Rheumatory arthritis - Rheumatoid arthritus (arthiritis) symptoms

Rheumatory arthritis symptoms often starts with pain in joints, stiffness in joints and the development then goes towards degraded functionality after a period of time. 

Rhrumotoid arthritis often starts very gradually with pain in the smaller joints of the foot. The disease develops quite often in different stages of activity with lower activity periods in between. In some other cases it can be a case of constant high activity. Joints affected are usually first the smaller joints, knuckles, toes, wrists, ankles etc. Further into the rheumetoid arthritis, even the major joints may be affected. During active periods, there is often morning tiredness and also a vaguely defined general tiredness.

Patients with suspected rhumitoid arthritis are should be examined by a qualified rheumatologist or a doctor with good skill and experience of similar diagnosis. It is important to develop a proper rehabilitation plan and also a treatment plan since rhuematoid arthritis can be a progressive disease. In its early stages, RA is easy to confuse with other diseases.

Typical rheumatoid arthritis symptoms 

Rhumatoid arthritis symptoms such as swelling and pain in the joints are the basis for a rhematoid artihritis diagnosis. There are certain abnormalities which can be helpful in determining the diagnosis. Some of these symptoms are:

• anemia  
• rheumatory factor (antibodies in approximately 80% of rheumatiod arthritis patients)
• increased erythrocyte sedimentation rate  (correlation of inflammation level in joints with a blood test).

Using X-ray can sometimes, especially after the initial stage be helpful in diagnosing rheumatioid arthritus. In the early stages, X-ray may not show any signs of the disease at all. In fact, for patients with very early rheumatoid arthritis (less than 6 months), there are very few tests that will confirm the disease. There seem to be a correlation between stroke and heart disease on the one hand and rheumatory arthritis on the other hand, according to recent research.

Reumatoid arthiritis treatment and medication

For fast effect on joint symptoms such as inflammation and swollenness, initial treatment can be done with non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAID). Swelling in joints are also treated with DMARD (disease modifying anti rheumatic drugs), sometimes used in combination with NSAID's, with or without addition of corticosteroids. The use of DMARD's has has a major improving effect on the function and symptoms for many RA patients. 

An even newer type of medicines are the biologic response modifiers. These target the immune system partially where it would otherwise cause inflammation and damage to the tissue in joints. These modifiers like Embril (Enbrel) show down the develpment of rheumatory arthritis and can also be classified as DMARD's.