Facts of Rheumatoid arthritis (An autoimmune disorder)

 

Rheumatoid arthritis is generally described as a chronic inflammatory disorder which can affect more than just your bones. People who are affected with this disorder will damage a variety of body systems or organs which includes the skin, eyes, lungs, heart and blood vessels.

An autoimmune disease or disorder called rheumatoid arthritis disorder will happen when your immune system in your body wrongly attacks your own body's tissues.

Other than the wear-and-tear damage of osteoarthritis, rheumatoid arthritis disorder affects the lining of your joints which causes painful swelling that can gradually result in bone erosion and joint deformity.

The inflammation which is associated with rheumatoid arthritis can damage the other parts of the body as well. Nowadays, new types of medications found to treat RA  have improved the treatment methods drastically, but severe rheumatoid arthritis disorder will lead to physical disabilities.

Symptoms

Major symptoms of rheumatoid arthritis are:

• joint pain

• joint swelling, warmth and redness

• Morning stiffness, particularly the first thing that happens or after sitting for a long time.

Other symptoms can include:

• Fatigue which means tiredness and lack of energy 

• a poor appetite like not feeling hungry

• Sudden weight loss

• a high temperature, or a fever

• sweating

• dry eyes which is a result of inflammation

• chest pain which is a result of inflammation.

Rheumatoid arthritis disorder will affect any joints in the body but more oftenly it is felt in the small joints of hands and feets first. Usually, in this disorder, both sides of the body are affected at the same time, but this does not always happen.

Few of the people with this condition develop fleshy lumps called rheumatoid nodules, which usually form under the skin that can be found around affected joints. Sometimes, these lumps are painful but usually are not that much painful.

Causes

Generally, Rheumatoid arthritis is an autoimmune disease disorder. Typically, your immune system presents in your body which helps to protect your body from other infections and diseases. In this rheumatoid arthritis disorder, your immune system attacks your healthy tissues in your joints. This disorder can also cause medical issues with your heart, lungs, nerves, eyes and skin.

Till now, physicians don’t know what causes this process although a genetic component plays a vital role. If your genes don’t actually cause rheumatoid arthritis, they will make you react to environmental factors like infection with specific viruses and bacteria which might trigger the disease.

Risk factors

Some of the factors which increase your risk of rheumatoid arthritis include:

• Your sex. Women are more affected than men to develop rheumatoid arthritis.

• Age. Rheumatoid arthritis disorder will occur at any age of your life, but this disorder mostly begins in middle age.

• Family history. If your family member has rheumatoid arthritis, you have an increased risk of this disease disorder.

• Smoking. Cigarette smoking will increase the chance of risk of getting rheumatoid arthritis, especially if you have a genetic predisposition for developing this disorder

• Excess weight. People who are obese will appear to be at a higher risk of developing rheumatoid arthritis disorder.

Diagnosis

First step to treat rheumatoid arthritis effectively is getting an accurate diagnosis as soon as possible. A person who specialises in treating arthritis disorder called rheumatologist is one of the best person to make an accurate diagnosis of RA disorder with the help of medical history, a physical examination and laboratory tests.

Medical history. Your healthcare professional will ask about joint symptoms like pain, tenderness, stiffness, difficulty moving, when they started with this disorder, and ask about if they come and go, and about how severe they are, what make them feel better or sick and also ask whether their family members have this same disorder or other autoimmune disease.

Physical examination.  Healthcare providers will look for the symptoms of people who are affected with RA disorder such as joint tenderness, sudden swelling, feeling like warmth and painful or limited movement, bumps or lumps under the skin or having low-grade fever.

Blood tests. Blood test will look for inflammation and blood proteins called antibodies which are directly linked to rheumatoid arthritis:

Imaging tests. Rheumatoid arthritis disorder will cause the ends of the bones within a joint to erosions.An X-ray, ultrasound, or MRI (magnetic resonance imaging) scans are helpful to look for erosions. If they don't find out on the first test  which means rheumatoid arthritis is in early stage and it does not damage your bones yet. These Imaging test results can also show you how well the treatment is working for you.

Treatment

The main goals of Rheumatoid arthritis treatment are to:

• Stop inflammation on the bones or helps to reduce it to the lowest possible level 

• Relieve symptoms as soon a s possible

• Prevent joint and organ damage of the body.

• Improve overall body function and overall well-being.

• Reduce long-term complications of RA disorder.

To achieve the above goals, the healthcare providers will follow these strategies:

• They follow early and aggressive treatment methods to reduce or stop inflammation as quickly as possible.

• Other one is Targeting remission or another goal which is mainly called as treat-to-target which helps to work towards few or no more signs of active inflammation.

• They follow tight control of keeping inflammation of bones at the lowest level as much as possible.

Possible Complications

If RA is not treated appropriately, then rheumatoid arthritis disorder will affects every part of your body. Complications are:

• Severe damage to the lung tissues in the body.

• It increases the risk of hardening of the arteries which leads to cardiovascular disease.

• It causes severe Spinal injury when the neck bones are damaged.

• Severe Inflammation of the blood vessels called rheumatoid vasculitis which highly lead to skin, nerve, heart, and brain problems.

• Severe Swelling and inflammation of the outer lining of the heart called pericarditis and myocarditis which is called heart muscle can lead to congestive heart failure.

Frequently Asked Questions

Q1. What is the main cause of rheumatoid arthritis?

Ans: Rheumatoid arthritis is an autoimmune condition, which means it's caused by the immune system attacking healthy body tissue.

Q2. Is rheumatoid arthritis a possible cure?

Ans: Although there's no cure for rheumatoid arthritis, early treatment and support can reduce the risk of joint damage.

Q3. What blood tests show RA?

Ans: Doctors typically perform both a rheumatoid factor (RF) test and an anti-CCP test when evaluating a person they suspect may have rheumatoid arthritis.

Q4. How quickly does rheumatoid arthritis spread?

Ans: The symptoms of rheumatoid arthritis often develop gradually over several weeks, but some cases can progress quickly over a number of days. 

Q5. Can RA be detected in xray?

Ans: For decades, X-rays were used to help detect rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and monitor for worsening bone damage.