Rheumatoid Arthritis And Its Effects Essay

"Rheumatoid joint inflammation is an interminable infection set apart by irritation of the joints, frequently influencing the hand joints and both sides of the body in the meantime" (Royal Australian College of General Practitioners, 2009).

Rheumatoid Arthritis or “RA” is an autoimmune disorder where the immune system mistakenly attacks its own body tissues. This disease affects the lining of joints causing pain and swelling. Eventually the swelling can lead to bone erosion and joint deformity. RA can happen to anyone at any age, but the majority of people who have to endure this disease are women over the age of 40.

As I began my sophomore year of high school, I envisioned another year full of sports and normal high school activities. I was looking forward to playing basketball as I had done in my freshman year. A few weeks into the new school year I slowly realized that vision would not play out how I thought it would. When I began to notice a nagging pain in my hands and fingers that would not go away, I knew something was wrong. Basketball, a sport that I had once loved to play became almost impossible for my swollen hands to handle. The pain progressively got worse and eventually spread throughout my body, making it difficult to walk and carry out simple tasks. After two long months of tests and several doctors, I was finally diagnosed with Rheumatoid Arthritis.

Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is an autoimmune disease that causes chronic inflammation of the joints. While inflammation of the tissue around the joints and inflammatory arthritis are characteristic features of rheumatoid arthritis, the disease can also cause inflammation and injury in other organs in the

Arthritis occurs when the body incorrectly identifies its own tissue as foreign matter and attacks it. Arthritis includes a set of more than eighty autoimmune diseases. Arthritis attacks connective tissues and joints. It causes stiffness, pain, inflammation, and swelling of the joints. Some kinds are crippling, but rarely leads to death. There are many different

Rheumatoid Arthritis(RA) is the most common type of autoimmune arthritis. RA is a progressive and debilitating musculoskeletal disorder that affects the joints symmetrically, causing a range of systemic effects. What it causes is still not well known; nevertheless, findings of new research points towards a believe that it is triggered by a defective immune system, which causes the release of inflammatory chemicals. These chemicals cause damage to cartilage and bone, usually affecting the wrists, the joints of the hand, including the knuckles, the middle joints of the fingers and feet. While this condition can affect any joints, besides, important body organs such as the eyes and the lungs can also be affected by the inflammation that occurs as a result of this chronic condition. Only in America 1.3 million of people are affected by this ailment, and 75 % of them are mainly women. Its onset usually occurs between fourth and sixth decades; however, RA can occur at any age("Diseases And

Rheumatoid Arthritis has been subject of numerous studies and researches in the look for a better understanding of how it effects the individuals diagnosed with it. There is a higher incident of females diagnosed with RA than male as well as a relationship with genetic and environmental factors involved. Around one percent of the world population is affected by RA; therefore, diverse studies have been performed to understand how the lives of the diagnosed patients can be impacted by the disease. For example, how RA affects the mobility, safety and activities of daily living in general as well as the development of interventions to better approach RA. On

Rheumatoid arthritis is one of the incurable diseases and turns chronic with progressive inflammatory of the synovial lining of peripheral joins. It is characterized by symmetric, chronic, and deforming polyatrhitis that causes long term joint disability when not controlled early. Considering there is no cure for this disease, management focuses on pain and inflammation reduction in order to prevent destruction of joints while at the same time preserving and improving on the functionality of the patient (Varatharajan et al, 2009).

Rheumatoid arthritis is a chronic syndrome that is characterized by inflammation of the peripheral joints, but it may also involve the lungs, heart, blood vessels, and eyes. The prevalence of this autoimmune disease is between 0.3% to 1.5% of the population in the United States (Feinberg, pp 815). It affects women two to three times more often than men, and the onset of RA is usually between 25 and 50 years of age, but it can occur at any age (Reed, pp 584). RA can be diagnosed by establishing the presence of persistent joint pain, swelling in a symmetric distribution, and prolonged morning stiffness. RA usually affects multiple joints, such as the hands, wrists, knees, elbows, feet, shoulders, hips, and small

In general, arthritis is a group of more than one hundred inflammatory diseases that damage joints and their surrounding structures, resulting in symptomatic pain, disability, and system wide inflammation (Rogers). Out of the one hundred plus types of arthritis, the two most common are osteoarthritis and rheumatoid arthritis.

Rheumatoid arthritis is a chronic, systemic inflammatory autoimmune disease. The disease happens when the immune system mistakenly attacks a healthy tissue as if it was a foreign invader, such as a virus or bacteria. If left untreated it can lead to permanent joint damage, decrease in quality of life, and total disability. It affects over a million people in the U.S. alone. Rheumatoid arthritis symptoms include persistent joint inflammation which causes joint pain, stiffness, and swelling. Fatigue and stiffness are usually early symptoms. Joint pain can be an early symptom in a variety of diseases. Symptoms of rheumatoid arthritis often develop slowly over a period of weeks or longer, but this is not always the case, it can have an acute

Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is a chronic, progressive autoimmune disease that is systemic in nature but primarily targets and damages the synovial joints. It is characterized by painful, swollen, stiff joints, which manifest primarily in the hands, wrists, elbows, knees, ankles, and feet. RA is more common among women than men and increases in prevalence with age, however it can also occur in young adults and children (Lee & Weinblatt, 2001).

Any chronic illness can be extremely disruptive to family life. But, it can be possible to maintain balance by using coping strategies, as well as seeking help when necessary. Each member of the family wants some kind of support, while others members of the family may tend to provide the kind of support they would want to receive. This paper will educate the reader on rheumatoid arthritis (RA), a chronic condition which affects millions of people each year, in addition to providing three approaches to improve the affected person’s health and the family dealing with the illness. Certain lifestyle changes and activities can help improve a person’s ability to function independently while maintaining a positive outlook.

Rheumatoid Arthritis is an inflammatory and autoimmune disease that occurs when your immune system mistakenly attacks healthy joints, causing horrific symptoms such as immense pain, swelling, stiffness, and loss of physical function (What is rheumatoid arthritis (RA)?). Joint pain which affects over seventy million Americans each year, can be discomfort, pain, or inflammation arising from any part of a joint, including cartilage, bone, ligaments, tendons, or muscles (Rheumatoid Arthritis.). It is very common in Rheumatoid Arthritis and Osteoarthritis, which is inflammation or pain from within the joint itself. It can be mild, causing soreness only after certain activities, or it can be severe making even limited movement, particularly bearing

Rheumatoid Arthritis or (RA) is an autoimmune disease that attacks the joints and connective tissue. The result is inflammation that produces permanent damage in the joints. Rheumatoid arthritis is a chronic syndrome that tends to be progressive and destructive as compared to Osteoarthritis or (OA), which is more of an age related disease caused by “wear and tear” of the joints. In contrast to (OA), rheumatoid arthritis is characterized by inflammation mostly of the joints, but is a general body disease.