ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Tuesday, May 21, 1996 TAG: 9605210060
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: 3 EDITION: METRO
COLUMN: Health Notes
SOURCE: SANDRA BROWN KELLY
Arthritis and rheumatic problems are among the top chronic health conditions in the country, affecting about 40 million persons. It could be 60 million by 2020, reports the national Centers for Disease Control.
Despite its prevalence, a lot of what is called arthritis isn't this chronic condition. A chronic disease is one that lasts more than three months, or in some cases, such as diabetes, doesn't go away.
So how can you learn to tell the difference between one case and another? Read a book.
The word, arth (joint) and itis (for inflame), has become a catchall for discomfort in muscles, tendons, ligaments or bones, according to "Take Care of Yourself," a medical self-help guide written by Drs. Donald Vickery and James Fries.
The doctors' book is designed to keep you out of a doctor's office, unless you need to be there. One aim of managed health care is to eliminate unnecessary office visits, so such ``self-help'' materials are proliferating. And whether or not you're an advocate of managed care, most of the publications contain excellent advice and questions you should ask yourself.
For instance, is it arthritis?
Do you have a swollen joint, redness or heat in a joint and pain upon motion of the joint? If the answer is yes, it's probably arthritis and you just need home treatment. If none of those conditions exist, your discomfort likely is caused by a problem in the muscles, tendons and ligaments.
In that case, Vickery and Fries suggest you probably have "arthralgia," which means pain in the joints without swelling or redness, or "myalgia," pain in the muscles. Both of these conditions are not strangers to the "boys [or girls] of summer," the generally sedentary adults who hit the ball fields in good weather.
Usually these pains will go away, however. If you don't have a fever, weight loss of 10 pounds or more or severe fatigue lasting more than three months, then treat yourself at home, the doctors say. Apply cold to the area if it's just beginning to get sore (inflamed); give it heat if you've had it for a while or if you want to help your flexibility or speed up healing.
"Take Care of Yourself," ($18, Addison-Wesley) was first published in 1976. Its sixth edition came out last month. The authors tout it as having cut health care costs while politicians fiddled. True or not, this book, or one like it, can be like a wise grandmother.
Records on doctors
Disclosure of disciplinary information - patient complaints and investigation findings - about Virginia's 23,000 health care workers is done in several ways, depending upon the profession. Law restricts release of any but the most formal information for physicians, dentists and psychologists. But it allows, even mandates, the release of similar information about nurses, pharmacists and counselors.
The Department of Health Professions wants the rules to be uniform, but it wants citizens to say what the rules should be. Two public hearings have been scheduled on the subject. One is in Richmond on June 12. The following day, June 13, a hearing is scheduled at Hotel Roanoke at 7:30 p.m. in the Pocahontas B Room.
Here are the questions the board wants consumers, or providers and purchasers, to consider and speak on:
What is the current or desired use of disciplinary information about a health worker? (For example, do you want to know how your doctor has acted before you sign up with him? Or do you not want your doctor to be excluded from your health network because he's had one problem?)
What information should be available to consumers of health care services?
What should be excluded from disclosure?
This is a chance for you to speak out; you should take advantage of it.
You can reach Sandra Brown Kelly at 981-3393, or outside the Roanoke Valley at 1-800-346-1234, ext. 393, or through e-mail at biznews@roanoke.infi.net.
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