All About Rheumatoid Arthritis

Overview

The word Arthritis is a combination of two words – Arth (joints) and Ritis (inflammation) that is inflammation of the joints. Rheumatoid Arthritis (RA) is one of the 100 types of arthritis. RA is a chronic disease which causes inflammation of the joints and the tissues around the joints. It is called an autoimmune disease, which means that the body’s immune system mistakenly attacks its own body’s tissues, rather than protecting them! RA is also referred as rheumatoid disease, as it not only affects the joints, but other organs of the body as well.

Some of the general symptoms of rheumatoid arthritis are fatigue, depression and stiffness in the joints in the mornings. The cause of RA is still not known fully, but it primarily affects the peripheral joints.

Studies and Researches

There have been various researches and studies around rheumatoid arthritis which reveal some astonishing numbers. About 1% of the world’s total population is said to be affected by RA and it affects the women three times more than men. The life expectancy of these individuals is shortened by 5 to 10 years. It is also a known fact that the daily activities of most of the individuals suffering from rheumatoid arthritis are affected in some way or the other. About 33% of the patients are unable to work after 5 years of having the disease and 50% of the patients have substantial functional disability after 10 years.

Treatment and Medication

Weight loss, physiotherapy, joint injections, occupational therapy, exercise, surgery and various medications can be used for the treatment of RA. Even though the damage already caused is irreparable, it is important to treat it so that further damage is stopped otherwise it can lead to handicap. Early therapy for the patient is the key in RA.

The purpose of the treatment of RA is to ease the symptoms and to prevent future damage. Experts recommend using Disease Modifying Anti-Rheumatic Drug (DMARD) along with a pain reliever to treat RA, as the combination of both is effective, rather than using them separately. DMARDs are said to produce durable symptomatic remissions and delay progression and analgesics help in reducing the pain and inflammation.

Tramadol is a synthetic (man-made) pain reliever which can be combined with DMARD to treat RA. Tramadol is a prescription medication and is said to work like morphine. It is used for treating moderate to moderately severe pain. It is a cheap and effective analgesic. To know more about the cheap Tramadol, visit http://cheap-tramadol.org

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