Q13. How do steroids work?

A13. Steroids or to be more precise, corticosteroids are used to control swelling and inflammation in a joint. But the difference between these and NSAIDs is the risk of osteoporosis (brittle bones).

There are side effects with these as there are with NSAID’s: but these are more than offset against the effectiveness of these drugs at controlling the symptoms of arthritis.

For more information visit our medication for arthritis section.

Arthritis FAQs:

Arthritis FAQs

• Q1. What is arthritis?
• Q2. How common is arthritis?
• Q3. Does arthritis only affect older people?
• Q4. Why do many more women than men get arthritis?
• Q5. How many types of arthritis are there?
• Q6. What is the most common type of arthritis?
• Q7. Which joints are most likely to be affected by arthritis?
• Q8. What causes arthritis?
• Q9. What are the signs of arthritis?
• Q10. How is arthritis diagnosed?

• Q11. How is arthritis treated?
• Q12. What are anti-inflammatories?
• Q13. How do steroids work?
• Q14. What are disease modifying anti-rheumatic drugs?
• Q15. What is methotrexate?
• Q16. What are anti-TNF drugs?
• Q17. What is Prednisolone?
• Q18. How do you cope with arthritis?
• Q19. Can you inherit an arthritis gene?
• Q20. Is there a cure for arthritis?