Rheumatic Disease : Article and Solution

Audience: Healthcare professionals
FDA notified healthcare professionals of a Class I Recall of the Vibe Technologies Vibrational Integrated Bio-photonic Energizer Machine Multi-Frequency Field Generator. This device has not been approved by FDA, lacks safety and effectiveness data, and is not manufactured under current good manufacturing practices. The manufacturer has submitted no evidence to FDA to support any of their claims that the product could treat or cure such diseases as cancer, depression, infection and pain. Individuals with the device should stop using it immediately and contact the manufacturer to make arrangements to return the device.

Read the entire 2008 MedWatch Safety Summary, including a link to the FDA Recall notice regarding this issue at:

http://www.fda.gov/medwatch/safety/2008/safety08.htm#Vibe

FDA has asked that a boxed warning be added to the prescribing information for fluoroquinolone antibiotics. The warning will remind healthcare professionals that patients taking these drugs may experience an increased risk of tendinitis and tendon rupture. Fluoroquinolones include Cipro (ciprofloxacin), Factive (gemifloxacin), Levaquin (levofloxacin), Avelox (moxifloxacin), Noroxin (norfloxacin), Floxin (ofloxacin) and Proquin (ciprofloxacin hydrochloride). (more…)

Kiran Veerapen Faculty of Medicine, University of Victoria Canada

This discussion will deal with two aspects of Fibromyalgia: (1) The doctor patient relationship, (2) Recovery from Fibromyalgia
The doctor patient relationship
The doctor’s relationship to his patient is largely informed by his perception of the patient’s credibility, his understanding of the illness and his ability to effect improvement. The patient’s response to her doctor is based on her confidence in his competence and the empathy she perceives. In chronic inflammatory illness, diagnosis is based on objective findings and in the presence of such evidence of disease the patient’s suffering is validated and considered real, facilitating the doctor patient relationship.
In chronic pain disorders such as Fibromyalgia, which lack objective findings, the diagnosis may be problematic and the ability to treat or intervene limited and unpredictable. The doctor’s appreciation of the patients suffering is compromised by the subjectivity of the symptoms. All these factors undermine the development of a positive relationship and feed the doctor’s reluctance to being involved with the inevitable long term care of such patients. From the patients perspective a good relationship with her physician is implic

Pendahuluan

Nyeri pinggang merupakan keluhan yang sering dijumpai dalam praktek dokter sehari-hari. Nyeri pinggang mencapai 30% - 50% dari keluhan reumatik pada praktek umum. Pada sebagian besar keadaan, penyebabnya tidak dapat ditentukan dalam waktu singkat tanpa pemeriksaan yang teliti serta pemeriksaan tambahan. Sebagian besar keluhan sekitar 90% akan sembuh sendiri dalam waktu singkat dan 10% nya menjadi kronis, sehinga pemeriksaan yang cermat dan sistematik pada awal keluhan perlu dilakukan untuk menghindari kelainan yang lebih serius.
Banyak klasifikasi nyeri pinggang yang kita temukan dalam literatur, tetapi tidak ada yang benar-benar memuaskan. Masing-masing mempunyai kelebihan dan kekurangan. Ada yang berdasarkan struktur anatomis (nyeri pinggang primer, sekunder, referal dan psikosomatik), ada yang berdasarkan sumber rasa nyeri (viserogenik, neurogenik, vaskulogenik, spondilogenik dan psikogenik). Sangat beragamnya klasifikasi nyeri pinggang ini antara lain dimungkinkan oleh banyaknya penyakit atau kelainan yang dapat menyebabkan nyeri pinggang. Penyebab nyeri pinggang sangat bervariasi, dari yang ringan (misalnya sikap tubuh yang salah) sampai yang berat dan sangat serius (misalnya keganasan).
Pengobatan nyeri pinggang yang tepat adalah dengan mengobati penyebabnya. Untuk itu diperlukan pendekatan multidisipliner, sebab keluhan nyeri pinggang tidak selalu dapat diselesaikan hanya dengan medikamentosa saja, adakalanya diperlukan fisioterapi dan bahkan pendekatan operatif. (more…)

Definition
An autoimmune disorder is a condition that occurs when the immune system mistakenly attacks and destroys healthy body tissue. There are more than 80 different types of autoimmune disorders.
Causes, incidence, and risk factors
Normally the immune system’s army of white blood cells helps protect the body from harmful substances, called antigens. Examples of antigens include bacteria, viruses, toxins, cancer cells, and foreign blood or tissues from another person or species. The immune system produces antibodies that destroy these harmful substances.
But in patients with an autoimmune disorder, the immune system can’t tell the difference between healthy body tissue and antigens. The result is an immune response that destroys normal body tissues. The response is a hypersensitivity reaction similar to allergies, where the immune system reacts to a substance that it normally would ignore. In allergies, the immune system reacts to an external substance that would normally be harmless. With autoimmune disorders, the immune system reacts to normal body tissues. (more…)