If you find that your joints have begun to ache and there are also certain physical changes taking place in these joints; or, if your joints have become deformed or even stiff, it is time that you got your condition checked. These factors, when taken singly or jointly, could point to having developed rheumatoid arthritis. Other warning signs of this condition include infections and basic problems with malnutrition as well as disorders of the endocrine glands – plus, not being able to cope with everyday life situations.

Poisons And Viruses

Rheumatoid arthritis has also been known to be caused by poisons and viruses as well as bacterial toxins; however, there need not necessarily be pus or other germs present in the fluids of the patient’s joints. Other reasons why a person can develop this condition are emotional or physical shock; injuries and fatigue and even because of having been exposed to dampness and cold weather. What’s more, women are the more likely to suffer from rheumatoid arthritis as compared to men.

Rheumatoid arthritis is commonly believed to begin soon after childhood years have been completed and just prior to reaching the forties. There are however, also few cases when the disease affects people in their sixties and seventies – and, the disease (whichever age it begins in) is slow to develop and not a sudden occurrence. To begin with, patients that are developing rheumatoid arthritis will start to experience low fever, weakened state in all parts of the body as well as will experience headaches.

Rheumatoid arthritis also affects the fingers and knees at first and then affects the shoulders and wrists, and the ankles as well as elbows. Sometimes, it attacks each and every joint and there is also inflammation that can cause mild to even severe aching. In any case, rheumatoid arthritis will touch the joints before affecting the rest of the body.

Another ill effect of rheumatoid arthritis is that it is a condition that can cause deformities which in turn occurs because the muscles and tendons near the joints tend to atrophy and contract. Such acts lead the tendons and muscles to bend in unnatural ways and this is reflected in deformities.

Juvenile rheumatoid arthritis is another type of rheumatoid arthritis and its early warning signs are high temperature and of course, it affects people when they are still very young including children aged no more than six years.

The good news in regard to rheumatoid arthritis is that it is believed to be a disease that has a cure; though, it is also a condition that may recur even after the condition seems to have healed. It is a good idea that people suffering from this disease learn to live with the fact that they are handicapped or even deformed; new methods are being developed that hopefully will ease the pain and suffering caused by rheumatoid arthritis.