Suggest Treatment For Rheumatoid Arthritis In An Elderly Person

Posted on Tue, 5 Jan 2016

Question: I am a 64 year old female. I rheumatoid arthritis. Lately my muscles in my legs feel weak, I have a dull headache, slightly light headed and off balance, and a smell of cirgarette smoke in my nose. I am concerned about what this could be.

Answered by Dr. Dr. Shruti Rijhwani (46 minutes later)

Brief Answer:
You need evaluation.

Detailed Answer:
Dear Madam,

Thank you for posting your query on HCM.

Well looking into your query I will like to tell you that , muscle weakness in rheumatoid or any other autoimmune disease comes form muscle involvement by disease or metabolic deficiencies .

So I would advise you to get CPK, LDH done , these are muscle enzymes which get raised in case of primary muscle involvement . Also get your calcium , vitamin D , Vitamin B12 levels checked .

Since you feel light headed , I would ask for your blood pressure reading in lying down position and then after standing to see for postural drop .

Dr. Shruti

Note: For further information on diet changes to reduce allergy symptoms or to boost your immunity, Ask here.

Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Vinay Bhardwaj