Rheumatoid Arthritis

Rheumatoid arthritis is a very difficult form of arthritis.  

Osteoarthritis causes damage to your joints from overuse.  Rheumatoid is when your immune system attacks your bodies’ tissues by mistake.

It causes pain, swelling and inflammation like regular arthritis but it can do additional damage.  It can damage your heart and blood vessels as well.

In the US, arthritis appears in about 18.9% of the population.  Of that population about 1% have rheumatoid arthritis.

That is a smaller amount but if you are one of the 1% you have a lot to manage.  It is considered an autoimmune condition.

An autoimmune condition can be more challenging because the symptoms can be unpredictable and therefore hard to manage.

There is currently no cure for rheumatoid arthritis.  Early diagnosis and treatment is key to helping manage and alleviate symptoms.  

There are times when you can go into remission which is always the goal.  It is very important to be monitored by a medical professional.

Options for managing the condition:

Advil, motrin and aleve.  NSAIDs which are anti-inflammatory medications without a prescription.

Steroids – corticosteroid medicines like prednisone.  You cannot stay on this indefinitely but it could ease pain and hopefully put you in remission.

DMARDs – to slow progression.  

Conventional: Drug names include Trexall, Arava, Plaquenil, Azulfidine.

Biologic: Humira, Orencia, Simponi

Targeted Synthetic: Olumiant, Xeljanz, Rinvoq  (when the others have not worked)

Private Home Health Care understands how difficult a diagnosis of rheumatoid arthritis can be. Keeping a positive outlook and managing symptoms go hand in hand.