In recent years, the incidence of rheumatic immune diseases is increasing, but due to the lack of information on rheumatology, many patients do not understand this and do not know which specialist to see. Reminder: If the following symptoms appear in your body, you need to see a rheumatology clinic.
1. Pain or swelling in the joints of the extremities
Occasional joint pain does not need to be nervous, but if joint pain combined with joint swelling and pressure pain persist, especially in the morning joint stiffness for a long time; or joint redness, swelling, heat, pain, unbearable and other symptoms at the same time, you need to consider rheumatic diseases resulting in arthritis. The former may be rheumatoid arthritis, and the latter suggests gouty arthritis.
There are many other rheumatic diseases that can cause joint pain. If the joint pain persists without relief, you should see a rheumatology clinic as soon as possible.
2. Lower back pain or heel pain.
If a young person has lower back pain at night, turning pain, or even waking up with pain at night, which is relieved by morning activities, this inflammatory low back pain needs to be alerted to ankylosing spondylitis. There is also heel pain or other tendon end attachment point pain, is also a manifestation of ankylosing spondylitis.
3. Dry mouth and eyes.
Diabetic patients or taking certain drugs may lead to dry mouth and eyes, but recurrent dry mouth and eyes may be primary or secondary dry syndrome, and these patients are often accompanied by dental caries or tooth loss.
4.Facial erythema or light allergy
The body is allergic to a certain substance and often shows a skin rash and other manifestations, but if it is a young woman and the rash appears on the cheek and across the bridge of the nose, or if facial skin sensitivity and erythema appear in response to sunlight exposure, attention should be paid to whether there is systemic lupus erythematosus, and if combined with swelling of the lower limbs, it may be combined with lupus nephritis.
5. Myalgia and muscle weakness
The presence of muscle pain and weakness in the extremities for unknown reasons should exclude polymyositis, especially if a rash (such as rash around the eyes, in front of the neck or fingers) appears at the same time, highly suspect whether it is dermatomyositis.
6. Raynaud’s phenomenon
Raynaud’s phenomenon is that some people experience white and purple fingers and toes when cold, and return to normal skin color after warming or emotional stability. This symptom can appear in many diffuse connective tissue diseases, such as mixed connective tissue disease, systemic sclerosis, systemic lupus erythematosus and other diseases, and requires prompt consultation for further examination.
7. Unexplained fever
Fever is most commonly associated with various infectious diseases. However, patients with long-standing fever (more than 4 weeks), if antibiotics are ineffective and tumors are excluded, are likely to have rheumatic diseases. In addition to rheumatic diseases such as systemic lupus erythematosus and systemic vasculitis that can cause fever, there is also adult Still’s disease that is often misdiagnosed and missed, which can also lead to prolonged fever.
8. Recurrent mouth ulcers
The aforementioned SLE can cause oral ulcers, but recurrent oral ulcers can also occur in leukoaraiosis, which is often combined with external genital ulcers and eye lesions. Therefore, recurrent oral ulcers should not be underestimated.
9. Uveitis, conjunctivitis and ophthalmia
The ophthalmologists in our hospital are now very experienced, and once they encounter unexplained ocular lesions such as uveitis, they will ask the rheumatology department to consult and find that many of them are ocular manifestations of rheumatoid arthritis, ankylosing spondylitis or leukoarthritis.
10.Recurrent miscarriage
Patients with recurrent miscarriages need to be routinely screened for antiphospholipid syndrome, especially those with recurrent thrombosis and thrombocytopenia.
11.Local or generalized skin sclerosis
Local or generalized skin sclerosis is not difficult to find, which is the main manifestation of scleroderma, and can lead to organ damage in advanced stages. Early diagnosis and active treatment are helpful to control the progress of the disease.
The above are the most common clinical manifestations of rheumatic diseases, once found, please go to the Department of Rheumatology and Immunology in a timely manner, early diagnosis is essential to achieve good results.