Autoimmune arthritis refers to types of arthritis where the immune system mistakenly attacks the body. The most prevalent type is rheumatoid arthritis (RA). RA is classified as an autoimmune disease. When this occurs, the body’s immune response targets its own joint tissues, leading to inflammation and pain. The primary symptoms of autoimmune arthritis include joint pain, tenderness, swelling, or stiffness that persists for over six weeks. Morning stiffness often endures for 30 minutes or more. It’s common for multiple joints to be affected, with smaller joints like wrists and certain joints in the hands and feet typically being the first to show signs.
Over time, symptoms may also extend to larger joints like the wrists and knees. As the disease evolves, other symptoms can manifest, such as deformed joints, hard tissue bumps (nodules) under the skin on the arms, nail changes like pitting or separation from the nail bed, redness and pain in the eyes (uveitis), and even symptoms unrelated to the joints like fatigue, fever, and loss of appetite. Interestingly, while psoriasis and psoriatic arthritis are related, their severity doesn’t necessarily correlate. Someone might have minimal skin psoriasis but experience severe joint symptoms from psoriatic arthritis.
The most common arthritis forms include osteoarthritis and rheumatoid arthritis. Osteoarthritis involves the breakdown of cartilage, the hard, slippery tissue that shields the ends of bones where they form a joint. On the other hand, rheumatoid arthritis is a disease where the immune system targets the lining of the membranes that surround the joints, leading to painful swelling and potential joint deformity.
When doctors diagnose a patient with rheumatoid arthritis (RA), they often explain that it’s an autoimmune disease. This might lead some to wonder how it relates to other conditions. It’s essential to understand the broader context of autoimmune diseases and how RA fits into this category.
For more detailed information on autoimmune arthritis, you can refer to these sources:
Healthline,
Verywell Health,
Medical News Today,
Mayo Clinic (Rheumatoid Arthritis),
Mayo Clinic (Arthritis),
Arthritis.org, and
WebMD.
