What is Rheumatoid Arthritis Disease? Many hear arthritis and think of the joints which is perfectly reasonable since arthritis does affect the joints. However, rheumatoid arthritis or RA involves more than the joints, although joint pain and degeneration of the joints is a big part of this disease. While osteoarthritis is from wear and tear on joints, whether from old age, sports injuries or other things that can cause the breakdown of the cartilage surrounding affected joints, RA is an autoimmune disease. Autoimmune diseases involve a person’s own immune system attacking healthy cells in their body. In a healthy body, the immune system protects against disease and infections that seek to invade. In a person who has an autoimmune disease, the immune system malfunctions; it attacks healthy cells, mistaking them for intruders, basically turning against its own system (National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases). When a person has RA, the bodies immune system mistakenly attacks the joints. A person’s joints have a membrane called the synovial membrane. This membrane contains synovial fluid which helps provide a sort of ‘cushion’ for the joints, lubricating them and keeping the cartilage surrounding the joint healthy. Rheumatoid arthritis causes the body to attack this synovial membrane, causing inflammation, which in turn causes the synovial fluid to over produce (physioworks). This causes the joints affected to swell and the capsule that holds the synovial membrane and also holds the joint together is stretched, resulting in pain (myDr.com.au). The inflammation can cause long term damage to the joint, cartilage, and bones. Here is a diagram showing a healthy joint, a joint suffering from osteoarthritis, and a joint suffering from RA (I found this diagram on News-Medical.net).
I’ve spent some time focusing on how RA affects the joints but, as I previously mentioned, there is much more being affected besides the joints. With all of that inflammation running rampant in an affected person’s body, it makes sense that it would spread to affect the entire body. The skin is often affected as the blood vessels are inflamed, often producing rashes and nodules. Bones throughout the body can be thinned and become brittle from the inflammation. The inflammation that RA creates can affect the lungs, the heart, the nervous system, and blood complications such as anemia and blood clots (Arthritis Foundation). Besides being able to cause destruction and damage to other organs, RA also comes with a vast amount of symptoms that are not limited to joints. Extreme fatigue is ‘normal’ for a person with rheumatoid arthritis which makes sense when one thinks about what the body is enduring. Because nerves can be affected by the chronic inflammation, numbness and tingling can occur in the hands and feet. Muscle aches and pain are common, as is malaise, low grade fevers, weakness, loss of appetite, weight loss, and dry, painful eyes and mouth, also known as Sjogren's Syndrome (emedicinehealth).
Okay, now that we’ve discussed how RA affects the body and the common symptoms that it can create, let’s look at how RA feels. Every case is different, just as every person is different, so RA can present itself in different ways for different people. Many people say that living with RA causes them to feel like they have a very bad flu every day. I can attest to this; every day, my entire body aches like I have the flu or a bad cold. Painsomnia (insomnia caused by pain) is common with any kind of chronic pain so RA is no exception to this. It can be extremely difficult to get a good night’s rest (something that is important to help ease RA symptoms) when one is in constant pain that keeping them up and/or waking them up all hours of the night. The fatigue that many people with RA have is a deep fatigue no amount of sleep can cure, a fatigue that can cause brain fog and difficulty remembering things. Because of the inflammation and low grade fevers that RA causes, many people experience hot flashes, feeling overheated, and heavy sweating often. Some describe RA as feeling like their body is ‘heavy’ and hard to lift/move, a body filled and weighed down by concrete. Joints swell up, stiffen, and lock up. Pain can alternate between a deep and dull pain, a sharp, stabbing pain, and anything in between.
RA is a disease that encompasses the entire body and can affect every aspect of someone’s life. Most of these symptoms I’ve listed are symptoms I experience on the daily. I am thankful that my disease has not progressed to a point of joints locking up. My joints don’t swell up much and the stiffness I experience is a minimum compared to many people battling this disease. I do however have what I call ‘rice Krispy joints’. All of my joints - ALL of them - upon being moved, snap, crackle, and pop like a bowl of Rice Krispies that just had milk poured over it. I am quite familiar with 1 A.M. because lately the pain has been so bad that falling asleep is a difficult task. My poor husband has to put up with me tossing and turning all night long and getting up in the middle of the night to have multiple hot showers which soothes the pain. Fatigue and brain fog are constant companions making even the easiest tasks seem enormous. We don’t go out much because I rarely feel up to it. Between the constant pain and the fatigue, it is difficult for me to be out and about. The hot flashes...oh, the hot flashes! I’ve experienced them for years and it’s become a joke between me and my friends because often those around me will be cold and want the heater on and I’ll be sweating profusely and feel like I’m burning up. Lately, I’ve discovered that putting my ice pack on my head helps cool me down.
I write all of this not to gain people’s pity but rather to educate and bring awareness to this disease that affects 1.3 million Americans and an estimated 17.6 million people world wide. It is predicted that this number will double by 2030 (Global RA Network). I write this to bring awareness to the many autoimmune diseases that affect 50 million Americans (according to the AARDA. I couldn’t find a number for those affected by autoimmune diseases worldwide). Awareness and education on RA and autoimmune diseases is important not only because it recognizes the struggles that millions of people experience but also because those who are educated and aware of the facts are better prepared to get an earlier diagnosis and treatment, ultimately saving lives. I will end this with a quote from AARDA (American Autoimmune Related Diseases Association) discussing the need to raise awareness of autoimmune diseases (March is National Autoimmune Diseases Awareness month, which explains why the quote focuses on March):
During March, AARDA hopes to educate the public on the top five things everyone should know about autoimmune disease: (1) 50 Million Americans have an autoimmune disease, comprising a major U.S. health crisis. (2) There are 100+ autoimmune diseases including Crohn’s disease, celiac disease, rheumatoid arthritis, vasculitis, and Addison’s disease. (3) Autoimmune diseases “cluster” in families; for example, if your grandmother had lupus, you could be at greater risk for developing an autoimmune disease. (4) Fewer than 13% of Americans can name an autoimmune disease. (5) Autoimmune diseases target women 75% more often than men; and combined, autoimmune diseases are one of the top ten killers of women under the age of 65.
Increased levels of awareness amongst the general public is more important now than ever before according to AARDA’s President and Executive Director Virginia T. Ladd. She says, "Autoimmune diseases such as multiple sclerosis, type 1 diabetes, and celiac disease have all been shown to be on the rise, but answers as to why these increases are occurring are yet unknown. However, it is imperative that the public be more aware of their own risk factors for developing autoimmune diseases so that, as symptoms occur, they can seek a diagnosis and begin a treatment regimen. Early diagnosis and onset of treatment can make a significant difference in someone’s chances of becoming disabled or suffering organ damage.”
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