Essay On Raynaud's Disease

Rosacea is a chronic, long term, life-disruptive skin condition commonly characterized by facial redness, small dilated blood vessels, papules, and swelling found normally in, but not limited to, facial skin. Rosacea commonly begins any time after age 30 as redness on the central face cross the cheeks, nose, chin or forehead that may come and go. Less commonly affected are the neck, chest, ears, and scalp. In some cases, additional signs, such as persistent redness, small bumps and pustules appear. Flare-ups and remissions are typical of this condition. Symptoms may flare up for weeks or even months then lessen before flaring up yet again. Left untreated this redness appears ruddier and in severe cases the nose can become permanently swollen

Rheumatoid Arthritis(RA) is the most common type of autoimmune arthritis. RA is a progressive and debilitating musculoskeletal disorder that affects the joints symmetrically, causing a range of systemic effects. What it causes is still not well known; nevertheless, findings of new research points towards a believe that it is triggered by a defective immune system, which causes the release of inflammatory chemicals. These chemicals cause damage to cartilage and bone, usually affecting the wrists, the joints of the hand, including the knuckles, the middle joints of the fingers and feet. While this condition can affect any joints, besides, important body organs such as the eyes and the lungs can also be affected by the inflammation that occurs as a result of this chronic condition. Only in America 1.3 million of people are affected by this ailment, and 75 % of them are mainly women. Its onset usually occurs between fourth and sixth decades; however, RA can occur at any age("Diseases And

This in turn cools and decreases the ability to perform physical activity and thus increases the risk of freezing the tissue. Areas that are limited in blood flow such as the hands, feet, ears and nose are vulnerable to frostbite (Giesbrecht and Wilkerson 19).

There are lifestyle changes that may help people with Raynaud's disease. Smoking makes Raynauds worse. If someone has Raynauds they should not smoke or use nicotine in any way. If the person is taking medications that cause the blood vessels to spasm or tighten they should take a different medication, if there is one available.

Rheumatoid arthritis is a chronic syndrome that is characterized by inflammation of the peripheral joints, but it may also involve the lungs, heart, blood vessels, and eyes. The prevalence of this autoimmune disease is between 0.3% to 1.5% of the population in the United States (Feinberg, pp 815). It affects women two to three times more often than men, and the onset of RA is usually between 25 and 50 years of age, but it can occur at any age (Reed, pp 584). RA can be diagnosed by establishing the presence of persistent joint pain, swelling in a symmetric distribution, and prolonged morning stiffness. RA usually affects multiple joints, such as the hands, wrists, knees, elbows, feet, shoulders, hips, and small

Finger or toes that turn white or blue when exposed to cold or when stressed (Raynaud's phenomenon)

The inflammation that occurs can cause wear and tear. Thus, the inflammation causes pain, stiffness, swelling, and, limited range of motion. This then leads to wear down of the bone and destroys cartilage. It also affects the body’s biggest organ: Skin. Rashes occur in in various places of the body. Some, even develop Raynaud’s phenomenon, which is a condition of the skin on the ears, nose, fingers, and toes. They turn numb and pale or purple when exposed to cold.

Carpal tunnel syndrome is a syndrome that is caused from pressure on the median nerve in your wrist. It can cause numbness, tingling, and other symptoms in your hand or arm. One of the symptoms that you may have carpal tunnel syndrome is that you may have frequent burning, tingling, or even itching in the palm of your hand and fingers, including in your thumb, index, and middle fingers. Sometimes the symptoms may appear in either one or both of your hands during the night, this is because some people might sleep with flexed wrists.

• Overusing your hands, especially with repetitive motions that involve twisting your hand or using a forceful grip.

DE Quervain’s Tenosynovitis. The rationale for choosing this condition as a differential diagnosis as the other is likely is based on the decreased sensation and the inability to grasp objects tightly. Evidence: De quervain’s tenosynovitis disease, also called gamer's thumb or mother's thumb, is a common pathological condition of the wrist. Even though the exact etiology is unknown, the cause of de quervain's disease is thought to be due to thickening of the synovial sheath containing the extensor pollicis brevis (EPB) and abductor pollicis longus (APL) tendons. This disease can cause irritation of the muscles, pain and swelling over the radial side of the wrist in patients along with an increased difficulty in gripping objects. Signs and symptoms of de quervain’s tenosynovitis include mild pain, limited ROM, swelling, and decreased sensation and locking with thumb motion (Patel, Tadisina, & Gonzalez,

If your arm or leg went numb or started swelling, you wouldn’t ignore it, and you shouldn’t ignore numb or swelling feet either. Swelling and numbness are symptoms of overuse or fatigue.

Symptoms of CTS include tingling and numbness of the hands and fingers focusing primarily in the thumb and the Index fingers. Patients tend to experience feelings of swelling in the hand when no visual symptom is shown. In the beginning of the disease the symptoms tend to be experienced during the night and slowly progress to be experienced during the day. The feeling of having to shake

Rheumatoid arthritis is a chronic inflammatory disease affecting the joints, most often in the hands and feet. It results in swelling, stiffness, pain, and sometimes joint, bone, and cartilage destruction. Rheumatoid arthritis usually affects joints on both sides of the body equally, meaning if a joint on one side is affected, the same joint on the opposite side is affected as well. Rheumatoid arthritis belongs to a group of diseases called autoimmune disorders that affects joints. In rheumatoid arthritis, the immune system produces antibodies that attack the soft tissues lining of the joints. Eventually the cartilage, bone, and ligaments of the joint deteriorate, causing deformity, instability, and scarring within the joint

De Quervain’s tenosynovitis, also called radial styloid tenosynovitis, is a painful condition that affects the inside of the wrist. The two tendons that are located at the base of the thumb begin to swell, causing the tendons and the area around them to become inflamed. As a result, pressure is placed against the neighboring nerves, leading to a feeling of numbness and pain.

During an episode, the person affected by Raynaud comes in contact with either a cold environment such as during winter time, or they just come into contact with cold, such as when they get something out of a freezer. When an episode occurs the person affected will see their extremities, toes, fingers, nose or ears, turn to a pale white. Numbness, pain, tingling or loss of feeling in extremities may occur (Mawdsley, 2011) After turning a pale white they may become blue, then once blood flow returns the extremities turn bright red. This causes intense pain, throbbing, and often swelling. (Healthwise, 2016) The loss of blood flow causing the pale white fingers may also be caused by stressful situations. When a person’s body is under extreme stress