What Is The Long Term Cure For Erosive Osteoarthritis?

Posted on Sat, 9 Nov 2013

Medically reviewed by Ask A Doctor - 24x7 Medical Review Team

Sat, 9 Nov 2013 Answered on

Sat, 30 Nov 2013 Last reviewed on

Question : Iam a 66 year old female diagnosed with erosive osteoarthritis. I have severe deformation of my hands and until now had occasional flare ups of pain and body aches, a lot of stiffness and joint pain. After an extremely stressful summer the overall body pain ...joints, muscle , flu like symptoms, has increased tenfold. The pain and neuralgia are severe and constant...I keep on waiting for it to ease up and it doesn't. I am trying to control it with 100mgs. of Tramadol, low dose prednisone and some Advil. It gives me some relief but not much. My rheumatologist wants to give non steroidal shots in my knees. I have been very allergic to injections as of late and I am afraid to take these if they will cause discomfort for very little gain. Am I right in assuming that this knee treatment and possible future knee replacement will not address the overall pain condition throughout my entire body. What is the long term prognosis of erosive osteoarthritis? Thank you.

Answered by Dr. Dr. Shruti Rijhwani (40 minutes later)

Brief Answer: Follows. Detailed Answer: Dear Madam, Thank you for posting your query on XXXXXXX Well looking into your problem I would like to tell you that from your history it seems that since you are suffering from osteoarthritis which is very disabling is leading to all these problems . Plus osteoporosis and secondary fibromayalgis seem to complicate the situation . Taking oral prednisone is not advisable and not going to help you out except for increasing your osteoporosis and thus aggravating your problem actually . You should get your metabolic profile like calcium , Vitamin D levels and DEXA Scan for further evaluation . Now what we generally practise and advise is giving a short dose of injectable steroid into the joint which is a very safe technique and generally will not lead to any side effects . Knee replace will also bring relief and is a very efficient procedure leading to relief in all symptoms almost . But regarding each of these procedure how effective they would be in you cannot be predicted as if now. Take care. Dr. Shruti

Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Chakravarthy Mazumdar