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What You Need To Know About Rheumatoid Arthritis Causes Symptoms and Treatment
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Unlike osteoarthritis, RA is disease that can attack many parts of the body, not just joints and bones. It is important to get properly diagnosed, because untreated RA can have severe health consequences above just pain and mobility issues.
Unlike osteoarthritis, RA is disease that can attack many parts of the body, not just joints and bones. It is important to properly diagnosed, because untreated RA can have severe health consequences above just pain and mobility issues.
Rheumatoid Arthritis Causes
Rheumatoid Arthritis is a condition where antibodies in the body mistakenly attack the normal synovial joint fluid, resulting in chronic inflammation, pain and even deformity in the joints. It is still not clear what the cause of this disease is, although there has been some evidence it is at least partially genetic.
Other factors, while probably not being the full cause, can act to hasten and exacerbate RA and its symptoms. Some of these include a poor diet with too many inflammatory types of food, lack of exercise, obesity, smoking and the involuntary factors of aging and being female (women, especially middle aged and over are much more likely to have RA than others).
Rheumatoid Arthritis Symptoms
During the early stages, the disease tends to affect the smaller joints especially the joints in the fingers as well as the toes. The disease’s progression can result in pain and deformity of the wrists, knees, ankles, and elbows.
Some of the most common and well known symptoms of Rheumatoid Arthritis include:
* Tender, warm and swollen joints
* Severe joint pain
* Stiffness in the joints that is worse in the morning and after inactivity
* Fever and loss of appetite might also kick in in addition to fatigue
* Warm sensation in the hands, feet, knees, and elbows
Advanced Rheumatoid Arthritis Risk Factors
Advanced and chronic cases of RA can result in serious harm to other parts of the body, in addition to joints and bones. This is mostly from the fact that RA is a severe inflammatory disease. This presence of inflammation can harm the eyes, blood vessels, lungs, heart and even the blood itself – by reducing the number of red blood cells.
Rheumatoid Arthritis Treatments
There is no known cure for rheumatoid arthritis; instead, doctors prescribe medications that act to suppress the symptoms. In this case, the treatment option is to work in slowing the disease progression while reducing the severity of the symptoms.
Non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) are also used to combat RA pain as well as combat inflammation. The over the counter medication has also proved to be effective in reducing joint swelling. Corticosteroids medicines works the same way as NSAIDs by controlling inflammation and suppressing pain that can cause lots of discomfort in the joints.
Disease-modifying anti-rheumatic drugs are a special type of drug that works by trying to modify rheumatoid arthritis. By modifying RA, the drugs essentially slow the disease progression. There are also some surgical treatments, to repair and replace affected joints.
Additional Treatments
– Prescribed exercise and stretching regimens
– Dietary supplements, such as Omega 3, that fights bodily inflammation
– A special diet that reduces inflammatory foods and increases anti-inflammatory foods
– Topical heat and cold treatments on afflicted areas
– Weight loss
– Stress reduction
