This is the first part in my series RA is Complicated: “Complications” of Rheumatoid Arthritis A Rheumatoid Arthritis symptom you don’t hear much about…

Read the original:
Cricoarytenoid Arthritis in Rheumatoid Arthritis, Part 1 | RA …

The story of how my Rheumatoid Arthritis symptoms began Several months ago, I wrote out the story of how Rheumatoid Arthritis began for me. I determined to put…

Read the original:
The Onset of Rheumatoid Arthritis Symptoms: How Does RA Begin …

Two Miss Americas Last week, I was so excited when I ran across an article about Meredith Boyd, a former Miss USA contestant and Mrs. Georgia International…

Read more:
Celebrities and Rheumatoid Arthritis | RA Education | Rheumatoid …

Today, arthritis patients are not only more receptive to complementary therapies- what has been called alternative therapy- but actually prefer it to conventional medicines.

There are many reasons for this. These reasons include the adverse publicity surrounding the side effects of medicines such as Vioxx and Bextra, cost of pharmaceutical agents, insurance restrictions that make it difficult for patients to get the types of medicines they need, and the widely held concept that “natural” implies safe.

As has been demonstrated on multiple occasions, a natural remedy is not necessarily safe, nor is it necessarily even effective.

Read the rest of this entry

two days after that my blood test result for parvovirus came positive. I am above range. I have 4.24 and the normal is 1.11. I also have cartilage damage under my kneecap in my right knee which i have been getting treated for the last four months. Could parvovirus cause cartilage damage under my knee cap ( patellofemoral chondromalacia syndrome).

Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is a chronic, progressive, systemic, autoimmune disease for which there is no current cure. It is a common disorder affecting more than 2.1 million Americans.

Patients who present with complications of RA outside the joints- what is termed extra-articular disease- are at particular risk for early death. Extraarticular problems that can be seen in RA include, skin ulcers, anemia, eye inflammation, lung inflammation and damage, heart disease, inflammation of blood vessels, and rheumatoid nodules(these are bumps consisting of inflamed tissue that grow at certain areas such as the fingers, elbows, heels, and back of the skull).

A predictor of the presence of extra-articular disease is the level of rheumatoid factor in the blood. The higher the rheumatoid factor, the more likely a patient will have extra-articular disease.

Read the rest of this entry

There are different kinds of arthritis. All, however, directly affect the joints causing swelling and breakdown of cartilage around the joint area.

This causes the joints to rub against each other which results to the pain. It is a common misconception that only the elderly have this disease. There are kinds of arthritis that targets the youth.

Osteoarthritis is the most common form where there is a degeneration of the joints as a complication of diabetes, sports injuries or even pregnancy.

Read the rest of this entry

Think the only thing you can do to help your arthritis is to take pain medications? Think your arthritis is only going to get worse as you get older? With today’s medical advances, there are a wide range of arthritis treatment options available to those suffering from the condition.

Depending on the form of arthritis you suffer, doctors can prescribe medicine that can ease your pain, as well as actually keeping the disease from progressing.

Read the rest of this entry

Rheumatoid arthritis is a progressive autoimmune disease that causes chronic joint inflammation and soft-tissue swelling. Rheumatoid arthritis usually affects the peripheral joints like hands, feet, wrists, and knees and the surrounding muscles, tendons, ligaments, and blood vessels. Rheumatoid arthritis can also involve internal organs like the lungs and heart. An autoimmune disease like rheumatoid arthritis means the body tissues are attacked by your own immune system. Ultimately, this leads to joint destruction, functional disability, and decreased quality of life.

There are many type of arthritis namely osteoarthritis and rheumatoid arthritis. Some scholars consider gout as also one of the major type. Many types of arthritis may affect different areas of the body. As mentioned above, the swelling or inflammation is the general reaction of the body. During this reaction, all the protective blood cells rush to the affected area to fight against the cause of the problem. They clear the damaged cells and repair the hurt tissues. Once the war against the causative factor is won, the inflammation goes away and area comes to its normal size with normal color.

Read the rest of this entry

The term arthritis actually describes over 100 related conditions, but among these the most common are osteoarthritis and rheumatoid arthritis.

There is a huge difference between these two diseases so we’ll go into the main ones here.

Osteoarthritis is mainly confined to people over the age of fifty. Exceptions to this are people who have put a large strain on their joints for a prolonged period of time, for example athletes, or those whose jobs demand a lot of repetitive physical movements, for example carpenters and even computer keyboard users.

Read the rest of this entry