What Is Rheumatoid Arthritis?

Rheumatoid Arthritis is a disease in which the body's immune system attacks the tissue and joints and causes painful inflation, deformity and stiffness. The body produces antibodies that are made to kill off anything that could harm the immune system. In an autoimmune disease, like what happens with Rheumatoid Arthritis, The antibodies recognizes your tissue as a harmful target to the body and begins to attack it, thus begins the inflammation in that area. This inflammation results in the release of proteins that could have been there for weeks, months or years. This causes thickening in the synovium. Synovium is a membrane that lines your movable joints. When it thickens it cause Rheumatoid Arthritis to occur.

What Causes Rheumatoid Arthritis?

Science has not rules out any exact causes of this disease. Although recent studies show it has a big deal to do with viruses, bacteria and fungi. These are all things that cause the body to have an autoimmune disease, where the body's antibodies target its own tissue as a harmful bacteria and it begins to attack it.

What Are Some Symptoms of Rheumatoid Arthritis?

Over time the symptoms in Rheumatoid Arthritis may come and go. When your tissues are inflamed, your disease is active (symptoms are there). When your tissue is not inflamed, you disease is inactive at the time (symptoms and body is in remission). Listed below are several symptoms that are experienced with this disease:

Joint cramps or aches
Pain and swelling in joints
Can not move joints
Strength diminishes in muscles near those joints
Joint stiffness
Deformity
Fatigue

How Is Rheumatoid Arthritis Diagnosed?

When diagnosing Rheumatoid Arthritis the doctor will meet with his patient to take blood test, x-rays and evaluate the pattern of the symptoms. Blood tests will be taken to see if an inflammation process has taken place. X-Rays will be done to see your joints to also determine the disease. The doctor will combine these to tests and your symptoms and determine if you have Rheumatoid Arthritis.

Is There A Treatment For Rheumatoid Arthritis?

There is not a known cure for this disease yet, but controlling your symptoms and keeping the inflammation down is a major key in recovery.
Doctors will tell you what things to do to prevent a cause of inflammation so you will have no pain, and give you muscle strengthen tactics and increase your joints movements to strengthen your muscles. This will also help in preventing deformity and the complete loss of your joint or muscle functioning.
With some people, even following these guidelines, joint destruction is still inevitable. They have to go through joint replacement surgery. In this surgery your joint will be replaced with a metal or plastic prosthesis. In surgery they could also fuse your bones to prevent future surgery, or loosen or tighten tendons. They could also take out your Synovium (a membrane that lines your joints.

What Triggers Rheumatoid Arthritis?

The exact triggers have not been found but we do know that it is related to the autoimmune disease. This is when the body recognizes it own tissue and muscles as bad infection or virus, and its antibodies attack it, which results is inflammation or further problems with joints, muscle and tissue.