The Rheumatoid Arthritis

Rheumatoid Arthritis

A disease that causes inflammation to one’s joints and its surrounding areas and tissues is called the Rheumatoid Arthritis or RA. The disease may be long term and can affect the different organs of the body.

Rheumatoid Arthritis Causes, Risk Factors and Incidence

There are unknown causes of RA, it is a kind of an auto-immune disease and it means that the immune system of the body attacks the healthy tissues by mistake.

RA knows no age when it attacks the body, however those who mostly suffer from such disease is those from middle age class. Women are also more prone to this disease as compared to men.

Other related causes to the occurrence of RA or Rheumatoid Arthritis are infection, hormone changes, and genes.

Rheumatoid Arthritis Symptoms

RA normally occurs on joints at the equal opposite sides of one’s body. The most areas that are commonly affected are fingers, wrists, feet, knees, and ankles. The condition often starts slowly, normally more like a minor pain in the joints, fatigue and stiffness.

Symptoms in the Joints are the following:

• Stiffness in the mornings- this usually lasts an hour or so and for a while one may experience tender, warm and stiffness in the joint areas after not using it for 1 hour.
• Pain in the joint areas usually comes at opposite sides of one’s body.
• Overtime, as one moves their body, joints may lose control of motion thus may result to deformity.

Other known symptoms also include:

• Chest pains and difficulty as one takes a breath, this may be called pleurisy
• Dry mouth and eyes called as “Sjogren syndrome”
• Eye itching, burning and some discharges
• Certain nodule that appears under one’s skin- symptom of another disease that may be more severe
• Tingling, burning or numbness on one’s feet and hands.

Signs and Diagnosis

Unfortunately, there is no known method to correctly diagnose a Rheumatoid Arthritis and most people who have this kind of condition will have test results that are quite abnormal while there are also others that may have normal test results.

Two types lab test that are often helpful in the disease diagnosis are:

• “Rheumatoid-Factor-Test”
• And Anti-CCP anti-body test

Other usual tests that are also done are:

• Blood count
• C reactive protein
• Erythrocyte sedimentary rate
• MRI or joint ultrasound
• Joint x rays
• Analysis of the Synovial fluid

Rheumatoid Arthritis Treatment

For the treatment of RA, it may require more complex kind and lifelong treatment, some of the known methods are taking medications, exercise, education, physical therapy, and even surgery. These methods and others can help prevent and delay the possibility of joint destruction.

I.  Medications

a)    DMARD or Disease Modifying Anti-rheumatic Drugs- these types of meds are usually given first hand for patients who suffer from RA condition and the other methods of treatment like strengthening exercise, rest, and anti inflammatory meds.

• Methotrexate, Rheumatrex-this is one of the most common DMARD drug to treat RA. Others include Sulfasalazine and Leflunomide, Arava.
• A precaution though to taking these drugs is that it may give negative side effects to one’s body and so many blood tests are done during one’s medication.

b)    Anti inflammatory Medications- these types of drugs are aspirin as well as non-steroidal anti inflammatory drugs, NSAID, like naprosen and ibuprofen.

• NSAIDs are said to be effective however the bad side of it comes with its long time use which may cause one to have stomach problems, bleeding, ulcers and even heart conditions.
• Celecoxib, Celebrex- this is also another kind of anti inflammatory drug however there may be strong indications that this is not good for those who have heart conditions and stroke. For your safety, better ask your doctor before taking COX2 inhibitor.

c)    Anti-malarial Medication- is a type of medicine that usually includes the following, sulfasalazine (Azulfidine) as well as hydroxychloroquine (Plaquenil) which is usually combined to methotrexate. It takes weeks up to months before one sees any positive results with taking these meds.

d)    Corticosteroids- these meds are usually taken to reduce inflammation and joint swelling. Due to long-term negative effects, this med is recommended to be only be taken in short term and low doses.

II.    Biologic Agents

Medicines that are biologic are known to affect some parts of one’s immune system which play certain role in one’s rheumatoid arthritis.

This is one alternative med that is given if other rheumatoid arthritis does not work. There are also cases that your doctor might start Biologic meds sooner with other known rheumatoid arthritis meds.

The process by which this is induced is through the skin called subcutaneously or through the veins called intravenously. The following are biologic agents which you can refer from:

• Rituximab (Rituxan) and abatacept (Orencia) are modulators of white blood cells
• TNF or “Tumor-Necrosis-Factor” inhibitors like etanercept ( Enbrel), adalimumab (Humira), infliximab (Remicade), certolizumab (Cimzia) and golimumab (Simponi)
• Others include Interleukin-6 or IL-6 inhibitor such as tocilizumab

Biologic agent is helpful as Rheumatoid Arthritis treatment, however, those who are taking such meds must be closely watched because of some risk factors including:

• Infections brought about by virus, bacteria, and fungi
• Lymphoma or Leukemia
• Psoriasis

III.    Surgery

There are some instances as well when surgery may be needed especially when correcting one’s damaged joints. Some of the surgeries that may be done are:

• Synovectomy or the removal of one’s joint lining
• And in severe cases, joint replacement like hip replacement, shoulder replacement, total knee, ankle replacement and several others.

IV.    Physical Therapy

Physical therapy includes exercise programs and range of motion routines; this can help delay and reduce joint loss function and keeps the muscles strong.

There are also cases that in physical therapy, there are special machines used to deeply apply heat as well as electrical stimulation that improve one’s joint movement and reduce pain.

Others include cold and heat treatment, joint protection exercises, and splints. Orthodontic devices are used to help align and support joints which are very helpful.

It is also strongly recommended to rest in between activities and take at least 8 until 10 hrs of a night’s sleep.

Expectations

How individual has different cases on the complications of the symptom of RA.

People that have rheumatoid factor, subcutaneous nodules or anti-CCP anti-body have found out to experience more severe kind of disease. Individuals who also have RA in their early age tend to experience this more badly and quickly as they get old.

With no correct treatment, joint damage can occur permanently. However with early treatment of such condition using newer meds has found out to decrease pain and joint damage.

Complications

RA in severe cases can affect any part of one’s body and such can bring about complications like:

• Rheumatoid lung or damaged to one’s lung tissue
• Increased chances of the hardening of one’s arteries
• Spinal injury due to the damage in the neck bone area
• Rheumatoid vasculitis or inflammation of one’s blood vessels which may lead to nerve, heart, brain, and skin problems
• Pericarditis or the inflammation or swelling of the heart’s outer lining and muscle called myocarditis which may lead to the occurrence of congestive heart disease.

Rheumatoid Arthritis treatment may cause one serious negative side effects. Ask your physician about the side effects that the treatment may bring and how to address it once it occurs.

Call Your Doctor Immediately

If you notice that you may have the symptoms of a Rheumatoid Arthritis then call your doctor immediately.

Prevention

There has been no known preventive measure for this kind of condition however with early treatment of the Rheumatoid Arthritis; it can prevent joint damage furthermore.