Arthritis

Summer is just around the corner and Harbor Hospital is offering a free brochure titled: "Answers to the Burning Questions," which explains why skin cancer is the most common form of cancer and who is at risk.The hospital also is offering free educational brochures on arthritis. "Basic Facts: Answers to Your Questions" provides an overview of the disease, including treatments, medications and types of arthritis. "Taking Charge: Learning to Live With Arthritis" gives information about coping with the challenges of the pain associated with arthritis.

On Friday, Feb. 1, award-winning New York chef, restaurateur and cookbook author Seamus Mullen joined mystery writer, columnist and book reviewer Jennifer Vido, of Harford County, for her 8th Annual Author Dinner for Arthritis. Vido has been living with rheumatoid arthritis since she was a child and advocates for the 1.1 million Marylanders living with arthritis. The event was sponsored by Andrew McMeel Publishing. Diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) in 2007, Mullen was determined to change the way he ate to help his body fight the RA. His cookbook, Hero Food, was released last year and focuses on foods that reduce inflammation in the body.

The volunteer: Agnes Abernethy is a member of the board of directors of the Southern Branch of the Arthritis Foundation and promoter of one of the foundation's fund-raisers each year -- the Jingle Bell Run.A music teacher who retired from Annapolis High School, Mrs. Abernethy has started a second career as a real estate agent with Prudential Preferred Properties in Eastport.Each year as the date of the run approaches, she jingles bells and sings over the office public address system to make everyone aware that the time to pledge and participate has arrived.

His soft brown image has graced the cover of National Geographic. He's a perennial on wildlife calendars, the star in several public service spots to promote bear safety and the mascot for a line of hunting apparel. His is the furry face producers and advertisers turn to when they need a teeth-baring, menacing grizzly. But at 15, Brody the bear is approaching middle age and dealing with arthritis, which could sideline his career. A pharmaceutical company in Harford County has developed a nutritional supplement for horses that is helping the 1,400-pound Kodiak bear move painlessly and with more agility, his trainer, Jeff Watson, said.

Q. I was eating a piece of chocolate when a friend said, "That's not good for your arthritis." Since then, another friend told me to avoid tomatoes. All this advice is confusing me. Are there really foods I should avoid, and are there any foods that might help arthritis? A. Researchers at Tufts University recently reported that small changes in diet might make a difference in arthritis control. Omega-3 fatty acids, found primarily in fish but also in flaxseed, pecans, walnuts, tofu and green leafy vegetables, help fight inflammation.

BOSTON -- For decades, doctors have been puzzled over why rheumatoid arthritis usually improves during pregnancy. The effect is often so striking that women and doctors alike call pregnancy the most powerful temporary treatment for arthritis.Now researchers have come up with a possible answer: genetic differences between the fetus and the woman may set off maternal immune responses that ameliorate the arthritis.In the study, being reported in today's issue of the New England Journal of Medicine, relief from rheumatoid arthritis was more likely when there was a difference in certain genes between the fetus and the pregnant woman.

When North Arundel Hospital offered a free lecture earlier this month on living with arthritis, 130 people packed the conference room.The turnout, one of the largest in the history of the hospital's community outreach series, surprised organizers."

ANNAPOLIS carpenter Sean White isn't a track and field star. He isn't even an enthusiastic amateur runner. In fact, he does not run regularly and has competed in only two races in his adult life.Yet White, 28, will compete next month in the Dublin International Marathon. He is part of a 20-member Joints In Motion team that includes his father and stepmother, Tom White and Kate Boland of Potomac. They are running because people like Susan Bolander of West River cannot.Bolander, 36, has arthritis.

Fifteen-year-old Danny Ortman knows from experience what most kids his age don't believe: Arthritis is not a disease reserved for the elderly. For four years, he has battled juvenile rheumatoid arthritis, a complication of the joints that affects 300,000 children nationwide. Besides crediting prayer and perseverance, Danny is grateful to the American Juvenile Arthritis Organization National Conference for helping him cope with JRA. "The kids you meet [at the conferences] can relate to you," he said.

BETHESDA -- Bob Murphy, whose victory at last week's Nationwide Championship was his third this year on the PGA Senior Tour, said yesterday that he was considering pulling out of the 16th Senior Open because a flare-up of an arthritic condition."

SHEBOYGAN, Wis. — Now it all makes sense. For months golf's No. 1 ranking has sat there on a platter, ready to be consumed by Phil Mickelson. But based on Mickelson's play, you might have wondered whether he actually wanted to overtake Tiger Woods as the world's greatest player. Now we know otherwise. Mickelson revealed Tuesday at the PGA Championship that he is being treated for a form of arthritis that left him so debilitated, he could not get out of bed during a family vacation to Hawaii in late June.

Johnson & Johnson is expanding a voluntary recall of Tylenol Arthritis Caplets due to consumer reports of a moldy smell that can cause nausea and sickness. The New Brunswick, N.J., company is now recalling all product lots of the Arthritis Pain Caplet 100 count bottles with the red EZ-Open Cap. Consumers seeking a refund or replacement can call J&J at 1-888-222-6036. - Associated Press

More than 500,000 people have knee replacements each year, according to the National Center for Health Statistics. Dr. Daniel Tang, an orthopedic surgeon at Howard County General Hospital, discusses the purpose of and the procedures involved in the surgery. •The purpose of a knee replacement is to relieve a person's pain, restore movement, restore alignment and remove the impairments to activities of daily living. The ideal candidate for a knee replacement is a generally healthy individual who has failed conservative management of arthritis and who is past the age of 60. Persons with issues of diabetes, peripheral vascular disease and obesity have increased risk factors for the replacement of a joint.

Question: : What can you tell me about the pain reliever salsalate? My doctor says that it will not only help ease my arthritis pain, but might help control my blood sugar. Diet has not controlled my borderline diabetes. Answer: : Salsalate has been used for more than a century to relieve arthritis pain. The name indicates its chemical connection with salicylic acid, which is similar to aspirin (acetylsalicylic acid). Like aspirin, salsalate is effective against inflammation and pain, but it does not irritate the digestive tract as aspirin does.

Dr. Lawrence E. Shulman, former director of the connective tissue division of the Johns Hopkins Medical School who later became the founding director of the National Institutes of Arthritis, Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases at the National Institutes of Health, died of bladder cancer Oct. 10 at his home in Washington. The former longtime Bellemore Road resident was 90. The son of a physician, Dr. Shulman was born and raised in Brookline, Mass. He was a graduate of Boston Latin School and earned his bachelor's degree in 1941 from Harvard University.

Question: :: I read about the gin-raisin method for dealing with arthritis and decided to give it a try. None of the many medicines I had tried worked even the slightest bit. Every morning I awoke with severe swelling in my hands and arms, with the joints so stiff I couldn't touch my thumbs to my palms. The pain was excruciating. The day after eating my first daily dose of nine gin-soaked raisins, the morning swelling in my arms and hands was gone. It was probably coincidence, but I thought it was amazing that I had no pain for the first time in months.

I was on Celebrex for arthritis but experienced side effects. A friend recommended that I try Brownwood Acres tart cherry juice. It took four weeks to kick in, but at the ripe old age of 79 I'm tap-dancing again. It worked for me. We've heard from others that tart or sour cherries or cherry juice might ease joint pain from gout. Your testimonial is terrific, and we suspect that others will want to try cherry juice for arthritis as well. The brand you mention is available at www.brown woodacres.

Unlike typical December shoppers rushing through the malls, the two little girls kept a slow, steady pace.Their eyes didn't linger onthe store windows decorated with bright holiday displays because they weren't looking for presents to buy.They were concentrating on completing a mile of steps.Dressedin "Christmas-sy red," with bells jingling on their shoes, Westminster residents Adrienne A. Liszka, 8, and Courtney L. Farley, 9, walkedthrough Hunt Valley Mall without missing a step."We did have a Power Bar snack, while we were walking," said Adrienne of the candy, which she called "athletic energy food."

Arthritis affects almost 80 percent of Americans. And those affected are getting younger, according to Dr. Barry Waldman of OrthoMaryland and director of the Center for Joint Preservation and Replacement at the Rubin Institute for Advanced Orthopedics at Sinai Hospital. "We don't really know why, but we're seeing an epidemic of patients with wearing out of joints in their 40s and even late 30s." But the good news, Waldman says, is that diet and exercise are the best ways to treat the disease.