Indore: The deadly Covid-19 pandemic has not only infected the respiratory systems of people, but has also triggered arthritis among patients who have recovered from the disease.
“Arthritis and Covid are both related to the immune system of the body and many people are found to be suffering from arthritis after recovering from Covid even when they didn’t have any history of the disease,” rheumatologist Dr Ashish Badika said. He was addressing an awareness programme on Sunday and said that the problems relating to arthritis had increased in every way.
“Since arthritis is an auto-immune disease, medicines are given to increase immunity. In such a situation, many people stopped taking arthritis medicine for fear of getting Covid and, as a result, their complications got aggravated. We’ve also seen many cases in which patients couldn’t reach the doctor for routine check-ups due to the lockdown and continued taking medicines on the basis of old prescriptions. It is very important to understand that patients need examination and change in dosage according to their condition,” Dr Badika said.
Meanwhile, Mumbai’s Dr Sunil Kumar Singh said that, since arthritis is characterised by extreme symptoms, such as joint pain, swelling, stiffness, fatigue and weakness, people often ignore them as common problems. That is why it is very important to recognise the symptoms of arthritis at the right time and consult a rheumatologist.
