Rheumatoid Arthritis

Rheumatoid Arthritis results in more than 9 million physician visits and more than 250,000 hospitalizations each year.

What is Rheumatoid Arthritis?

Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is a dysfunctional immune response (autoimmune disease) causing the joints of the body to become inflamed, leading to severe stiffness and acute and/or chronic pain.
An excess of synovial fluid around the joints also contributes to swelling and lack of mobility.
All joints are affected by Rheumatoid Arthritis, especially the wrist and hand joints.
Rheumatoid arthritis - RA is different from other types of arthritis (such as osteoarthritis). For example:
Rheumatoid arthritis - RA usually occurs in a symmetrical pattern; for example, if one hand is affected, usually the other will be, too.
Rheumatoid arthritis - RA often affects the wrists and fingers, though it can affect other parts of the body.
Rheumatoid arthritis - RA is an autoimmune disease affecting the entire body. A person with RA may feel tired and weak, have fevers at times, lose appetite, lose weight, and generally not feel well.

Symptoms of Rheumatoid Arthritis

The body's immune jumps track and selectively attacks healthy joint tissue.

Joint membranes become inflamed, causing pain, stiffness, warmth, redness and swelling.

But pain and discomfort are only two of the consequences of rheumatoid arthritis.

The inflammation may release enzymes that eat away at bone and cartilage, joints may lose their shape and alignment.

As Rheumatoid Arthritis progresses, chronic inflammation ultimately destroys cartilage, tendon and ligaments in the elbows, shoulders, knees and ankles.

Rheumatoid arthritis often strikes women and men in the prime of their lives.

Symptoms can increase in severity over time, or they may remain relatively constant over the years.

Treatment for Rheumatoid Arthritis

"Early detection and treatment can make all the difference in preventing the disease's progression, says Dr. William Robb, assistant professor of orthopedic surgery at Northwestern University. "If the cycle of inflammation can be interrupted early enough, then the cartilage damage is prevented. In advanced cases of Rheumatoid Arthritis that don't respond to medications and lifestyle changes, patients can usually be treated successfully with surgery to reconstruct areas damaged by the disease," Robb says.

Although there is no known cure for Rheumatoid Arthritis, scientists are increasingly discovering the importance of various functional mechanisms in the body that can greatly influence the development and progression of the disease.

The oxidative damage caused by free radicals is a pivotal mechanism implicated in the progression of rheumatoid arthritis.

Sex hormones strongly influence the integrity of bone and muscle tissue, and shape many of the general clinical effects of rheumatoid arthritis.

Essential Fatty Acid levels can have a dramatic impact on the inflammatory responses associated with rheumatoid arthritis.

Restoring balance to the intestinal microflora or probiotics has been shown to alleviate many of the symptoms of rheumatoid arthritis.

Many patients with rheumatoid arthritis lack essential mineral nutrients and amino acids.

Glucosamine sulfate (glucosamine for short) is a popular dietary supplements for arthritis. Glucosamine is a substance found in the fluid around the joints. It can also be obtained from the shells of shrimp, lobster, and crabs, or made in the laboratory. The body uses glucosamine to make and repair cartilage, a firm but flexible tissue that covers the ends of bones, and keeps them from rubbing against each other. it also absorbs the force of impact.

Glucosamine has shown anti-inflammatory effects in animal studies. In humans, they have been studied only for osteoarthritis so far, not for RA. Osteoarthritis is a different form of arthritis than RA, with different causes, although the symptoms are similar (such as joint pain and problems with function).

An unsuspected parasite infection can trigger symptoms of various types of joint diseases, including Rheumatoid Arthritis.

The foods one eats and how the digestive system handles these foods are known to affect the immune system. Because Rheumatoid Arthritis is a disease of the immune system, a connection between diet and the disease has been proposed.
Certain fats that are mostly from animal sources, but also from corn and sunflower oils - break down in the body into substances that can cause inflammation.
Rheumatoid Arthritis as well as the medications used to treat it, may affect the way a person's digestive system handles foods.
Rheumatoid Arthritis can affect a person's ability to prepare and eat food which may lead to nutritional problems.

It is important for people who have RA to eat a healthy, balanced diet. If one or more foods are eliminated from the diet, it is possible to miss key nutrients and not get enough calories.

Decaffeinated Coffee and Rheumatoid Arthritis

According to a recent presentation at the annual meeting of the American College of Rheumatology, doctors from the University of Alabama at Birmingham revealed that women who drink at least four cups of decaffeinated coffee a day are more than twice as likely to develop Rheumatoid Arthritis. Drinking regular coffee had no relationship to the disease.

"Women who drank regular coffee did not have the increased risk of Rheumatoid Arthritis -- so it seems as if there is something about the decaffeinated coffee that is increasing the risks," says lead author Dr. Ted Mikuls, an assistant professor at the University of Alabama at Birmingham. That "something" is probably the chemicals used in the decaffeinating process, according to Dr. Eric Braverman, an integrated physician and RA expert.

"For many years, making decaffeinated coffee involved the use of some potent chemical solvents, some which may still be in use today," Braverman explains. "Over time", he says, "these chemical residues build in the body, taxing the immune system. Eventually", he adds, "that continual assault may be what leads to a variety of autoimmune diseases, including Rheumatoid Arthritis."

Affective disorders and Rheumatoid Arthritis

A study in a current issue of the Annals of Behavioral Medicine indicate that patients with rheumatoid arthritis who had past episodes of serious affective disorders, like major depression or generalized anxiety disorder, had levels of fatigue that were up to 10 percent higher than other patients.