Rheumatoid Arthritis Drugs

When it comes to rheumatoid arthritis, there is no treatment that can definitively cure it, but there are lots of available drugs that can be prescribed by doctors or even brought without a prescription in drugstores.

The fist line drugs are: aspirin, COX2 inhibitors and ANIS. Second line drugs are sulfur salt, gold salts and penicillamin, and third line drugs are represented by corticosteroids and methotrexate. Some authors consider methotrexate and corticosteroids as being line two drugs also. Anti inflammatory drugs like aspirin continue to be administrated in rheumatoid arthritis in doses of 100 milligrams per day with analgesic and anti inflammatory effects. To avoid severe adverse effects like ulcer and abdominal bleeding it can be administrated with anti acid medication or inhibitors of the proton pump.

The ANIS drugs are better tolerated by the stomach because they selectively inhibit only some enzymes. Ibuprofen has anti inflammatory, analgesic and anti fever properties and it can be found on the market under the form of pills, capsules, syrup or suppository; the recommended dosage is of 250 milligrams a day.

If after six weeks of anti inflammatory treatment there is no improvement, the doctor can try a new drug form the ANIS group. An injection at articulation level can also be administrated, full of corticosteroids to reduce the inflammation, especially if the patient has arthritis in more than five articulations. After two three month of anti inflammatory treatment that shows no positive results, alternative rheumatoid arthritis drugs can be tried, like the ones in line two. Gold salts are used less and less today, and they are recommended in doses of 5 milligrams a week, progressively growing the dose from 1 milligram. They return nasty adverse reactions like erythrodermia and chronic nephritis. Sulfur salts have an antibacterial, anti inflammatory and immunosuppressive action.

Line two rheumatoid arthritis drugs are all used less and less because of their side effects, but the line three medication is used very often, the methotrexate being one of the most used drugs when treating this arthritis type, when it does do respond to anti inflammatory drugs and corticosteroids.

The corticosteroids have immediate positive effects, but dependency is easily installed, and the doses are of about 10 milligrams a day, descending slowly to 30 milligrams every two weeks. They are utilized in severe forms of the disease, especially when it begins affecting the eyes or the heart.

If an eye condition appears, one can use eye drops with corticosteroids or methotrexate. Another problem that occurs during this disease is the lack of appetite, which leads to malnutrition, this is why consulting a nutritionist is necessary.