Symptoms of rheumatoid arthritis

In this article we will illustrate the symptoms of rheumatoid arthritis, so as to help those who suffer, prevent it and treat it in time. If you still do not know what it is, you can read this short first rheumatoid arthritis guide.

General symptoms

Rheumatoid arthritis is a disease that tends to progress rapidly during the first 6 years of its onset, but the course is subjective and can be unpredictable. In fact, only 80% of patients develop some permanent joint abnormality within 10 years. It is therefore important be able to carefully evaluate the symptoms always dealing with your doctor, so as to undertake together a treatment based on their needs.
The disease manifests itself initially in various ways, but mainly affecting the peripheral joints of the body such as the hands and feet, the first symptoms can just occur in stiffness and pain of the affected parts, which follow deformity and instability of the joints.
In reality, other symptoms can instead manifest themselves in a sense of malaise in the afternoon, or with inappetence, asthenia and fever.
Swelling, deformation and pain of the joints, sensation of heat and stiffness of the affected parts, swelling of the affected joints and muscular hypotrophy are just among the most common symptoms which, speaking of rheumatoid arthritis prevention, represent a wake-up call not to be underestimated .

Symptoms on the joints

As already mentioned, the peripheral joints are among the parts of the body most affected by rheumatoid arthritis. Indeed, hands and feet they are the most affected parts and typically the disease attacks them symmetrically. In the joints, a very common symptom is the stiffness. In fact, there are great difficulties in bending the fingers or closing the hand in a fist. In particular, this phenomenon is accentuated in the early hours of the morning and tends to alleviate with the passing of the hours or helping with the magnetotherapy.
Another typical symptom is the swelling. In fact, the parts of the body affected by rheumatoid arthritis tend to ignite causing, in fact, the swelling of the joint. This causes the affected part to become warm to the touch and cause a pain lancinating and acute. In some patients, the swelling also causes the formation of the rheumatoid nodules.

Other common symptoms

Unfortunately, rheumatoid arthritis causes not only joint problems, but also other more general problems, more or less related to the main symptoms. I'll explain. Rheumatoid arthritis is a disease that can affect for several years and in some cases even for a lifetime. In severe cases, symptoms such as fatigue and lack of energy, fever, sweating, loss of appetite and weight, could only represent the tip of the iceberg, where the patient could begin to suffer from mental problems directly related to the disease. And in this case the onset of impotence, anxiety, low self-esteem and even depression.

To end, the symptoms of rheumatoid arthritis are many and varied, in fact, in addition to those mentioned, there are patients in which you can also manifest other extra-rheumatoid symptoms to various organs of the body, such as:

Lungs (breathlessness or cough)
Heart (pericarditis)
Carpal tunnel
Eyes (Sjogren's syndrome)
Blood vessels (vasculitis)
Cardiovascular diseases (diabetes, high blood pressure, metabolic syndrome, atherosclerosis)
More generally, widespread inflammation

Symptoms of rheumatoid arthritis in pregnancy

What to do if the affected person is pregnant? Fortunately, rheumatoid arthritis does not pose a risk to either the pregnant woman or the fetus. In fact, during gestation, in 70% of cases the symptoms even tend to improve, but then flare up after childbirth and requiring the use of drugs in large doses (which is why breastfeeding is not recommended).
However, in any case it is advisable to face a pregnancy when the disease is poorly active, paying attention to the possible intake of some drugs (such as Methotrexate), which may involve the risk of malformations for the fetus.

Conclusions

If you have come this far, you will have guessed that rheumatoid arthritis is a disease that should not be underestimated, and if you have only the slightest doubt of being affected by it, the best thing to do is to consult a specialist doctor. As we have seen, in fact, if not properly treated this can lead to much more serious problems, but if taken on time there are good chances to make it regress.
Thank you for reading our guide, I hope you have been helpful! If this is the case, share this article with your family or friends, you could help someone else to inform themselves in a conscious way about rheumatoid arthritis!