Rheumatoid Arthritis Causes and Diagnosis
Rheumatoid arthritis affects the many joints in our bodies and is not prominent in any one place over the other. This type of arthritis also affects the heart, lungs and the blood as well. Rheumatoid arthritis is the inflammation of synovium, or joint lining. The pain suffered from this extremely painful disease can be from stiffness, redness, swelling, and warmth. The joints that are affected over time may lose their shape and will result in the loss of normal everyday movement. Rheumatoid arthritis generally starts around the age of twenty and can last a lifetime. This type of disease typically flares and can have active symptoms or in remissions with no symptoms or only a few of them.
Rheumatoid arthritis causes joint pain and swelling, redness, warmth and can affect other organs of the body like skin, eyes, lungs, heart, blood, nerves or kidneys. Rheumatoid arthritis affects approximately 1% of the population, in which 75% of those diagnosed are women. The exact cause of rheumatoid arthritis is unknown, but scientists attribute this disease to a combination of genetic, environmental and hormonal factors.
Rheumatoid arthritis is as autoimmune disease, which means that the body?s immune system is not working as it should and lets the rheumatoid arthritis disease attack the healthy joints and the tissues around it, allowing for the initiation of joint damage and inflammation.
Rheumatoid arthritis is diagnosed by a positive Rh factor, (a blood test), and x-rays that show rheumatoid deterioration in the joints. There are many different ways to treat rheumatoid arthritis, which include medication, rest, exercise and surgery. The medications fall into two specific categories, NSAIDs and DMARDs, and attempt to reduce the pain, swelling and inflammation. Humira, one of the latest discoveries, attempts to isolate the diseased cells so they cannot reproduce and cause more harm.
It is suspected that susceptibility to rheumatoid arthritis is an inherited trait. The exact cause of rheumatoid arthritis is unknown, but it’s believed to be the body’s immune system attacking the tissue that lines your joints. But rheumatoid arthritis can also affect young children and adults older than age 50.
