Rheumatism

What is rheumatism?

The term Rheumatism is not a disease itself but a popular term for any disorder that causes pain and stiffness in muscles and joints. Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) however is an autoimmune disease that can cause joint pain, inflammation, and damage throughout your body. The joint damage that RA causes usually happens on both sides of the body. So, if a joint is affected in one of your arms or legs, the same joint in the other arm or leg will probably be affected, too. This is one way that doctors distinguish RA from other forms of arthritis, such as osteoarthritis (OA).

What are the symptoms of rheumatoid arthritis?

RA is a chronic disease marked by symptoms of inflammation and pain in the joints. These symptoms and signs increase during periods known as flares or exacerbation. Other times are known as periods of remission — this is when symptoms can disappear completely. Symptoms can vary from mild to severe and include: pain or aching in more than one joint, stiffness in more than one joint, tenderness and swelling in more than one joint, the same joint symptoms on both sides of the body, loss of joint function and deformities, fatigue, low-grade fever, loss of appetite and weakness.

What are the causes of Rheumatoid Arthritis?

RA is an autoimmune disorder and is the result of your body’s immune system attacking healthy body tissues. However, the specific causes or triggers of RA are not yet known. Antibodies attack the tissues lining your joints, causing the lining cells (synovial cells) to divide and contribute to inflammation. During this process, chemicals are released that can damage nearby bones, cartilage, tendons, and ligaments.

Risk factors however are:

• Increased age
• Females with risk increased in women who have never been pregnant
• People born with certain genes, called HLA class II genotypes, are more likely to develop RA
• Smoking and people exposed to smoke as children

How is rheumatoid arthritis diagnosed?

Diagnosing RA may require several investigations to confirm clinical examination findings. Clinical examination findings include swelling and redness around the joint, reduced range of motion around the joint and certain characteristic skin nodules. Doctors may test your blood for certain substances like antibodies, or check the level of certain substances like acute phase reactants that are elevated during inflammatory conditions. These can be a sign of RA and help support the diagnosis. They may also request certain imaging tests, such as an ultrasound, X-ray, or MRI.

What is the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis?

There’s no cure for RA, but there are effective treatments that can help you manage it and prevent damage. The treatment strategy involves:

• setting a specific testing goal that signals either remission or low disease state
• testing acute phase reactants and performing monthly monitoring to assess progress of treatment and management plan
• switching medication regimen promptly if progress isn’t made

Treatments may include:

• medications
• nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs)
• corticosteroids
• acetaminophen (reduces pain but not inflammation)
• Disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs (DMARDs) which work by blocking your body’s immune system response
• Biologics
• Janus kinase inhibitors
• dietary changes
• specific types of exercise