| How long have you been suffering from painful joints? | | | | severe pain. Rheumatoid arthritis basically involves the |
| Have you noticed outward physical changes in those | | | | joints but it is also a systemic problem that usually |
| joints? Are your joints showing deformity and | | | | affects the whole body. |
| stiffness? | | | | Affected large joints are usually tender and warm to |
| A combination of several factors may cause the | | | | the touch, swollen and red with an increase amount of |
| development of rheumatoid arthritis. These factors | | | | joint fluids. The infectious process causes absorption |
| may include infection, underlying malnutrition problem, | | | | resulting into thinning of the joint cartilage that is often |
| endocrine gland disorders and the inability to cope with | | | | seen in x-ray examinations. Thinning of the joint |
| life's situations. Rheumatoid arthritis may also be due to | | | | cartilage can also be caused by the pressure created |
| poisons, viruses or bacterial toxins. The joint fluids of | | | | by muscle spasm or tendons that cross the joint and |
| individuals suffering from rheumatoid arthritis do not | | | | the calcium loss at bone ends causing it to become |
| show any evidence of pus or disease germs that are | | | | rarefied. |
| mostly seen in acute arthritis. People who suffered | | | | Deformity is a very familiar result of rheumatoid |
| from physical or emotional shock, fatigue and injuries | | | | arthritis. This is caused by the contraction and atrophy |
| are mostly predisposed to rheumatoid arthritis. | | | | of both tendons and muscles around the joints. These |
| Individuals who are often exposed to cold and | | | | actions cause the muscles and tendons to bend |
| dampness usually develop the disease more easily. | | | | unnaturally. These may even dislodge the bone out of |
| Women are more commonly affected with this type | | | | the joint resulting in the characteristic rheumatoid |
| of arthritis compared with men. | | | | arthritis deformity. There are also instances when the |
| Rheumatoid arthritis may occur after childhood and | | | | bone ends grow together creating a permanent stiff |
| before a person reaches forty years old. Occasionally | | | | joint. The limbs can also be affected, which can be |
| though, there are cases wherein it affects individuals | | | | cold and clammy. In severe cases, the patient may |
| who are already in their sixties or seventies. The | | | | become thin and anemic. |
| beginning of this disease is often more gradual than | | | | Rheumatoid arthritis appears to be curable in some |
| rapid. This is usually characterized by a low grade | | | | cases but as a rule, it recurs over and over again after |
| fever, a feeling of weakness all over the body and | | | | apparent healing. A person affected with rheumatoid |
| headache. This type of arthritis usually involves the | | | | arthritis and its accompanying deformity should accept |
| knees and the fingers first followed by the shoulders, | | | | the fact that he will be carrying this handicap all |
| wrists, ankles and elbows. In widespread cases, all of | | | | throughout his life. New methods of treatment |
| the joints in the body may be attacked. An active | | | | however allow many arthritic patients to continue with |
| inflammation occurs in the joint's synovial membrane | | | | their normal activities and still enjoy whatever life has |
| causing it to swell with accompanying moderate to | | | | to offer. |