Rheumatoid Arthritis

Rheumatoid arthritis is an inflammatory arthritis. It is second only to osteoarthritis in the number of its victims. It affects primarily the small joints in the hands and feet and the symposium, causing crippling deformities. Rheumatoid arthritis can also cause inflammation of the tissue around the joints, as well as other organs in the body. Rheumatoid arthritis strike joints, organs, nerves, muscles, tendons, and bones in children, women, and men of all ages, but most frequently between 20 and 40. Estimates of the incidence of rheumatoid arthritis run as high as one person in every hundred, and females are two to three times as likely to suffer from it. It seems to start more in the winter and after some siege of sickness, but it is not considered an infective arthritis. Nobody knows what causes rheumatoid arthritis. There may be some hereditary trait, and there seems to be some connection to viral infections like German measles and serum hepatitis, the liver disease brought on by an injection of one kind or another. Because of this, scientists theorize that rheumatoid arthritis may be an autoimmune disease, one in which the body acts as though it were allergic to itself. The immune system is mixed up and attacks normal joint tissue instead of the stuff it is supposed to attack. Patients with these diseases have antibodies in their blood, which target their own body tissues, where they can be associated with inflammation. Because it can affect multiple other organs of the body, rheumatoid arthritis is referred to as a systemic illness and is sometimes called rheumatoid disease. This disease is considered degenerative and currently the only thing that can be done is manage the painful symptoms and suppress the self-targeting actions by using immune suppressing drugs. Inflammation destroys the joint lining and cartilage and may damage the bone, with complications if untreated. Rheumatoid arthritis symptoms can come and go, and each person with RA is affected differently. Some people have long periods of remission. Their rheumatoid arthritis is inactive, and they have few or no symptoms during this time. Other people might have near-constant rheumatoid arthritis symptoms for months at a stretch. Rheumatic diseases are painful conditions usually caused by inflammation, swelling and pain in the joints or muscles.