Living with Rheumatoid Arthritis

Rheumatoid arthritis an autoimmune disease usually affecting the small joints in the hands and feet. Americans affected by this disease total to 1.3 million. It is more common in women than men two to three times greater occurring between the age forty and sixty.

However, four out of ten people endure associated problems to other areas in the body. RA could decrease a persons life expectancy but with current treatment options there have been less cases of associated problems outside the joints and patients are living longer.

Rheumatoid arthritis usually begins in the small joints of hands and feet. Pain usually is more intense in the morning and sometimes can be in both hands. Conventional medicine choices include medications, chemotherapy and anti-inflammatory.

RA suffers have twice the risk of heart problems as associated to those persons who do not have the disease. The condition can bring about chronic low-grade inflammation which causes damages in the blood vessels and increases the risk of stroke, heart disease and failure. Treatments for heart problems associated to RA complications usually consist of medications to decrease the inflammation.

Ten percent of RA patients can develop serious lung problems. The most usual problems are inflammation in the lungs lining that produces pain when breathing, scarring of tissue in the lungs and a higher risk for emphysema. The conventional treatment is to reduce inflammation with drugs.

Patients with RA are no different than those with chronic diseases and they too can experience depression and other mood disorders. Anti-depressants are usually prescribe for mood disorders.

Blood vessels can become inflamed, narrowed and blood flow reduced, this is called Vasculitis. This could cause blood flow to be blocked to the arms, legs and nerves. It could lead to coronary artery disease.

In cases where the blood vessels narrow greatly, patients may be prescribed steroids or have a certain kind of chemotherapy treatment, which aides in reduced inflammation and tissue damage.

Peripheral neuropathy or nerve damage sometimes occurs in RA patients. This produces burning and numbness in the hands and feet. When the blood vessels are inflamed, the nerves do not receive sufficient blood supply which could result in further damage to the nerves. Medications are prescribed for inflammation that treat neuropathy.

When inflammation is present in the blood vessels and it goes into the skin, rashes, skin ulcers, nodules or skin bumps particularly on the hands, feet and elbows can occur. The cause is unknown. Practitioners can treat underlying causes of RA and at times surgery to remove nodules is done.

Wrists can also become affected when the inflammation in the joints pushes on the nerve that runs from the forearm to the wrist causing carpal tunnel syndrome. Carpal tunnel usually produces feelings of numbness, tingling weakness and eventually sharp pain in the arm. Treatments include resting, a splint to mobilize the sore wrist and cool packs.

Felty's Syndrome can sometime occur in people with RA. It is when the spleen becomes enlarged and white blood cell count decreases making people more susceptible to infections. Since RA can be controlled this condition occurs in less than one percent of people.

Currently there are alternative treatment options for those with RA to control pain, inflammation, improve joint functioning and alleviate side effects from conventional treatments.

Chiropractic

Chiropractic care has been found to be significantly beneficial for those with RA. It has been found effective for both genetic and non-genetic forms of arthritis. Chiropractic care gets to the issue of the body moving more freely. It can decrease the need for pain medications and at times totally eliminating medications. Along with its benefits it can offset the damaging results from this disease. Joints can be directly adjusted to reduce pain and in general can alleviate numerous forms of arthritis.

Among the treatments used beside spinal manipulations also included can be massage, hot and cold therapy, TENS units, nutritional and herbal advice.

Acupuncture

Acupuncture has been shown effective in patients with RA. Acupuncture treatments are associated to the stage of the arthritis in the patient. Upon examination the acupuncturist will then determine which points are best suited for treatments.

Tai Chi

Tai Chi gentle movements of exercise, stretches and breathing can relieve daily stresses. Some research studies have shown that Tai Chi has been able to decrease rheumatoid arthritis pain. Sources:

Health

Mayo Clinic

A & L Chiropractic Center