Rheumatoid Arthritis is a progressive disease affecting all people of all races equally, it can begin at any age and can even affect children but usually starts between the ages of 40 and 60 and is said to be three times more commonly found in women as in men. Symptoms of Rheumatoid Arthritis include fatigue, loss of appetite, red swollen painful and tender joints and muscle aches and stiffness usually in the morning or after exercise or activity in particular in the hands wrists feet and knees. Rheumatoid Arthritis can also cause other complications such as ”Sjogren’s syndrome” this is inflammation of the glands of the eyes and mouth which causes dryness of these areas, this can then go on to cause further medical problems. The lungs can also be affected, Rheumatoid inflammation of the lung lining (pleuritus),this can cause chest pain with deep breathing, shortness of breath and coughing. Rheumatoid Arthritis has also been associated with a higher risk of heart attack.
Rheumatoid arthritis is an autoimmune disease that can cause chronic inflammation of the joints and other areas of the body. It is a chronic disease, characterized by periods of disease flares and remissions. The cause of rheumatoid arthritis is not known, it can affect all different ages. It causes pain, swelling, and stiffness. If one knee or hand has rheumatoid arthritis, usually the other does too.
An ischemic stroke is typically caused by excess buildup of plague on the blood vessel walls that narrows blood flow dramatically. A hemorrhagic stroke typically occurs when the blood vessel walls weaken over time, which leads to a bulge or rupture of the vessel. Aneurysm is the most common type of hemorrhagic strokes with a low survival rate. They also kill brain cells, which can never regenerate. The affect of strokes on the body can range between mild dizziness or slight numbness to impaired speech and loss of motor control.
There are several different forms of muscular dystrophy, each of which weakens different muscle groups in various ways. The first type is Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy, the most common type of the disease, is caused by a problem with the gene that makes the protein, dystropin. The second type is Becker Muscular Dystrophy, which is similar to Duchenne’s, but it’s symptoms like muscle breakdown and weakness occur at age 10 or even as an adult. The third type is Emery-Driefuss Muscular Dystrophy which affects mostly boys, involves joint problems in muscles, upper arms, and shins. There are also many other types, but these are the most common.
With angina comes shortness of breath and pain from beneath the breastbone, in the neck, and down the left arm. These symptoms can be confused with indigestion or associated with gallbladder issues (cite text). Cancer is another chronic disease that many people old and young face. 60 percent of all new cancers and 70 percent of cancer-related deaths occur in people age 65 and older (text). 22 percent of these deaths are due to cancer of the lungs, breast, colon and pancreas.
A person’s health is greatly affected by their lifestyle decisions. Someone who chooses to smoke especially on a regular long term basis will be harming they're health greatly. Smoking directly causes 1000's of deaths in the UK each year and contributes too many more. Cigarettes contain more than 4000 chemicals, These chemicals are dangerous and cause many physical problems on a person’s health,69 of those chemicals are known to cause cancer, some of the ingredients of a cigarette are horrific: •Benzene (petrol additive) •Formaldehyde (embalming fluid) •Ammonia (toilet cleaner) •Acetone (nail polish) •Tar •Nicotine •Carbon monoxide •Arsenic (rat poison) •Hydrogen Cyanide (Gas chamber poison) All smokers energy levels are depleted because of lack of oxygen in the blood stream. Oxygen levels decrease about 15% when smoking, to be replaced by carbon monoxide.
Figure 2 shows the effect of arthritis on the hip joint. Osteoarthritis is the most common form of arthritis and is caused due to inflammation around the joint damaging cartilage and causing bones to rub against each other, causing pain. Finally, bony growths will be formed around the joint. Osteoarthritis usually develops in people over 50 and is more common with family history and in women. Rheumatoid arthritis is an autoimmune disease which causes chronic inflammation of the synovial lining of the joint and causes pain and stiffness.
PLEURISY Pleurisy, also known as Pleuritis, is defined as inflammation of the Pleura. Pleura is the body cavity that surrounds the lungs. The inflamed Pleural layers rub against each other when a person breathes, causing very sharp pains in the chest. The most common cause for Pleurisy is infection, but other things may cause it as well. Symptoms of Pleurisy last anywhere from a few days to 2 weeks.
It is estimated that more than 3% of the American population suffers from psoriasis (National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoeskeletal and Skin Diseases, 2009). Diseases that occur with psoriasis include cardiovascular disease, inflammatory bowel disease, diabetes, and lymphoma (Menter, 2008). Psoriasis is a large problem for the normal functioning of daily living for more than 60% of individuals with the disease (National Psoriasis Fundation, n.d.). Psoriasis results from an altered regulation of inflammation due to abnormal activation of T-cells and a genetic predisposition (Menter, 2008). The chromosomal loci identified in psoriasis are the PSOR I-VIII.
Lung cancer is the deadliest form of cancer, with nearly 90% of patients dying within 2 years of diagnosis, in large part because it tends to be diagnosed late (Gulyn and Youssef, 2010). Signs and Symptoms Initial presentation of lung cancer, regardless of gender, tend to be nonspecific, as a chronic or new cough in 65% to 75% of cases, with 25% or more having a productive cough (Yoder, 2006). Since lung cancer often occurs in central airways it can also present as pneumonia and lymph enlargement; hemoptysis will occur in 20% to 30% of patients. Other symptoms include dyspnea , with 60% of patients developing it early and 65% developing it at some time during their illness (Yoder, 2006). About 50% of patients present initially with chest pain (Yoder, 2006).