Rheumatoid arthritis is a crippling disease that affects young and old alike. Although there is no cure for this autoimmune disorder, there are a variety of treatment options, ranging from medication, to natural remedies, to lifestyle changes. Read on to learn more about rheumatoid arthritis, including symptoms, treatment options, and more.

Rheumatoid arthritis can be categorized as an auto immune disease in which patients suffer from such a condition where antibodies and their bodies target their own tissues. Due to this, the joints are attacked by the immune system. People between 40 to 50 years of age have a higher probability of developing this disease. It is the most common type of arthritis found in America, and the ratio of women having RA as compared to men is as high as 3:1. Basically, RA attacks tissues and joints of wrist, feet, hands, shoulders, ankles and knees, but it also affects lungs, eyes and heart. Some of the common symptoms include fever, loss of appetite, malaise, muscle pain and weight loss. People having arthritis also experience lack of sleep, tiredness and difficulty in walking and easy movement.

Rheumatoid arthritis is different from other types of arthritis, such as gouty arthritis and osteoarthritis. People having RA also complain about stiffness of joints, swelling of joints and tenderness of joints. They feel warm around the joint areas, and pain is felt in body symmetrically. For instance, if the patient feels pain in the right knee he will also feel pain in left knee. Some other symptoms involve formation of lumps under the skin and the patient feels pain. This type of disease can cause space in joints which is known as rheumatoid nodules. Many patients also suffer from anemia, swan neck, deformity of hands, ulna deviation, and increased erythrocyte sedimentation rate.

Many people suffer from hand deformity when they have Rheumatoid arthritis. It happens due to the ulna deviation in which the fingers tend to deviate towards the ulna, or the inner bone of the forearm. It can also restrict the fingers from functioning normally and rupture tendons around these joints. There are some complications related to this disease, such as inflammation of internal organs and tissues around the joints. Some treatments options are able to control the inflammation to avoid any damage to the tissues and joints; however, due to the inflammation of the nerves, tendons, ligaments and blood vessels are baldly affected. Research has been conducted to find out the cause, but there is no apparent source that causes the disease.

Since it is a chronic disease, it cannot be cured; therefore, surgical procedure can be helpful to rectify the deformity. If you suffer from any of the above mentioned symptoms you should consult a doctor immediately.