After hormone drug treatment, most patients with rheumatoid arthritis will have varying degrees of improvement, often within a few hours of medication, joint pain will be relieved, and joint stiffness will also be reduced. However, in the following months, even if the medication was continued, the condition did not improve, and even if the dose was increased, it did not help.
Hoticosteroids treat the symptoms but not the root cause
X-rays and musculoskeletal ultrasonography showed that cartilage and bone destruction continued during hormone therapy, although the patient's clinical symptoms and laboratory tests improved.
The main effect of hormones is to inhibit inflammation and reduce pain in patients, but it does not completely eliminate inflammation, does not fundamentally eliminate pathogenic bacteria, and cannot stop the progression of joint destruction. It can only be therapeutic in active inflammation of the joints, and once the joint structure is damaged, hormones do not repair it or prevent the condition from getting worse.
Therefore, after the patient stops the drug, the condition will recur, and long-term use will cause various toxic side effects and damage to the kidney organs. At the same time, it also increases drug resistance in the human body, which is why many patients with rheumatoid arthritis find that the drug is becoming less and less effective.
Therefore, hormonal drugs need to be used in combination with disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs, and it is a mistake to simply increase the amount of hormones to treat arthritis. Not only is this not conducive to the treatment of diseases, but it also brings a series of hormone side effects, causing greater harm to oneself and the affected area.
Side effects of hormonal medications
Hormone drugs are a "double-edged sword" for the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis, a slight improper use may lead to more pain and troubles in patients, long-term abuse of hormone drugs can lead to full moon belly, buffalo back, centripetal obesity and other fat deposition and acne, hirsutism, purpura, followed by edema, hypertension, hypertensive encephalopathy, diabetes, menstrual disorders, adrenal insufficiency, cholelithiasis, pancreatitis, severe peptic ulcer, bleeding or perforation, osteoporosis and pathological fractures, serious infection, Serious consequences such as necrosis of the femoral head and even anaphylactic shock and sudden death.
Principles of hormonal drug therapy
Don't prescribe medicine without permission: don't look for hormones because of unbearable swelling and pain, and don't reject hormones out of fear of adverse effects. After all, there are strict indications for the use of hormones, whether to use them, when to use them, which hormone to use, how many doses to use, how often to use them and when to stop them, all need to be controlled by professional rheumatologists according to the patient's condition, and cannot be taken for granted.
Do not adjust the dose arbitrarily: in general, patients with severe disease with cardiac, pulmonary, or neurological involvement may be given high-dose corticosteroid therapy; For isolated joint lesions, low-dose corticosteroids are usually used if needed. Do not increase or decrease the dosage according to your subjective feelings, and take the doctor's objective judgment of the condition as the standard.
Precautions for hormone discontinuation
Gradual reduction and discontinuation: the dosage of hormones and the type of preparation should be relatively stable, do not change and stop the drug abruptly, and gradually reduce the drug under the guidance of a doctor;
Take other antirheumatic drugs before stopping the drug: 7~15 days before stopping the drug, take other antirheumatic drugs such as indomethacin, phenylbutazone or traditional Chinese medicine instead. Continue to take anti-rheumatic drugs after stopping hormonal drugs to control joint symptoms and prevent adrenal cortex atrophy or dependence;
Special circumstances after discontinuation of the drug: In the event of childbirth, infectious diseases, major surgery, trauma and serious infections, a large amount of hormone therapy is used in a short period of time to prevent shock.
Tips
As the saying goes, "my honey, my arsenic", in the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis, rheumatoid patients should not be afraid of hormones, nor can they abuse hormones. Scientific medication is king. You can't be afraid of trouble, and the random use of drugs will not only fail to treat the disease, but also cause financial and health losses.