Rheumatoid Arthritis

Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is a disease that leads to inflammation of the joints and the tissue surrounding them. It is a long term chronic disease, there is no way to cure arthritis. Early symptoms include fatigue, morning stiffness, muscle aches, and weakness. Joint and Muscle Pain is usually the symptom that makes someone go to a doctor though because the early symptoms can be written off as stress or just being too busy. The joints may also become red, inflamed and swollen. Rheumatoid arthritis usually affects both sides of the body equally. It is most often seen in the fingers, wrists, elbows, hips, ankles, toes, neck and shoulders. Destruction of joints can occur after having the disease for one to two years.

The cause of rheumatoid arthritis is unknown but it is an autoimmune disease. This means a person's immune system confuses healthy tissue for foreign substances and then attacks it. It can occur at any age and is more common in women than men.

Rheumatoid arthritis requires lifelong medical treatment that includes medications, education, exercise, physical therapy and even surgery. Early treat can delay joint destruction but there are no arthritis cures.

Treatment is often aimed at keeping the patient mobile through physical therapy and medications, which bring arthritis pain relief. There are actually many ways to get some Arthritis Relief. These include anti-inflammatory medications and non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs). These include ibuprofen and naprosyn. Corticosteroids are also used in low doses for short periods of time to reduce join swelling and inflammation. The current standard drug prescribed for rheumatoid arthritis is disease modifying anti-rheumatic drugs (DMARs). Methotrexate is the most commonly used DMARD and Leflunomide is sometimes substituted for it. These drugs can have side effects so see your doctor regularly when taking them.

Rheumatoid arthritis is usually diagnosed by a combination of physical exam, blood work (complete blood count, C-reactive protein, erythrocyte sedimentation rate and rheumatoid factor test), x-rays or MRIs and possibly synovial fluid (fluid around the joints) analysis.

There is no known prevention but smoking has been shown by research to increase the risk of developing it. The disease can also cause eye complications, have regular eye exams.