Understanding Rheumatoid Arthritis: Symptoms, Causes, and Treatment Options

Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is a chronic inflammatory disorder that typically affects the small joints in your hands and feet. Unlike the wear-and-tear damage of osteoarthritis, rheumatoid arthritis affects the lining of your joints, causing painful swelling that can eventually result in bone erosion and joint deformity. The inflammation associated with rheumatoid arthritis is what can damage other parts of the body as well. While new types of medications have improved treatment options dramatically, severe rheumatoid arthritis can still cause physical disabilities.

Symptoms of rheumatoid arthritis may include joint stiffness that is usually worse in the mornings and after periods of inactivity, fatigue, fever, and loss of appetite. Early rheumatoid arthritis tends to affect smaller joints first — particularly those that attach your fingers to your hands and your toes to your feet. As the disease progresses, symptoms often spread to the wrists, knees, ankles, elbows, hips, and shoulders.

Common signs and symptoms include pain or aching in more than one joint, stiffness in more than one joint, tenderness and swelling in more than one joint, and the same joint symptoms on both sides of the body, leading to loss of joint function. Other symptoms might include loss of appetite, dry eyes and mouth (often related to Sjogren’s syndrome), and rheumatoid nodules. Rheumatoid arthritis and gout can present similarly, but gout is caused by uric acid crystals, whereas rheumatoid arthritis is an autoimmune condition.

Treatment for RA often includes medications such as NSAIDs (e.g., Celecoxib, Diclofenac, Ibuprofen, Naproxen) to alleviate pain and reduce inflammation. Additionally, various natural remedies and lifestyle changes, like exercise, heat and cold treatments, and muscle relaxation techniques, can provide relief.

For more detailed information on rheumatoid arthritis, its symptoms, and treatment options, visit the following resources:

Mayo Clinic
WebMD
Arthritis Foundation
Healthline

Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is a chronic inflammatory disorder affecting many joints, including those in the hands and feet. Notable for joint stiffness that worsens in the mornings and after periods of inactivity, RA symptoms include fatigue, fever, and loss of appetite. Initially targeting the smaller joints, the disease can progress to larger areas such as the wrists and knees.

To manage RA, strategies include physical exercises like tightening and relaxing various body muscles, starting from the face down to the feet. Other symptoms include joint pain, tenderness, swelling, or stiffness for six weeks or longer, morning stiffness lasting 30 minutes or more, and symptoms occurring in the same joints on both sides of the body.

Various treatments like heat and cold can offer relief. Applying ice packs to inflamed joints can reduce swelling, while cold treatments numb pain and relax muscle spasms. Pain or aching in more than one joint, stiffness, tenderness, and swelling in more than one joint, and loss of joint function are also common indicators of RA.

Comparing rheumatoid arthritis to gout, another painful arthritis type, shows distinct differences in symptoms and causes. Gout’s intense pain and swelling typically occur in the big toe or other joints due to uric acid crystals, while RA involves immune system attacks on the joints.

Medications like NSAIDs, including Celecoxib, Diclofenac, and Ibuprofen, help manage RA symptoms. Additional symptoms affecting more than just joints include loss of appetite, dry eyes, and mouth, often related to Sjogren’s syndrome, and the formation of rheumatoid nodules.

For more detailed information and treatment options, visit the following resources:

Mayo Clinic on Rheumatoid Arthritis
WebMD on Natural Treatments for RA
Arthritis Foundation on RA
Healthline on Remedies for RA