I'm afraid I'll hurt the guys I work with," a 52-year-old patient recently told Dr. Michele Meltzer, a rheumatologist in the Philadelphia area. His weak, swollen, stiff knuckles were causing him to lose control over lifting and directing large loads on and off forklifts. A few times he lost sensation in his fingers and thought he was going to drop the loads on a co-worker. He just couldn't control his grip. And he was so tired.
Meltzer's patient has rheumatic arthritis, one of over 100 types of arthritis.