Arthritis Drug: The Traditional Way To Treat Arthritis

Traditionally, the arthritis drug has been considered the best option in treating arthritis. However, individuals may respond to the arthritis drug in various ways and there are potential side effects as well as adverse reactions that may take place which plays an important role in defining which arthritis drug should be used to treat arthritis in the patient and often it is difficult to find the correct balance of drugs to be used. It is imperative that the patient gain as much knowledge about different arthritis drugs so that they are able to make informed decisions on the subject.

NSAID, DMARD, Steroids And Analgesics

There are non-steroid anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) that are very commonly used as arthritis drugs of which there are three main types including salicylates, the traditional NSAIDs and finally, COX-2 selective inhibitors. To block the enzyme known as cyclooxygenaze (COX) one may need to use the NSAID arthritis drugs and according to research results, there are two types of COXes - COX-1 and COX-2.

There are also arthritis drugs such as disease-modifying anti-rheumatic drugs (DMARDs) which have been called slow-acting anti-rheumatic drugs due to the fact that these types of arthritis drugs take weeks or even months to take effect and according to research studies, it is important to have early as well as aggressive treatment with these drugs because in some cases, these arthritis drugs may stop the disease from progressing and also halt damage to the joints.

There are also arthritis drugs such as corticosteroids that are also called steroids and which are potent drugs that may help to reduce swelling as well as inflammation in quick time and these drugs have close relation to cortisol that is a hormone produced on the cortex of the adrenal glands. Prescription of these drugs may vary depending on the condition of the patient as well as the goals for which treatment is intended but they are used to control inflammation of the joints as well as organs, especially in certain diseases like rheumatoid arthritis and lupus.

Analgesics or pain killers are drugs that alleviate pain in the patient and controlling pain is important to the treatment of arthritis but the analgesic may not relieve inflammation as is the case when using NSAIDs and for patients suffering severe pain, the doctor may even need to prescribe narcotic analgesic drugs. Some of the common narcotics include codeine, darvocet, adyon, duragesic, ultracet and hydormorphone.