I am a 77 yr old female and in fairly good health. Am overweight and suffer from Rheumatoid arthritis as well as osteo arthritis. In the last several years I have become more and more out of breath with the least little effort or exertion. My heart has been checked out thoroughly and there is no problem there. What could be other causes and what kind of doctor should I see?
Hi, thank you for providing the brief history of you. A detailed assessment of the lungs, respiratory muscles and musculoskeletal assessment is advised. As you have both RA and OA, you need to undergo physical therapy, as they will help you perform exercises to strengthen the muscles involved. Also, as you said you get breathless, means your cardio respiratory endurance is slow and needs to get boost up. For RA and OA, medical works only symptomatic, and needs physical therapy along with it for optimum results. You can find research articles supporting the optimum functional abilities by implementation of physical therapy. Also, the physical therapist will help you to understand how the process will work and how your overall health will improve along with weight loss too. In my clinical practice I see many OA and RA, but the end result we get is jogging without any breathlessness or pains and aches. RegardsJay In Chat Doctor.