Rheumatoid Arthritis - What is it?
Wendy Owen
Rheumatoid Arthritis - What is it?
Rheumatoid Arthritis is undoubtedly the most debilitating of the group of arthritic disease conditions known. The disease begins with aching joints and culminates in deformed joints, which severely compromises the quality of life to the extent that the simplest of procedures liking walking become almost impossible to pursue.
This disease predominantly effects women and is a debilitating and chronic disease that is characterized by increased activity of the immune system in which the joint lining (better known as the synovial membrane) becomes inflamed. The immune system becomes overactive and fails to recognize 'self' and the body attacks it's own cells causing widespread damage and destruction of the joints.
Demographically the disease effects women three times as frequently as men and is usually contacted between twenty to fifty years of age. Rheumatoid Arthritis is characterized by a pain in several joints at the same time or a pain in joints on both sides of the body. For instance, if both wrists are painful this might indicate rheumatoid arthritis. The joints may red and swollen. Also if joints are painful throughout the night, this too could well be a sign. People suffering with this disease also experience morning stiffness which doesn't subside after 30 minutes.
Causes of rheumatoid arthritis
The disease of Rheumatoid Arthritis is essentially an inflammation of the joints of the body. The movable joints of the body are covered by a membrane known as the 'synovial membrane' which is usually invaded by the white blood cells during 'activity' and these white blood cells which routinely fight bacteria and viruses usually move out from the blood stream into the synovial membrane. They cause the synovial membrane to get inflamed - the condition is known as synovitis.
It has been generally accepted that Rheumatoid Arthritis can run in families and although the disease is not inherited -the gene for Rheumatoid Arthritis is inherited - so the susceptibility of contacting Rheumatoid Arthritis is more.
The rheumatoid joint
Synovitis is the inflammation of the synovial membrane which covers the joints and this leads to the release of proteins over a period of time which in turn leads to thickening of the synovial membrane and finally destruction of bones, cartilages, tendons and ligaments which in turn leads to deformation of the joint.
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