By Susan Jara
When you live with a rheumatic disease, you likely have daily symptoms that can mimic those of COVID-19, including shortness of breath, chronic, dry cough, muscles aches, fatigue, gastrointestinal woes, temperature spikes.
Having psoriasis during the COVID-19 pandemic may also be problematic because your skin is much more apt to become irritated from all the frequent hand washing and sanitizing.
Jessica Schantz has ankylosing spondylitis and asthma and has had two bouts of pneumonia in the last six months. Now she has a new battle to fight: COVID-19.
Diane Smith has psoriatic arthritis and her symptoms have her doctor convinced that she likely has COVID-19. But unless her condition worsens, she’ll never know for sure.
Fibro fog is one symptom that can be just as problematic as the pain that’s characteristic of the condition.
There are numerous reasons that older adults have an increased fall risk, but new research says knee OA and back pain together is a red flag to watch for.
Ankylosing spondylitis and psoriatic arthritis can present very differently in some patients and very similarly in others.
While not everyone with lupus experiences neuropsychiatric symptoms, new research confirms that many do, especially during the first few years after first being diagnosed.
Those ultimately diagnosed with PsA had some telltale patterns of joint pain and certain types of health care provider visits in the years leading up to their diagnosis.
Pain, locking, grinding, limping, trouble walking up stairs, or being unable to stand or sit for long periods are all common symptoms of arthritis hip pain.
Although available treatment options have improved and expanded over the years, it's also become more common for RA patients to have comorbid conditions that can affect well-being.
More evidence suggests that these are variations of the same disease and should be treated similarly.
While lupus and myositis may have some symptoms in common, they are ultimately distinct conditions with very different causes and treatments.
Losing weight can help reduce OA risk, but being physically active is important too.
These are tools you and your doctor use to assess how well your RA is being controlled.
Find out whether fibromyalgia may be the root of your chest pain and what you can do about it.
Many aspects of the DAS28 increase with age, and patients and doctors need to be aware of this.
Non-radiographic axial spondyloarthritis doesn’t necessarily progress into ankylosing spondylitis.
Dealing with dry eyes from Sjögren’s syndrome or other conditions related to your arthritis? Here’s how to feel better.
Though more studies are needed, researchers believe there's enough evidence to consider hair loss an ‘indicator of active disease’ in lupus.
More studies are needed to understand why so many patients are not being treated according to guidelines that call for a ‘treat-to-target’ strategy.
Having other autoimmune diseases in your family tree can affect your RA risk as well.
By Susan Jara
Psoriatic arthritis is not a one-size-fits-all condition, which can make finding the right personalized treatment more challenging.
A new study adds support to the theory that psychological stress might increase the risk of fibromyalgia and make symptoms worse.
Wear and tear on the joints isn’t just from getting older. Here’s what else you need to know about causes of osteoarthritis.
This is important news since type 2 diabetes and gout have many risk factors in common to begin with.
As the temperature increased, so did the risk of rash, joint inflammation, kidney problems, and other lupus symptoms.
By Susan Ince
Researchers hope that identifying the link between respiratory issues and RA will result in better ways to prevent or screen for rheumatoid arthritis in people with lung disease.
Both IBD and SpA can be difficult to diagnose because the symptoms can mimic other conditions, but correct diagnosis is key to good care.
Knowing there could be a lag between objective measures of improvement and patient-reported outcomes could help prevent over-treatment.
By Joseph Coe
New data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) suggests that arthritis might be a leading cause of chronic pain in the U.S.
"This may have implications for management decisions beyond treating to disease activity targets alone."
And a few factors seemed to be responsible, including being obese and also having fibromyalgia.
In new ArthritisPower research, patients said they wanted to track symptoms such as fatigue and aspects of mental health, such as depression and anxiety.
While lupus and fibro may have some symptoms in common, they are ultimately distinct conditions with very different causes and treatments.
Having AS with psoriasis may have some things in common with psoriatic arthritis, but research shows these are two distinct conditions.
When you think ‘ankylosing spondylitis,’ you tend to think: lower back pain. But you can have pain in peripheral joints like the knees.
If your toes hurt, you might not suspect arthritis as the culprit. But arthritis pain in toes is more common than you think.
Discover why fibromyalgia may cause your back to ache or whether another health problem could be the culprit — and what you can do about it.
By Tina Donvito
Certain types of arthritis are prone to pain where tendons and ligaments meet bone, which is called enthesitis. Here’s how to deal with it.
While MS and fibro may have some symptoms in common, they are ultimately distinct conditions with very different causes and treatments.
If you’ve been experiencing pain in your wrist, you may be wondering if arthritis could be to blame. Here’s how to know, and what to do next.
Nearly half of PsA patients reported high levels of fatigue in a recent study. Here’s what they had in common.
Say study authors: ‘Patient-reported joint assessment may aid in capturing flares between routine clinical visits.’
Doctors and patients need to be on the lookout for these additional symptoms.
The research shows the urgent need for better OA treatments that could prevent disease progression.
Only 37 percent of people with gout were taking a commonly prescribed drug to control uric acid in a recent study.
By Tina Donvito
You might not expect your arthritis to impact your jaw, but that’s why you may be having stiffness in the area. Here’s how to handle it.
A stiff, achy neck could mean you have arthritis. Here’s how to tell, and what you can do to treat it.
Could your ankle pain be because of arthritis? Here’s how to know — and what to do about it.
Weight loss can be a symptom of RA. Here's when to worry about it.
Foot problems are common in psoriatic arthritis. Here’s what you can do about it.
How well you can make a fist or squeeze someone else’s hands could reveal a lot about your own health.
Not everyone with gout gets these nodules, but here's what you need to know about why tophi might develop and how to best treat them.
If you have wrist pain, you might wonder which could be the culprit. Here’s what you need to know.
Pain in your buttocks may be due to arthritis — here are the clues to look out for.
By Tina Donvito
Certain types of arthritis are prone to this inflammation of the whole digit. Here’s how to deal with it.
Learn about how functional disability is often one of the early signs that you can have rheumatoid arthritis.
Joint pain is the most prominent symptom of osteoarthritis (OA), but these are other important clues too.
This chronic pain condition may be tricky to diagnose, but hearing how patients describe their own symptoms can make the signs easier to spot.
Doctors might be able to use this simple office test to predict whose knee OA may need more serious treatment.
You might think of dry eyes or a parched mouth, but there are other subtle signs of Sjogren’s you may be ignoring.
You might be aware of joint pain, but it’s important to be aware of the other RA symptoms that can help clinch a diagnosis.
If you have osteoarthritis in the joints of your fingers, you could have what’s known as ‘inflammatory OA.’
By Nicole Kwan
A chronic low-grade fever can be an early — and surprising — clue for RA.
Some signs of gout, like pain in the big toe, may be obvious. But other gout symptoms can be more subtle.
Doctors told Frances Downey that her foot pain was plantar fasciitis. Here’s how she discovered it was actually psoriatic arthritis, a type of chronic inflammatory arthritis.
Learn more about how the Vectra blood test can predict RA disease progression.
A new study linked a certain strain of bacteria to lupus flares and kidney damage.
If you have chronic back pain that wakes you up in the second half of the night, it could be a type of inflammatory arthritis called ankylosing spondylitis.
By Tina Donvito
The list of AS symptoms is long, but these lifestyle adjustments can help you start to feel better.
The autoimmune disease lupus can affect nearly every part of your body, so the symptoms can be wide-ranging — and confusing.
Up to 90 percent of people with psoriatic arthritis have nail involvement. Here’s how to treat or prevent PsA nail problems.
You might want to ask your rheum about this at your next visit.
When you think of RA, you don’t usually think of pain in the back. But RA can affect certain parts of the spine.
Rheumatoid nodules are becoming less prevalent, but here’s what you need to know about what causes them and how to treat them.
It’s not surprising that you can feel arthritis in your feet: The disease predominantly affects your joints, and your foot contains more than 30 of them.
About 35 percent of patients who were ultimately diagnosed with lupus had this less-obvious symptom, compared with just 14 percent of people who didn’t go on to have lupus.
The sharp pain during a gout flare can usually help distinguish the two.
When two autoimmune conditions share similar symptoms — as lupus and rheumatoid arthritis (RA) do — diagnosing them can be challenging.
Pain isn’t just a symptom of osteoarthritis, but a cause of future joint damage.
Psoriatic arthritis is not just a different kind of rheumatoid arthritis.
When diagnosing and treating RA, blood tests aren’t everything.
Ankylosing spondylitis can present quite differently from person to person. These are some clues your back pain and other symptoms could actually be AS.
Knowing the difference will dramatically affect your back pain treatment.
While OA and inflammatory arthritis do share some symptoms — namely pain, tenderness, and swelling — the similarities tend to end there.
Kristen Towery's disease just did not want to be found.
By CreakyStaff
Writing with the hindsight’s benefit in “What I Wish I’d Known About My Knees” in the New York Times, Jane Brody laments the cost, pain, and effort she expended to avoid knee replacement. “Many of the procedures people undergo to...
By CreakyStaff
I’ve had psoriatic arthritis for more than 20 years but I’ve lived with psoriasis—and all the humiliations that come from having a condition many people think comes from being ‘dirty’—for more than 50 years. Years ago whenever I went to...
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