Myth 1: Osteoarthritis requires antibiotics
Auntie Liu, a 47-year-old sales clerk, came to the hospital because of knee pain, and when she heard the doctor say she had osteoarthritis, she rushed to ask him, “Do I need antibiotics? Can I hang some saline? She thought that since the joint was inflamed, of course anti-inflammatory drugs – antibiotics – should be used so that the osteoarthritis would get better faster.
Expert Analysis: Nowadays, when people hear the words “inflammation” and “inflammation”, they associate it with bacterial infection as a matter of course. In fact, the medical term inflammation includes both inflammation caused by infection and aseptic inflammation. In addition to joint pain and swelling, infectious arthritis is often combined with symptoms such as generalized fever, redness and fever around the joints, and changes in blood indicators such as blood count. The majority of middle-aged and elderly arthritis is degenerative or called senile osteoarthritis, only need to take anti-inflammatory and analgesic drugs and some nutritional cartilage drugs to relieve symptoms, blind use of antibiotics is not only ineffective, long-term use of drugs will cause bacterial resistance, fungal infections, etc.
Myth #2: “Softening bone spurs” drugs can soften bone spurs
Every day in orthopedic clinics, we encounter patients who ask for “bone spur softening” medication. They are often very nervous when they hear that they have a bone spur, and some patients even try to seek “softening bone spur” drugs, but after taking them for a period of time, they find that the bone spur does not disappear.
Expert analysis: Bone spurs are osteophytes that appear around the area of destruction of joint cartilage, which is the normal bone that has been formed. Therefore, the so-called “softening spur” drugs cannot be eliminated and should not be eliminated. Imagine how serious the adverse effects would be if the bone could be softened by a drug that would soften the normal bone. In fact, none of the various drugs on the market that claim to “soften bone spurs” are able to do so.
So, what should be done about bone spurs? Generally speaking, bone spurs that do not affect joint movement do not need to be treated. However, a small number of patients with severe osteophytes and free bodies that affect joint movement can undergo arthroscopic debridement. If the symptoms seriously affect daily life and the x-ray shows significant narrowing of the joint space, and measures such as weight loss and avoidance of strenuous exercise are ineffective, artificial joint replacement is required.
Misconception 3: Cartilage protection drugs can be used or not
Old Liu went to the clinic to see osteoarthritis, the doctor gave him a chondroprotective drug and recommended that he take it for 6 weeks. When Liu heard this, he shook his head repeatedly, thinking how the drug would take so long. After taking the chondroprotective drug for a week, the symptoms did not improve significantly, so Li asked the doctor to switch to other fast-acting drugs.
Expert Analysis: Osteoarthritis is the result of abnormal proteoglycan biosynthesis of joint cartilage and presents degenerative changes. Chondroprotective drugs are curative drugs that improve the morphology of the bone, restore the normal biochemical environment of the joint, and repair the damaged articular cartilage that has been destroyed. Unfortunately, many patients do not recognize the curative effect of these drugs, and consider that they can be used or not, resulting in a significant reduction in the effectiveness of treatment. For this reason, we recommend that patients with osteoarthritis should start taking chondroprotective medications early and regularly. The most widely used chondroprotective drugs in clinical practice are the glucosamine class. This class of drugs can improve joint movement and relieve pain with few side effects and can be taken for a long time. In general, a course of treatment is taken for 4-6 weeks continuously, and about two courses of treatment a year.
Myth 4: Over-the-counter antipyretic and analgesic drugs have no adverse effects
Mrs. Wu came to the hospital for knee replacement due to chronic knee pain. A preoperative examination revealed that she had only 4 grams of hematocrit and was severely anemic, so the surgery had to be suspended and she was immediately transferred to an internal medicine ward for treatment. The doctor took a detailed medical history and found that Mrs. Wu had been taking antipyretic and analgesic drugs for a long time, which had caused chronic gastric bleeding.
Expert analysis: At present, many non-steroidal antipyretic and analgesic drugs on the market are over-the-counter drugs. These drugs are widely used and easy to buy in pharmacies, so the public, especially some patients with chronic diseases, are easy to use and abuse. According to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) statistics, the use of non-steroidal antipyretic analgesics for 3 months or more, the incidence of ulceration, bleeding and perforation of the upper gastrointestinal tract is 1% to 2%; such as up to a year, the incidence is 2% to 5%. Therefore, elderly patients who may have renal, hepatic and cardiac impairment and those with coagulation disorders should use over-the-counter antipyretic analgesics with caution. At the same time, it is necessary to pay attention to adverse reactions when using over-the-counter antipyretic and analgesic drugs, and in case of discomfort, you should stop the drug and seek medical advice. If it is not effective, it is better to go to an experienced doctor and ask him/her to determine the treatment plan.
Myth 5: The more analgesics you take, the better the effect
In the past, when Lao Yang had joint pain, he took a piece of analgesic and got better quickly. But now he can’t take one piece after a few hours. Therefore, he had to keep eating. The doctor took a look at the analgesic he was taking only one to two times a day, but he took it four times a day, which was more than twice the normal dosage.
Expert analysis: drugs have a certain half-life in the body, which is related to the time of drug action, so some drugs have to be taken 3 times a day, while some drugs are only taken once. When a certain dose level is reached, increasing the dose does not enhance the analgesic effect, but can cause serious adverse reactions such as headache, dizziness and visual impairment due to the accumulation of drugs in the body because of excessive dosage or prolonged use. Therefore, when one kind of analgesic is not effective, do not blindly take it several times, but consult your doctor and change the medication or combine with other drugs appropriately.
Myth 6: Multiple analgesics can be used at the same time
Recently, the osteoarthritis that had been haunting Old Zhu for many years came back. He had to go to several hospitals, and the doctors at each hospital prescribed many drugs. In order to get better as soon as possible, Zhu took the drugs prescribed by different doctors at the same time. Unfortunately, after a few days, although his arthritis improved, his stomach began to feel uncomfortable.
Expert Analysis: In real life, there are many people who take painkillers prescribed by different doctors at the same time in order to get better as soon as possible. In fact, this is a very dangerous practice. It is possible that the analgesic drugs prescribed by different doctors only have different trade names, but the ingredients are exactly the same. Moreover, even for analgesics with different ingredients, many of them have exactly the same mechanism of action, and if they are taken at the same time, there is a risk of drug overdose. There is also cross-allergy phenomenon between many NSAIDs analgesics, and the combination with other NSAIDs in large quantities for a long time can obviously increase the hepatic and renal toxicity, and at the same time, it also greatly increases the chance of gastric mucosal damage, which can cause gastric bleeding. In addition, there may be certain chemical reactions between drugs, which are also detrimental to health. Therefore, taking multiple analgesics at the same time often only results in 1+1≤2, while the side effects may be 1+1≥2. Therefore, we should be vigilant to minimize the side effects of analgesics.
Myth 7: Chinese medicine for osteoarthritis has few side effects
After old Zhao was diagnosed with age-related osteoarthritis, his doctor recommended that he take anti-inflammatory and analgesic drugs and cartilage nutrients. He heard from other patients that these two drugs are Western medicines with greater side effects. So, Zhao simply went to the pharmacy to buy Chinese medicine with fewer side effects to take, and also bought a variety of creams recommended by many promoters.
Expert Analysis: Chinese medicine will be the external evil attack on the meridians, qi and blood closed obstruction is not smooth, causing joints, limbs and other symptoms such as soreness, pain, numbness, heavy and unfavorable flexion and extension, called paralysis, is the Western medicine called arthritis. It includes osteoarthritis, rheumatoid arthritis, rheumatoid arthritis, fibrous tissue inflammation and neuralgia, etc. Chinese medicine uses dialectical treatment to treat the symptoms by opening the meridians, activating blood circulation, stopping bleeding and nourishing the blood, which can indeed provide relief. However, modern medicine believes that the cause of osteoarthritis goes far beyond paralysis, but is a multi-factorial cause of cartilage damage. The composition of traditional Chinese medicine is complex, and a very small number of rheumatism treatment of blood circulation and blood stasis, meridian activation Chinese medicine long-term use may also cause liver and kidney function damage. As for the creams, although many patients have good results after applying them, some patients have skin allergies, skin rashes, pigmentation and even breakouts around the creams. Therefore, Chinese medicine should also be used under the guidance of a doctor, do not blindly.