Rheumatoid arthritis is an autoimmune ailment that results in chronic inflammation of the joints. RA is a systemic disease, often affecting extra-articular fibres throughout your body including the heart, lungs, skin, muscles and blood vessels. RA might also result in swelling of the fibres around the joints, as well as affecting other organs in your body. RA is two to three times more likely to occur in women than in men, and commonly will start affecting an individual between the ages of 20 and 50. But rheumatoid arthritis can also strike in young children and adults over the age of 50.

About 60% of RA sufferers cannot work 10 years after the onset of their disease. Rheumatoid arthritis is a common rheumatic disease, affecting more than two million people in the USA. Rheumatoid arthritis is three times more common in women as in men. It strikes people of all races equally. Arthritis can affect any joint, but the most typical places are in the hands and/or feet. RA results in redness, pain, swelling or a warm ( or hot) feeling in the lining of a joint, the spot where 2 or more bones actually touch. Worldwide, about one percent of people are regarded to suffer from RA, but this percentage varies among dissimilar groups of people.

Rheumatoid arthritis is different from osteoarthritis, the common type of arthritis that commonly comes with older age. Arthritis can affect body parts as well as joints, such as your lungs, eyes and mouth. The disease is an autoimmune debility, which means the disease results from the immune system threatening the body's own fibres. Arthritis more commonly affects the smaller joints, like those of the hands and/or feet, wrists, elbows, knees, and/or ankles.

Arthritis could start with warning or with a sudden, severe onslaught with flu-like symptoms. It's crucial to remember that RA's symptoms vary from person to person. Fortunately for some people the debility will be quite gentle with periods of activity, or joint swelling with inactivity. As well as painful, inflamed joints, RA can cause swelling in additional body tissues and organs. In 20% of cases, lumps called rheumatoid nodules develop under your skin, commonly over bony areas.

Relief for arthritis has improved in recent years. Corticosteroids which are drugs, such as methylprednisolone and prednisone, decrease inflammation and pain, and retard joint damage. Drugs used to control arthritis come under two categories: those that are used to make living with the symptoms easier, and drugs that have the potential to change the course of the debility. Exercise is also an imperative piece of any treatment program. Immunosuppressants drugs act to tame your immune system, which is sporadic in RA. Some of the popular immunosuppressants include leflunomide (Arava), azathioprine (Imuran), cyclosporine (Neoral, Sandimmune) and cyclophosphamide (Cytoxan).

These medications might have potentially serious side effects like an increased susceptibility to infection. Rituximab-Rituximab reduces the amount of B cells in your body, and B cells are part of the cause of inflammation.

Anti depressants are commonly used as well. The most common antidepressants used for arthritis pain and sleeping problems are amitriptyline, nortriptyline (Aventyl, Pamelor) and trazodone (Desyrel).

RA Treatment Tips

You can try non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) like naproxen (Aleve, Naprosyn), celecoxib (Celebrex), ibuprofen (Motrin and others), and many others. NSAIDs are a type of drug that decreases pain and swelling.

Various anti-cytokine medications are now being used to treat agonizing afflictions like Arthritis.

Joint replacement surgery might be necessary for severely affected joints, such as knee replacement.

Manmade drugs such as Cortisteroids can be used. These are drugs that closely resemble cortisone which is a natural hormone produced by the body.

Some light exercise could be great for increasing your blood circulation to the joints.