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.

It is said, "A stitch in time saves nine". No doubt any issue properly addressed at its initial stage, will prevent long-term trouble. There are people who are too careless about their health, that they just overlook the symptoms of a disease. The symptoms of any disease actually signal the internally occurring disorder. It is better to pay attention to the alarming conditions, rather than letting it get worse. When you start feeling continuous fatigue and weariness along with fever and stiffness of joints, beware it's something getting wrong with your joints. These are the symptoms of rheumatoid arthritis. Consult your doctor without wasting any time.

Some people could suffer from weight loss and numbness as well. These symptoms are somewhat vague indications of the illness, but the most evident symptom of rheumatoid arthritis is the occurrence of joint pain, accompanied by swelling and stiffness as well. This condition is quite painful even if it is the initial stage of the disease. This pain occurs symmetrically, which means that if there is pain in one knee, then there will likely be pain in the other knee as well. The most commonly affected joints are the synovial joints in the hands, wrists, knees and elbows.

People suffering from this chronic and debilitating condition find it difficult to perform routine tasks that they never had trouble with in the past. The movement of fingers becomes so difficult, that even buttoning a blouse is difficult. Thus, it becomes necessary for the patient to acquire some medical aid to live life a bit easier. As this is an incurable disease, the patient stays on medication for a long time, becomes dependent on conventional medication having a lot of side-effects affecting other organs of the body as well.

Rheumatoid arthritis is an autoimmune disorder, causing the immune system to attack the antibodies present in the blood. There is also appearance of lumps under the skin of patients which are called rheumatoid nodules. These nodules mostly appear on knuckles, elbows, and spine, however, their size varies depending upon the severity of the disease. These symptoms when not properly treated can cause rapid increase in the rupturing of tendons, and ligaments. Thus, it is advised to see a doctor as soon as the symmetrical joint pain appears. In the early stages of the rheumatoid arthritis, you will feel improvement just by using proper medication. Otherwise, you will land in a bigger problem of having surgery.