It is an autoimmune disease which is the most common form of arthritis. It causes joint pain and damages the whole body. For many people, it has caused many other symptoms.

It usually occurs when your immune system works against nature and disturbs the whole natural process. It is also called an autoimmune disorder. It affects joints mostly, as a result, it causes severe pain and swelling in your body. Ultimately it leads you to joint deformity and bone erosion. Most people complain about chronic pain in the whole body, unsteadiness and deformity of joints.

Signs and Symptoms:

Usually, it is marked based on chronic inflammation and pain in your joints. It affects the smallest joints at first. Fingers, toes, and feet are the first victims of this chronic disease. When the disease further progresses, symptoms spread throughout the body and affect your ankles, hips, elbows, and shoulders. Around 30 to 40 percent of people have experienced signs and symptoms, which are not related to joint problems. These symptoms may include skin conditions, eye problems, heart diseases, and blood pressure problems.

They are as below:

  • Fatigue
  • Severe Fever
  • Kidney problems
  • Heart diseases
  • Severe weakness
  • Weight loss problems
  • Appetite loss

According to the research conducted by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)1, Rheumatoid Arthritis affects the joints on both parts of the body. Sometimes you might feel that symptoms are going and coming again, but it’s the way it is. But it is really important for you to never ignore any symptoms of Rheumatoid Arthritis.

Causes:

It is not known what exactly causes Rheumatoid Arthritis? But many experts concluded it is an autoimmune disease that has no lead to a date. Your immune system must fight the bad cells. But in this case, they also affect the good cells in your body. As a result, your immune system causes RA by sending a wrong signal to your brain, and inflammation happens.

Your body tissues get damage. In some people, it is caused by genetic factors like one of your close family members is suffering from it or has suffered from it. Synovium2 get affected by the antibodies of our immune system. Synovium is a thin line of the joints. In this situation people complain about pain in joints and inflammation.

The inflammation thickens the synovium. If you’ll not get treated in time then it can destroy the connective tissues called cartilage, that provides the cushion to the bones ends. The ligaments and tendons which connects the joint together can also get weak and painful. Ultimately joints lose its configuration and shape. This damage can never be reversed.

Risk Factors:

The scientists have done many researches on a number of environmental and genetic factors to conclude that if they are risk free or not.

Some of the risk factors are as follows:

  • It can begin at any age, but the chances get increase with the age. It mostly affected the people of the age 50 to 60 years.
  • The recent researches have shown that it affects more women than men due to the opposite sex.
  • It can be developed in people with specific genes. Human Leukocyte Antigen (HLA) is the reason that causes RA. The risk is high when people having this gene type exposed to other environmental factors such as smoking and obesity.
  • It has been studied that smoking makes the high chances of developing RA. Gradually it can make the disease worse if you haven’t quite the smoking.
  • People with Excessive weight can be at risk to develop RA at any age.

Complications:

RA is a systemic disease caused by autoimmune. It increases the chances of developing some complicated situations in your life some of them are given below:

  • It can lead you to the weaken bones. Your bones may get fractured because RA made them vulnerable.
  • People with RA are more likely to develop other conditions such as dryness of eyes, dry mouth. It decreases the amount of moisture which is needful in your mouth and eyes.
  • For curing RA people take medications so that they can fight from it but at the end people got infected with many other diseases. This condition can impair your immune system. You should get vaccinated in order to avoid disease such as pneumonia, influenza and COVID-19.
  • Your body can get abnormal due to BMI destruction. Your body mass index will be destroyed due to obesity.
  • People who have RA often complain about pain in their wrists and fingers, this syndrome is called carpal tunnel syndrome.
  • Heart diseases are very likely to happen with RA. It blocks your arteries

Diagnosis:

At the early age it is difficult diagnose, because at the early stages it cannot be clear whether it is Rheumatoid Arthritis or any other disease. It shows vague symptoms so that experts cannot say anything about it. There is no way that a blood test can tell us about the symptoms of this disease. A physical exam can be conducted to check whether your joints are swelled or not.

At first your medical advisor will ask your medical history, then they will check the symptoms physically. They will look for:

  • Redness and swelling
  • Function of joints and your physical motion
  • By touching the joints to take an idea of warmth and tenderness of the tissues
  • Your reflexes

Your advisor may recommend you X-Ray to check your joints internally. To check the severity of RA doctors often recommend MRI test. Your other organs might be test because RA can cause your other disease. Doctors make sure you do not have any other disease with RA.

Treatment:

At this moment there is no absolute cure of RA but there are some treatments which can resolve your issues. Recent breakthrough in treatments have made it that you can spend quality of life. Experts have devised a way to treat the Rheumatoid Arthritis which is called treat to target. They can help you to manage the pain and other effects on your body.

 

1 https://www.cdc.gov/arthritis/basics/rheumatoid-arthritis.html

2 https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3263506/