Living with Rheumatoid Arthritis

Rheumatoid Arthritis Information

Rheumatoid arthritis, also referred to as RA, is a chronic inflammatory illness. It is an autoimmune disease where the immune system, which typically fights infection, attacks the lining of your joints, causing them to become inflamed.

• Rheumatoid arthritis is one among more than 100 types of arthritis. This progressive illness carries the potential to cause joint damage and functional disabilities.

• Rheumatoid arthritis is not an inherited disease. Researchers believe that some individuals have genes that cause them to become susceptible to the disease.

• Early signs and symptoms of RA consist of fatigue, joint pain, and stiffness.

• This serious inflammatory disease has an effect on about 1.3 million individuals in the United States.

• TNF-A inhibitors tend to be widely used to treat the disease, however 30 to 50 percent of sufferers treated with these types of drugs are intolerant or have an inadequate reaction to the medications.

Rheumatoid arthritis develops into a major part of your life, for possibly many years or perhaps for the rest of your lifetime. Not only is it a systemic condition in which immune cells strike and inflame the membrane around joints, which typically affect the joints of the feet and hands – causing redness, pain and swelling, but additionally, it can affect the heart, lungs, and eyes. This crippling disease is usually extremely progressive and results in long-term deformity as well as disability.