While the symptoms of Antisynthetase Syndrome vary greatly from patient to patient, the most common symptoms are muscle weakness, joint pain, and lung inflammation. Because of the varying symptoms of this disease, it is advised for patients to have frequent follow ups with their Rheumatologist. In this episode, Dr. Christopher Mecoli, a physician in the Johns Hopkins Division of Rheumatology, explains the signs and symptoms a patient may display with Antisynthetase Syndrome.
Polymyositis is an autoimmune disease that causes inflammation in the muscles. It’s also commonly paired with other rheumatic diseases such as scleroderma, rheumatoid arthritis, or lupus. In this video, Dr. Lisa Christopher-Stine, the Director of the Myositis Center, explains the basics of polymyositis.
In this first video of a five part series on Lyme Disease, Dr. John Aucott from the Johns Hopkins Lyme Disease Research Center provides an overview of the disease.
Psoriatic arthritis, in short called PsA, is a rheumatologic disease that effects about 1.5 million Americans. About one in three people with the skin disease psoriasis, will get psoriatic arthritis. It affects the joints as well as the tendons, and it may also affect the spine.
Sjögren’s Syndrome is an autoimmune disease that is found primarily in women, where inflammation at the salivary and lacrimal glands causes dryness of the eyes and mouth. However, it’s also a systemic disease that affects the entire body, producing joint pain and fatigue, and damaging internal organs. As many as four million Americans suffer from Sjögren’s Syndrome, which often overlaps with other rheumatic diseases making it very common to misdiagnose or overlook. Unfortunately, many patients are not diagnosed on time, which makes it much more difficult to treat. In this video, the Director of the Jerome L. Greene Sjögren’s Syndrome Center, Dr. Alan Baer, discusses the symptoms and problems that many patients with Sjögren’s Syndrome face.
Because patients present with Antisynthetase Syndrome very differently, a diagnosis is often hard to make. The antibodies that a patient makes is necessary to know to diagnose and treat Antisynthetase properly, so a lot of testing is involved. In this episode, Dr. Christopher Mecoli, a physician in the Johns Hopkins Division of Rheumatology, discusses the way a patient is diagnosed with Antisynthetase Syndrome.
The first signs that usually appear in polymyositis patients are weakness in the shoulders and hips, and an inability to lift their arms over their head. In this video, Dr. Lisa Christopher-Stine, the Director of the Myositis Center, discusses the symptoms of Polymyositis.
Lyme disease affects the patient in many different ways and it depends on which stage of the disease we’re looking at. In this second part of our five part series on Lyme Disease, Dr. Aucutt dives into the signs and symptoms of Lyme Disease.
Early symptoms with psoriatic arthritis are important. People will complain of pain and swelling in their joints – hands, feet, wrists, etc. They may have a small patch of psoriasis or have psoriasis covering many areas of the body.
In this video, Dr. Orbai with the Johns Hopkins Arthritis Center discusses the signs and symptoms of Psoriatic Arthritis
The two most distinguishing symptoms of Sjögren’s Syndrome are dry eyes and mouth. Besides being painful, having dry eyes makes it harder to perform everyday tasks, like working on a computer, and many patients have blurred vision. Dry mouth makes it very difficult to eat and causes burning of the throat. However, these are not the only symptoms. Patients with Sjögren’s often experience joint pain and stiffness, fatigue, and are more likely to develop lymphoma. In this video, Dr. Alan Baer, the Director of the Jerome L. Greene Sjögren’s Syndrome Center, discusses the symptoms of Sjögren’s Syndrome.
Treatment for Antisynthetase Syndrome depends on the symptoms the patient has, but always helps to calm down an overactive nervous system. In this episode, Dr. Christopher Mecoli, a physician in the Johns Hopkins Division of Rheumatology, discusses the treatment options for patients with Antisynthetase Syndrome.
Diagnosing polymyositis is a step by step process. The physician will start by doing a physical exam to assess their strength, followed by blood tests, an EMG, and a muscle biopsy. In this video, Dr. Lisa Christopher-Stine, the Director of the Myositis Center, discusses how polymyositis is diagnosed.