various types of skin rashes (Butterfly rash over face), oral ulcers, joint pains, low blood counts detected on blood tests and the list goes on, depending on the organ involvement and severity of the disease. Patients with Sjögren syndrome experience dryness of eyes and mouth, due to decreased production of tears and saliva. Itching, thickening and tightening of the skin, and Raynaud’s phenomenon (colour changes at the finger tips, in cold weather or water) are seen in scleroderma. Muscle pains and weakness (difficulty in getting up from a chair or bed, lifting hands overhead) with or without rashes are the symptoms of myositis. Symptoms of vasculitis include; red spots on skin, painful red eye, nose bleeding and many more.

Various treatment options are available for these rheumatic diseases, which helps in controlling the symptoms.

If the symptoms are not recognised early, there will be a delay in making a correct diagnosis. Treatment delay causes irreversible damage to various organs, and may also result in many other complications. For example, treatment delay in patients with arthritis causes joint damage and joint deformities. Similarly, irreversible damage can occur in various organs like lungs, kidneys, brain, eyes and many other organs. Hence, early diagnosis and treatment by a rheumatologist is extremely important.

Medications in these diseases should be continued for a very long time (lasting for years). However, many patients after improving with the initial treatment, stops taking medications without consulting their doctor, which leads to recurrence of symptoms.

A common misbelief among people is, that the medications used in these diseases are harmful, and causes kidney and liver damage if used for a long time (which is not true). These medications can be safely taken for a long time under the guidance of a rheumatologist.