It would be in your best interests to visit your doctor for a check-up if you have noticed that there is aching in your joints, physical changes occurring in the joints, or if your joints are becoming overly stiff or deformed. These symptoms could indicate that you have contracted rheumatoid arthritis. Problems with the endocrine glands, malnutrition problems, and infections are also warning signs for rheumatoid arthritis. This illness can make it difficult for you to carry out some simple everyday activities.

Poisons and Viruses: Possible Causes

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.

Physical or emotional shock can also cause a person to begin to experience symptoms related to rheumatoid arthritis. Statistically, rheumatoid arthritis affects more women than men. Sometimes, the disease can be caused by fatigue, injury, or exposure to cold, damp weather.

It is currently believed that rheumatoid arthritis begins to develop not long after childhood but before a person enters their forties. Of course, there are cases that differ from this. Some people are in their sixties or seventies when they develop rheumatoid arthritis. Some of the earliest warning signs that could indicate that a person is beginning to contract rheumatoid arthritis are a low grade fever, headaches, and general feeling of weakness all over the body.

The knees and fingers are the first joints to be affected by rheumatoid arthritis. Following them are the shoulders and wrists and then the elbows and ankles. Rheumatoid arthritis affects the joints before it begins bring about symptoms related to any other body parts. In some situations, all of the joints of the body will be attacked by this disease, resulting in inflammation and an aching feeling that can be anywhere from mild to severe.

Rheumatoid arthritis is also quite serious because of its ability to cause deformities to the body. These occur because of atrophy in the muscles and tendons that forces them to contract. This makes the muscles and tendons bend in unnatural ways, forming deformities.

Children six years of age and younger can also develop juvenile rheumatoid arthritis. One early symptom of this illness is a high fever.