How Pagets Disease Affects Body Functioning - Research Paper Example

?[Your full full June 30, Paget’s disease Before going into the discussion regarding how the skeletal tissues and cells’ Paget's disease effects normal functioning of the body and how this disease alters body functioning, let us get a brief overview of what this disease actually is in order to get a better understanding of the issue. Hamlin, in an article, states, “Paget's disease of the bone is a disorder that alters the way an individual's bone breaks down and reforms”. This disease is more commonly found in aged people, and the documented cases of this disease in children are very rare. Paget’s disease is mainly concerned with the functioning of bones of human body. When the bone breakdown and reformation process is in normal state, bones metabolize in the process of recycling. This process maintains the levels of calcium in normal form during blood circulation. “Individuals afflicted with Paget's disease suffer a kink in the works whereby this cycle does not go as planned” (Cornell). Paget’s disease affects the timing mechanism and bones recycling process, which results in making the bones weak and malformed. Paget’s disease usually occurs in the bones of legs, spine, pelvis, and skull. “Although it can affect any bone, the most commonly affected bones are the skull, the spine, the pelvis, the lower legs, and the thighs” (Kietzman). In the following section, we will discuss how this disease affects functioning of the human body. How Paget’s disease Affects Body Functioning Some of the most common symptoms of Paget’s disease include joint pain, bone pain, weak and malformed bones, and feelings of tingling and weakness. Paget’s disease can also affect hearing ability of a person. Moreover, this disease is also able to cause overgrowth of the skull bone. Medical professionals say that Paget’s disease can cause deformities and abnormalities in the bones. Paget’s disease cannot be interlinked with the disease of osteoarthritis. Researches prove that Paget’s disease affect some parts of a body whereas osteoarthritis affects all bones of a body. If we talk about the United States of America, we can say that Paget’s disease come second to osteoarthritis, which is the no.1 bone disease in the United States. Paget’s disease affects functioning of the body in a way that when it affects some bones, such as, skull bones, leg bones, or spine or pelvis bones, a person cannot perform his/her daily life functions easily because weak, broken, or misshaped bones do not let that person do anything properly. When bones become extra enlarged due to this disease, they pinch the adjacent nerves of the body, which results in the lack of feeling or lack of sensation regarding those parts of the body. Paget’s disease adversely affects the functioning of the human body. “This chronic disorder of the skeletal system can also cause the bone to break down, which can make the affected bones dense, yet fragile” (Kietzman). The bones affected due to this disease become more prone to breakage, which affect overall functioning of the human body. Paget’s disease disrupts the renewal and repair processes of the bones making them weak and delicate. “Pain, skeletal deformity, and fracture may develop because of structurally inferior bone” (Wermers, Tiegs, Atkinson, Achenbach, and Melton). In this disease, the total number of bone cells increase which speeds up renewal and repair process of the bones making them grow rapidly. The increase in the bone cells’ activities results in increasing the overall flow of blood in the bones making them larger and abnormal in shape. The bones, which are affected due to Paget’s disease, become deformed affecting the working of joints. Paget’s disease affects the skeletal tissues and cells, which make the bones of the body weak and deformed. This disease limits the activities of a person because a person, who is affected by this disease, feels it very difficult to perform exhausting daily life activities. There are no very common symptoms of this disease, which makes it difficult for a large number of people to diagnose this disease in its early stages. The medical treatment of this disease along with some drugs that are approved by the Food and Drug Administration are available but the point is that all of those treatments work effectively if the disease is identified at the earlier stages of life. It is because when the bones become weak in the later stages of life, it becomes very difficult to repair them. There is no proper treatment of this disease. The treatment can only slow down the progress level of this disease but cannot cure it completely. However, if a person does not go for the treatment of this disease, it can result in permanent damage to the body. Common bone problems, such as, bowed legs, a curved back, and an enlarged pelvis or head create many problems for the proper functioning of the human body. Paget’s disease causes different problems in different parts of the body. A person with this disease faces many problems, such as, joint pain problem, hearing disabilities, and dental problems. In the joints, this disease causes arthritis whereas if this disease occurs in the skull, it results in causing hearing difficulties. Similarly, if this disease occurs in facial bones, it results in creating dental issues. These were the issues related to Paget’s disease, which make this disease one of the most harmful diseases related to the overall anatomy of bones. How Paget’s disease Alter Body Functioning Let us now discuss how Paget’s disease alters the functioning of human body. As this disease attacks the bones, the blood vessels present in the affected bones increase dramatically which results in increasing the flow of blood to the affected bones. When the blood flow increases, bone renewal process speeds up resulting in making the bones extra large as compared to the normal bones. Such bones not only affect the overall functioning of the human body but also make the heart work hard to supply more blood to the bones, which results in increasing the risk of heart failure for the heart patients. The heart of a normal person functions normally whereas the heart of a person with Paget’s disease needs to do extra functioning in order to supply required blood to the affected bones. Therefore, we can say that Paget’s attack on the bones of a human body alters the functioning of the heart as it has to do very hard work for fulfilling the requirements of the increased blood vessels present in the affected bones. Paget’s disease affects the overall skeletal system of the body and makes it unable to protect human organs properly. If this disease occurs in skull of a person, it changes the functioning of different organs associated with the skull. For example, Paget’s attack on skull narrows the cranial nerve foramina, creates headache and brainstem syndrome, and deforms the skull base. Hearing loss and weakening of the eyesight are also two of the common issues associated with the Paget’s attack on the skull. If Paget’s disease attack spinal cord of a human, it results in back pain, which is a very dull pain. The patient cannot get rid of this pain by taking rest or by taking any non-steroidal medication. Paget’s attack on bones alters the functioning of different organs of the human body. In a normal person, every organ functions normally without any problem. But when Paget’s disease occurs in any part of the human body, it affects the functioning of all human organs linked to that part. Therefore, we can say that Paget’s disease is a very harmful disease because it not only weakens and deforms the bones but also affects different organ linked to the affected bones. Works Cited Cornell, Chris. “Paget’s Disease Of The Bone Or Breast.” Ezinearticles.com, n.d. Web. 30 Jun. 2011. Hamlin, Susan. “About Paget’s Disease of the Bone.” Associatedcontent.com, 07 Feb. 2011. Web. 30 Jun. 2011. Kietzman, Shannon. “What is Paget’s Disease?.” Wisegeek.com, n.d. Web. 30 Jun. 2011. Wermers, Robert, et al. " Morbidity and Mortality Associated With Paget's Disease of Bone: A Population-Based Study." Journal of Bone and Mineral Research 23.6 (2008): 819-825. Print. Read More