Rheumatoid arthritis

What Is Rheumatoid Arthritis?
Rheumatoid arthritis is a disease that affects the joints. It causes pain, swelling, and stiffness. If one knee or hand has rheumatoid arthritis, usually the other does too. This disease often occurs in more than one joint and can affect any joint in the body. People with this disease may feel sick and tired, and they sometimes get fevers.

Some people have this disease for only a few months or a year or two. Then it goes away without causing damage. Other people have times when the symptoms get worse (flares), and times when they get better (remissions). Others have a severe form of the disease that can last for many years or a lifetime. This form of the disease can cause serious joint damage.

Who Gets Rheumatoid Arthritis?
Anyone can get this disease, though it occurs more often in women. Rheumatoid arthritis often starts in middle age and is most common in older people. But children and young adults can also get it.

What Causes Rheumatoid Arthritis?
Doctors don't know the exact cause of rheumatoid arthritis. They know that with this arthritis, a person's immune system attacks his or her own body tissues. Researchers are learning many things about why and how this happens. Things that may cause rheumatoid arthritis are.

• Genes (passed from parent to child)
• Environment
• Hormones.

How Is Rheumatoid Arthritis Treated?
Doctors have many ways to treat this disease. The goals of treatment are to:

• Take away pain
• Reduce swelling
• Slow down or stop joint damage
• Help people feel better
• Help people stay active.

Treatment can include patient education, self-management programs, and support groups that help people learn about:

• Treatments
• How to exercise and relax
• How to talk with their doctor
• Problem solving.

These programs help people:

• Learn about the disease
• Reduce pain
• Cope with physical issues and emotions
• Feel more control over the disease
• Build confidence
• Lead full and active lives.

Treatment for rheumatoid arthritis may involve:

• Lifestyle changes
• Medicine
• Surgery
• Regular doctor visits
• Alternative therapies.

Medicine
Most people with rheumatoid arthritis take medicine. Drugs can be used for pain relief, to reduce swelling, and to stop the disease from getting worse. What a doctor prescribes depends on:

• The person's general health
• How serious the rheumatoid arthritis is
• How serious the rheumatoid arthritis may become
• How long the person will take the drug
• How well the drug works
• Possible side effects.
  
  
  
  
   

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