Arthritis is an autoimmune debility that causes an aching inflammation of your joints. Rheumatoid arthritis will effect your whole body, most commonly affecting extra-articular tissues throughout your body including the muscles, heart, blood vessels, lungs and skin. Arthritis might also cause inflammation of the tissue around your joints, as well as causing symptoms to other organs in your body.

Arthritis is two to three times more common in women than in men, and commonly strikes between the ages of 20 and 50. But it can also strike in small children and adults over the age of 50. About 60% of RA sufferers cannot work 10 years after the start of their debility. It is a common debilitating disease, that affects more than two million people in the USA.

It plagues people of all ethnicities without prejudice. Rheumatoid arthritis can affect any joint, but the most typical joints are in your hands and/or feet. It causes pain, swelling, redness or a warm ( or hot) sensation in the innermost part of a joint, the part where 2 or more bones come together. Worldwide, about 1% of people are believed to suffer from the disease, but the rate does vary among different groups of people.

Rheumatoid arthritis is different from osteoarthritis, the common kind of arthritis that often comes with older age. RA will affect body parts besides joints, like your eyes, mouth and lungs. It is an autoimmune disease, which means the disease results from your immune system attacking your body's own tissues. The symptoms you receive will more commonly affects the smaller joints, like those of the ankles, feet, hands, wrists and knees .

It can start gradually or with a unexpected, severe assault with flu-like symptoms. It's important to remember that the symptoms vary from person to person. Fortunately for some people the disease will be quite gentle with periods of activity, or joint inflammation with inactivity. Along with painful, inflamed joints, the disease can cause inflammation in additional body tissues and organs. In 20% of cases, growths called rheumatoid nodules develop under your skin, often over bony areas.

Relief for the disease has improved in recent years. Corticosteroids which are medications, such as methylprednisolone and prednisone, decrease inflammation and pain, and slow joint damage. Drugs used to control the disease come under two categories: those that are used to make living with the symptoms easier, and those that have the potential to change the course of the debility. Exercise is also an imperative part of any treatment program.

Immunosuppressants medications act to manage your immune system, which is out of control in the disease. Some of the popular immunosuppressants include azathioprine (Imuran), cyclosporine (Neoral, Sandimmune), cyclophosphamide (Cytoxan) and leflunomide (Arava).

These drugs may have potentially serious side effects like an increased chance of infection. Rituximab-Rituximab decreases the number of B cells in your body, and B cells are part of the cause of inflammation.

Anti depressants are commonly used as well. The most common of these that are used for rheumatoid arthritis pain and sleeping problems are amitriptyline, nortriptyline (Aventyl, Pamelor) and trazodone (Desyrel).

Arthritis Treatment Tips

You can try non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) like ibuprofen (Motrin and others), naproxen (Naprosyn, Aleve), celecoxib (Celebrex), and many others. NSAIDs are a type of medicine that decreases swelling and pain.

A variety of anti-cytokine medications are presently being used to treat agonizing afflictions like Arthritis.

Joint replacement surgery could be required for seriously affected joints, such as knee replacement.

Manmade drugs such as Corticosteroids can be used. These are drugs that closely resemble cortisone which is a natural hormone produced by the body.

Some light exercise could be beneficial for improving your blood circulation to the joints.