Arthritis Treatment: Four Drugs That Can Cause Excruciating Aches and Pains

Arthritis Treatment: Four Drugs That Can Cause Excruciating Aches and Pains

One area that is overlooked when it comes to arthritis are drug-induced aches and pains. Here are four categories of medicines you might want to avoid.

Statins:

Statin drugs cause a number of muscle problems. First, they can cause simple muscle aches and pains. This condition usually gets better once the drug is discontinued. The second problem statins cause is mild muscle inflammation along with weakness.

The blood muscle enzyme, CPK, is mildly elevated. While this problem also gets better once the drug is stopped, it may take several months to resolve. Finally, statins can cause extreme muscle inflammation, damage leading to profound weakness.

The CPK, is markedly elevated. When the muscles get this damaged, they release a protein called myoglobin into the blood. Myoglobin in large quantities can lead to kidney failure.

The risk of muscle injury is increased when a statin is used with other drugs that also affect muscles. When statins are combined with drugs like niacin or fenofibrate, the incidence of muscle damage is greatly increased.

Fluoroquinolone antibiotics:

Fluoroquinolone-induced tendon problems such as rupture, are described in the medical literature. The Achilles tendon is the commonly involved site, although other tendons can be affected. Usually, spontaneous tendon rupture happens during or shortly after a course of treatment, but symptoms can occur even months after taking these antibiotics.

Whether fluoroquinolone antibiotics should be used in patients with a history of tendon problems or who have risk factors for the development of tendon ruptures basically depends on how serious the infection is and whether there are suitable alternatives.

People at the highest risk are those over the age of 60 years, people taking steroid drugs, and people who have had an organ transplant. Patients who exercise and already have tendon problems are also at risk.

Aromatase inhibitors:

A small number of women receiving estrogen-depleting treatment termed "aromatase inhibitors" will develop aches and pains. Symptoms are most prominent in the hands and can be so severe that patients ask to be taken off therapy.

More than 25% of women can be affected by this syndrome which affects hands, knees, elbows, ankles, and a few other other areas.

Symptoms are usually transient and resolve when the aromatase inhibitor is discontinued.

There have been incidences reported in the literature of patients developing rheumatoid arthritis after treatment with these drugs. Therefore, assumptions regarding the cause of aches and pains with these drugs should not be made.

Symptomatic treatment with non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs may be helpful.

Bisphosphonates:

These drugs are used for osteoporosis treatment. Unfortunately they cause two types of pain syndromes. The first is the acute phase response which consists of fevers, chills, bone pain, muscle and joint pains that starts after initial administration of bisphosphonates. These symptoms tend to resolve within several days after discontinuation of the drug.

The second syndrome is experienced either within days of taking the bisphosphonate or it can occur after months, and even years of being on the drug. The pain is excruciating and incapacitating in many cases.


Some patients get better after stopping taking the bisphosphonate but there are others who do not.

Different Treatments for Drug and Alcohol Rehabilitation

There are several reasons why people fall victim to drug and alcohol addiction, and no one is an exception to the rule. Whether they're teenagers succumbing to the force of peer-pressure, parents taking prescribed drugs to cope with the hardship of their lives, or thousands of homeless people trapped in a world of "street drugs," drug and alcohol addiction can happen to anyone.

According to a recent in-depth analysis of addiction treatment in America, more than 23 million people "aged 12 or older needed treatment for an illicit drug or alcohol abuse problem... " Surprisingly, a little over 11 percent of these people actually received it at a rehab facility (Abuse and
Mental Health Services Administration's National Survey on Drug Use and Health).

Drug rehabilitation facilities offer clients a wide-range of different treatments, including: in-patient or residential treatment, out-patient treatment, intensive outpatient care, local support groups, recovery houses, and medical care. All forms of addiction treatments carry beneficial therapeutic values for drug and alcohol addicts.

In-Patient/Residential Treatment 


When a client receives care from licensed therapists at a rehab center, he becomes a "patient" of the facility. A residential patient, or an inpatient, is someone who lives in a treatment facility for 24 hours a day, for as long as weeks or months. Living in a treatment facility allows the patient to free his mind from external problems, and focus only on recovering.

Residential drug therapy is designed to help addicts understand the necessary changes they need to make in order to quit abusing drugs and lead healthy lifestyles. An inpatient will receive services such as individual therapy, group therapy, detox, art therapy, yoga, meditation, the 12-Steps, and physical exercise as part of their regimen. In the initializing process, licensed physicians and therapists conduct medical examinations, medical history evaluations and psychological evaluations in order to assess the severity of the patient's addiction.

Based on this information, physicians are able to decide what medications are required and the therapists create the program that best fits the patient's treatment plan. The addiction therapy plan takes into account the patient's family health history and any mental health disorders that could be affecting the patient, the physical and mental condition of the addict, and evaluation of his or her personality traits.

Outpatient treatment: 

Outpatient treatment is the treatment provided to those who periodically visit the treatment facility in undergoing "outpatient treatment". Patients will only receive therapy as recommended by a licensed therapist, allowing them to attend to his or her day-to-day responsibilities-such as attending to work or school. Outpatient treatment includes individual therapy, group therapy, relapse intervention, family counseling, the 12 steps, and after-care programs on "need basis".

The 12 Steps program has shown to be a successful treatment method because for decades, it has helped addicts accept their drug or alcohol problem, come to admit that they're drug addicts, and find faith in God in reaching sobriety. Outpatient treatment is recommended for patients who are able to balance their daily day-to-day activities with clinical interventions and therapy sessions.

Intensive Outpatient Care: 
Intensive outpatient care is a treatment program that does not require patients to participate in drug detoxification, but still requires individual therapy, group counseling, psycho-educational group therapy, self-management support, and useful methods such as the 12 Steps. It usually serves as a follow-up to residential care and detoxification services.

Sessions usually range from 8 to 14 hours a week depending on what is recommended by their personal recovery specialist. Like outpatient care, the patient can still perform his daily activities, outside of their treatment facilities, and visit their counselors either in the morning or at the end of the day. The goal in intensive outpatient care is to generate relapse prevention techniques and develop stress management skills for the recovering addict.

Local Support Groups: 
Local Support Groups are a form of group therapy, where patients are able to share and talk about similar experiences about their drug or alcohol addiction. Its benefit comes from addicts working with one another to cope with the emotional turmoil of drug addiction (whether it's a matter of talking about financial issues, family relationship problems, or the physical pain endured during withdrawal).

The benefits of participating in local support groups are establishing sympathetic discernment from others, developing social networks, and understanding the experiences of other addicts. Ultimately, the goal of local support groups is to help the addict build a greater understanding of their addiction problem through the integration of social networking.

Recovery House: 
When a drug addict is consumed by the problems caused by drug addiction (whether it is financial, emotional or physical), they often forget what life was like before the addiction-like how to enjoy a family 'get together,' manage responsibilities with work or school, or how to lead productive lives. The proper treatment for such alienated behavior is to "re-acquaint" the addict with the reality of social living. Recovery houses solve that problem.

A recovery house, or a sober house, is a treatment program that requires daily intensive individual and group counseling for residential patients and detox. Recovery houses are recommended for drug addicts who cannot manage their lives alone, and need disciplinary teachings in order to re-acquaint themselves with society's way of living. In recovery houses, with the aid of intensive individual and group counseling, drug addicts learn to take control of their urges and refrain from taking drugs and drinking alcohol.

More importantly, addicts learn to re-integrate themselves with society and become productive members of the community. Most health insurances cover the cost of staying at a recovery house, so make sure to ask about it upon deciding a treatment plan.

Medical and Mental Health Care 

In all drug and alcohol rehabilitation, health practitioners, licensed physicians and doctors work together to provide the best possible treatment program for every individual addict. There are times that an addict cannot recover without the aid or use of medical drugs. Pharmacotherapy means providing 'treatment for a disease through the application of prescribed medical drugs by health practitioners.'

As stated earlier, upon entering treatment, a personal physician or medical examiner will evaluate the patient's medical history-checking for any striking family health problems, mental health disorders, and the physical and mental condition of the patient.

This information is then assessed as to what type of treatment the patient will receive. Licensed physicians determine what kind of medication is necessary (or not) for the patient's recovery program, and soon after the detoxification begins. When a personal physician administers medical drugs to an addict, the purpose is to help lessen the pain of withdrawal symptoms and aid in relapse prevention.

There are numerous approaches to drug and alcohol rehabilitation that one can take. Psychiatrists, behavioral psychologists, and health practitioners work round-the-clock to improve the therapeutic effects of drug rehab. Indeed, every addict lives in his or her own world of problems like many non addicts. The call for treatment can save lives.

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