Is rheumatism a disease that only affects joints? If you answer yes to this question, it means that you do not know enough about rheumatic diseases. Rheumatic diseases can often affect the joint, but there is almost no organ outside the joint that it does not affect. I would like to share with you an example that immediately comes to mind. A 42-year-old female patient presented with recurrent abdominal pain. Another feature of this patient was the fact that he had been married for 23 years and had no children despite his desire. I had diagnosed this patient as Familial Mediterranean Fever. The pregnancy of the patient developed 2 months after the treatment she received. Frankly, I expected their children to be named Bünyamin, but I did not speak up because the child was a girl. Yes, the patient did not have any joint complaints, but he was diagnosed with a rheumatic disease.
Rheumatic disease affects many of our organs. Respiratory tracts, brain, eyes, lungs, heart, stomach, intestines are just the ones that come to my mind. That’s why we need to get rid of the rheumatism patterns in our minds. The patient develops pain, redness and blurred vision in the eye. After examining the patient, the ophthalmologist directs him to the rheumatology outpatient clinic. Maybe many patients ask themselves what am I doing in the rheumatology outpatient clinic. But the answer to the question is clear, many rheumatic diseases can affect the eyes. The patient presents to the hematology specialist with a decrease in blood values. After seeing the examinations, the hematology specialist directs the patient to the rheumatology outpatient clinic. The same rheumatic diseases can cause changes in the blood picture. The patient applies to the obstetrician and gynecologist due to recurrent miscarriages. The doctor wants a few tests and directs his patient to the rheumatology outpatient clinic. The reason is that in some of the rheumatic diseases, recurrent pregnancy losses may occur. A pulmonologist sees a patient for shortness of breath. He also directs his patient to the rheumatology outpatient clinic. The reason is that rheumatic diseases can lead to findings in the lungs. Or another day, an otolaryngologist directs a patient with severe shortness of breath to the rheumatology department. The patient sometimes asks us what to do with rheumatism. But indeed, the patient can be diagnosed with a serious rheumatic disease.
I can reproduce the examples I gave above for pages full of pages, these are the examples of patients that I saw in the last month and stayed in my mind. As a result, although rheumatic diseases frequently affect the joints, they can also affect our other organs. While some of these may accompany joint complaints, most of them occur independently of joint complaints. Do not be surprised if one day you hear the sentence that you should consult a rheumatology specialist in your complaints, and please remember my article.
