All About Rheumatoid Arthritis
Overview
Arthritis is a disease which causes inflammation of the joints. With over 100 different kinds of arthritis, rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is one of them. It is a chronic disease in which not only the joints, but the tissues around the joints also get inflamed. It is an autoimmune disease wherein the body’s immune system erroneously starts to attack its own body tissues instead of protecting them from outside viruses. RA not only affects the joints, but can affect other organs of the body. This is the reason the rheumatoid arthritis is also called as rheumatoid disease.
After so many years of research around RA, the cause of this disease is still not known completely. Tiredness, depression and morning stiffness are some of the common symptoms of rheumatoid arthritis.
Studies and Researches
There have been various researches and studies around rheumatoid arthritis which reveal some astonishing numbers. About 1% of the world’s total population is said to be affected by RA and it affects the women three times more than men. The life expectancy of these individuals is shortened by 5 to 10 years. It is also a known fact that the daily activities of most of the individuals suffering from rheumatoid arthritis are affected in some way or the other. About 33% of the patients are unable to work after 5 years of having the disease and 50% of the patients have substantial functional disability after 10 years.
Treatment and Medication
The damage already caused to the joints by rheumatoid arthritis is irreversible. However, if steps are not taken to control further damage, it can lead to more destruction of the affected joints and body parts leading to handicap. Early therapy is the best way to stop the disease from further damage. Weight loss, physiotherapy, joint injections, occupational therapy, exercising, surgery and medication are some of the therapies that are used to treat RA.
There are two objectives of the treatment of RA – to ease the current symptoms and to prevent future damage. It is recommended that RA should be treated with Disease Modifying Anti-Rheumatic Drug (DMARD) along with a pain reliever. Usually the damage already done to the joint by RA is irreversible. With a combination of DMARDs and analgesics for the treatment, it has been found that DMARDs on one hand produce durable symptomatic remissions and delay or halt progression and on the other hand, the analgesics/anti-inflammatories reduces the pain and stiffness.
Tramadol is a synthetic (man-made) pain reliever which can be combined with DMARD to treat RA. Tramadol is a prescription medication and is said to work like morphine. It is used for treating moderate to moderately severe pain. It is a cheap and effective analgesic. To know more about the cheap Tramadol, visit http://cheap-tramadol.org