Rheumatoid Arthritis leaves your joints stiff and painful. While progressive in nature, it can be treated. RA can affect the quality of your life. It’s better to educate yourself about RA so you know what you are dealing with. Every RA treatment plain is different as each person is different. The best way to slow the progression of RA is to work with a health-care professional to devise a plan to help you deal with RA. With knowledge can come hope and with hope you an get the most out of your life.
Learn the ways RA can impact your life. The main symptoms are pain, stiffness, and fatigue. There are 8 areas of your life that RA can disrupt: Physical activities, Daily limitations, Pain, Overall Health, Energy, Social life, Emotionional limitations, and emotional well-being. There are things you can do to help yourself: do the important things first each day, don’t go up and down the stairs more than necessary, take your time doing tasks, and watch the weather. This last one can be very important if the weather affects the way you feel. Wet and dampness can aggravate RA, along with cold weather.
RA is an autoimmune disease. The body’s immune system mistakes it’s own cells for foreign invaders and launches an attack. In RA the object of this attack are the linings of the joints. Over time RA can continue to damage the joints more and more.
Inflammation of the joints causes the pain. If you’ve been sitting or sleeping you will experience pain and stiffness upon attempting to move. You may feel tiredness (fatigue), muscle weakness, depression, flu like symptoms (including a low grade fever), times when you feel the pain “flaring”, and/or lumps of tissue under the skin usually on the hands or elbows which are rheumatoid nodules.
A good treatment plan with a professional health-care worker can help you. Communication is key to treating RA. The more information you can share whether good or bad can help determine the treatment plan. You can control the disease activity, alleviate some pain, maintain functions for daily activities, and maximize the quality of your life. Keep a list for yourself of what you have been able to accomplish and the daily tasks that you struggle to do. Do you need help from a caretaker to do any tasks, even simple ones? These need to be noted and discussed with your health-care worker. Also note which parts of your body ache the most or give you the most problems with daily tasks.
There are many different medications that might help with your RA. Some can lessen the pain and reduce the inflammation. Others may work to slow any joint damage. Your doctor will decide which medications to try you on to get good results. This may turn out to be a trial and error period, but your doctor will find the right solution for you. Make sure you inform your doctor of any over the counter medications and vitamin supplements you are taking.
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