Rheumatoid Arthritis (RA)

 

Waking up with stiffness and pain that is often accompanied by mild fever and fatigue are the warning signs that some inflammatory response has been initiated by your body. This could be a signal of an inflammatory disease called arthritis. So the question is 

What is arthritis?

In simple words, it is the inflammation of joints. It usually shows up with swelling, tenderness and redness on or around the affected joint area.

Two most common types of arthritis are osteoarthritis and rheumatoid arthritis. 

Osteoarthritis is usually the result of age factor and caused by over usage of joints. However, this can also hurt young people who had severe injuries or face weight problems.

We'll discuss here rheumatoid arthritis in detail.

Rheumatoid arthritis is an autoimmune disease in which the body's immune system loses its ability to recognise own body cells and targets them as foreign and starts destroying them. This causes inflammation. 

Causes:

RA has no particular cause. Some believe that it’s caused due to viral infections, accidents. However, it’s also seen in females who skip meals and their diet is not balanced. Cartilage is damaged that offers friction in the joints. Hence it causes pain as well as swelling.

Symptoms:

• Joint swelling (initially of small joints)
• Pain in the affected area
• Joint feels warm
• The affected joint shows redness 
• Joint tenderness
• Joint deformity 
• Weight loss
• Fever 
• Stiffness when get up after sleep or some resting position (sitting)
• Inability to move (restricted movement of affected areas)
• Feels troublesome when trying to open a bottle 
• Can’t lift a pan with a handle
• Reduced mobility 
• Feeling tired
• Depression 
• Headache
• Breathing issues (occasionally)

Basic tests

Following are the tests that are usually recommended by the physicians.

• Complete blood cells count (CBC)
• Test for Vitamin D
• Test of uric acid 
• Rheumatoid factor test (RF)
• C-reactive protein test (CRP)
• Anti cyclic citrullinated peptide test (ACCP)

Indicators

• If CBC test shows high ESR then it indicates inflammatory activity
• Vitamin D levels are low
• Uric acid test shows high level
• RF,  CRP and ACCP level is high 

But sometimes blood tests show normal picture of everything. Still the person suffers with such conditions. 

Imaging tests 

A Physician may also recommend some imaging tests to know how much the disease is active and has affected the joint and caused deformity. These tests include

• X-ray
• MRI
• Ultrasound 

Available treatments

One thing to remember is, rheumatoid arthritis is a chronic disease. Note, when the disease is active, there are flare ups while it shows periods of remission also when inflammation is controlled. To date there is no cure available for it, however, we can manage it with a proper regimen of medicines. The categories of medicines include the following.

• Non steroidal anti inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs)
• Steroids
• Disease modifying anti rheumatic drugs (DMARDs)
• Biologic response modifiers

Physicians also prescribe some supplements like that of Vitamin D, B12, calcium and iron etc. Beside this, some medicines to avoid stomach problems are also given.

What are the other things that you can do about it ?

Most important thing to consider is the life style. People with inactive life style needs to reconsider as how they can bring certain changes that can increase their mobility. We should exercise regularly. The exercises needed for this type of disease are as simple as walking and moving the affected parts lightly. There are many joint exercises available for the people suffering from RA. They bring significant improvements. 

Beside this, an important factor that’s contributing positively to this disease is our unhealthy eating habits. The food that we eat is usually junk that contains bad fats, more carbs i.e. it lacks healthy nutrients like vitamins, essential proteins, important minerals like calcium, iron etc. We should consume healthy foods whether suffering with this disease or not. Include fresh fruits, vegetables, low carbs foods, fish etc.

Traditional management of RA

Patients suffering with this disease use golden milk (milk with turmeric that has a good anti inflammatory chemical substance in it). Drum sticks are also used in the form of curry. People also take green tea.

A good massage of the joints has also shown beneficial effects.