What is Rheumatoid Arthritis?

Before knowing the causes of rheumatoid arthritis and its consequences, let’s know what arthritis is all about and the symptoms of such disease/illness. Arthritis means inflammation of joints. Symptoms of rheumatoid arthritis are swelling, joint pain, stiffness and above all the irritability caused by such a condition.

Let’s face the truth

It is quite clear that arthritis cannot be cured permanently but can only be treated by various treatment options that will reduce pain & deformity. Diagnosing rheumatoid arthritis very early would prevent disability and joint deformity. Living with arthritis will also have emotional consequences attached to it.

About Rheumatoid arthritis

Rheumatoid arthritis is one of the most common forms of arthritis and is an auto-immune disease (auto-immune disease is one that occurs when the tissues of the body get mistakenly attacked by its own immune system) affecting millions of people all over the world. It’s a chronic illness that will persist for years together. One who is affected by rheumatoid arthritis will be experiencing it for many years without actually knowing the reason behind such illness.

General symptoms of rheumatoid arthritis can include fatigue, loss of energy, lack of appetite, low-grade fever, muscle and joint aches, and stiffness. Apart from joint pain, most patients do experience some degree of depression, anxiety and feeling of helplessness. But the consequences are inconceivable as it may lead to severe damage of  joints and functional disability in the long run.

It is believed that women are more likely to develop rheumatoid arthritis than men. About two to three times as many women as men have the disease. Use of contraceptives may contribute to the occurrence of rheumatoid arthritis. The condition if present, will become latent during pregnancy and till lactation stops, only to flare up aggressively.

Causes of Rheumatoid arthritis

It’s very uncertain & complicated to really come to a conclusion as to know the actual causes of rheumatoid arthritis. Many researchers suspect bacteria, fungi, virus and other infective agents to be the root cause of such type of infirmity but it has not been proven. Rheumatoid arthritis can also be genetically inherited but not contagious.

There are people who, without having this particular genetic composition develop rheumatoid arthritis. On the other hand, there are also people having such genes but remain unaffected by RA. Scientists still do not know exactly what causes the immune system to turn against itself in rheumatoid arthritis.

Role of environmental factors in RA

Several environmental factors also play a role in triggering the activation of immune system in susceptible individuals, causing damage to the tissues of the body and thus leading to inflammation in the joints. Joints are more prone to damage/inflammation when compared to tissues.

Even though the answers to several questions related to RA are unknown, we can say that rheumatoid arthritis develops as a result of interaction of several factors. However scientists are striving hard to understand the complexities of rheumatoid arthritis, as to how and why it develops, how some people severely get affected by such illness and others do not.

Many researchers have started adopting and applying new technologies such as stem cell transplantation and novel imaging techniques so that people with rheumatoid arthritis would feel comforted in some way or the other and enable them to lead a normal life without much pain and difficulty.