Rheumatoid Arthritis: Symptoms & Treatments
Rheumatoid arthritis is a long-term autoimmune disease that leads to chronic pain, stiffness, and swelling of the small joints of your body such as the wrists, hands, and feet. It can also cause more generalised symptoms like tiredness and affect other organs in the body.
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What are the symptoms of rheumatoid arthritis?
Autoimmune conditions occur when the body attacks its own cells causing inflammation. This can happen in flares and can be difficult to predict, although there may be some common triggers. These can include poor sleep, changes in the treatment medication, infection, or stress on the body. In rheumatoid arthritis, the lining of your joints are affected, causing pain and swelling but this can also lead to erosion of the bone and deformity of the joint leading to severe physical disability.
You may have more general symptoms like tiredness, poor appetite, and weight loss and it can also affect many organs such as the liver, kidneys, eyes, and skin.
What causes rheumatoid arthritis?
Rheumatoid arthritis is an autoimmune condition, which is where your immune system attacks its own cells by mistake. In this condition your body attacks the cells that line the joints, leading to the symptoms mentioned above. Those at higher risk are people who smoke, have a family history of rheumatoid arthritis, and women also have a slightly higher risk compared to men.
Pharmacy Treatments
How is rheumatoid arthritis diagnosed?
Your doctor will take a history and family history from you and they will perform an examination of your joints to assess any swelling, stiffness, or pain. They may arrange blood tests looking at specific inflammatory markers, markers of anaemia and rheumatoid specific markers that are helpful in the diagnosis. Imaging such as X-rays or more detailed MRI scans can be done to look at the joints to assess for any damage.
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