Rheumatoid Arthritis (RA)

How to pronounce it:

Rheumatoid - roo·muh·toyd

Arthritis - ar-thry-tus

AiArthritis defines rheumatoid arthritis as:


Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is a chronic inflammatory disorder that can affect your joints, tissues, and organs.

Symptoms

Symptoms of AiArthritis Diseases Regardless of Diagnosis

Common in All AiArthritis Diseases

  • Periods of worsening symptoms are called flares. A flare can last for hours, days, weeks, or months.
  • Condition improves with activity and exercise and worsens with rest.
  • When inflammation is left uncontrolled due to lack of proper treatment, comorbidities can develop. 70% of patients with chronic, lifelong disease will develop comorbidities, including dual or triple diagnoses.
  • Autoimmune diseases run in families. If anyone in your immediate family (parents, siblings) or extended family (aunts, uncles, grandparents) have been diagnosed with ANY autoimmune disease, there is the possibility of genetic predisposition.

“Auto” Symptoms




  • Severe fatigue or exhaustion that may not be helped by caffeine/stimulants and can happen even after a long period of rest.
  • “Brain fog” - or periods of time where thinking gets clouded and it becomes difficult to concentrate.
  • Flu-like symptoms, without having the flu- nausea, muscle weakness, and general malaise.
  • Fever, typically low grade in autoimmune (with exception of juvenile idiopathic arthritis) and higher grade in autoinflammatory (% strongly varies per disease).


Reference: Early Symptoms of AiArthritis Study, AiArthritis, 2019.


View Early Symptoms Study

Inflammatory Arthritis Symptoms

  • Severe stiffness in one or more joints, especially in the morning or after sitting for long periods of time. 
  • Episodes of joint pain that may last for hours, days, or even weeks, that can appear and disappear suddenly. Often described as “jumping pain” into different locations.


Typically the joint pain will coincide with one or more “Auto” symptoms and start and stop suddenly - for no apparent reason (which is called a "flare").  Some people will experience all of the above symptoms, others only a few.  If you have any of the arthritis features, and at least one of the “Auto” features, please consult your physician about a referral to a specialist.


Symptoms Often Associated with Rheumatoid Arthritis:

  • Low grade fevers
  • Firm lumps, called nodules, which grow beneath the skin in places such as the elbow and hands
  • Symptoms tend to mirror on both sides of the body, but may start on one side of the body
  • Some patients will have redness and swelling around the joints
  • Joints affected in the hands tend to be the larger joints/knuckles, whereas similar diseases, like Psoriatic Arthritis and Axial Spondyloarthritis, tend to affect the smaller finger joints near the nail. However, ANY joint in the hand can be affected.
  • More than one joint is affected




What fellow patients want you to know

Sometimes you may feel a locking feeling in the joints, like if you grab a hair brush or a cabinet handle - suddenly your fingers may stop moving while the rest of your hand continues in motion. This doesn't feel good.


Joints like your jaw can be affected.  Also the vocal chords, called the cricoarytenoid joint (although this is not common) 


You CAN HAVE RA without positive blood work! You may hear some patients say they have "seronegative RA" or "seropositive RA". This is referring to their blood work. If a patient has "seronegative", it means they were diagnosed with RA and had no positive markers (inflammation, RF +, etc.) in their blood (normal bloodwork). 

A lot of patients choose not to use the word "arthritis" because they feel that's the only word others hear and think it's the same as the most common type of arthritis, osteoarthritis - caused by aging, wear and tear, overuse. While there has been movements in the past to try and change the name, there are many reasons why this is not likely to happen.

More About Rheumatoid Arthritis

Diagnosing Rheumatoid Arthritis

There’s no single definitive test that can confirm a diagnosis of rheumatoid arthritis, so rheumatologists look at a combination of physical exam, blood tests, and imaging (MRI), along with a family history of autoimmune or autoinflammatory disease.  They will see if the arthritis is in more than one location and if it is chronic (has lasted for more than 6 weeks continuously or has come and go during that time). The doctor will look closely at the joints to see if there is any swelling, redness, or warmth (although this isn't required for diagnosis - it is more to see the severity). Most rheumatologists today will also consider if you are feeling other common symptoms (see Common Symptoms in All AiArthritis Diseases), which can help differentiate RA from osteoarthritis.  Blood tests and biomarkers, like a positive Rheumatoid Factor (RF+) and inflammation markers (erythrocyte sedimentation rate/ESR and C-reactive protein/CRP) may be high - especially in more aggressive disease - but positive blood results are NOT required to obtain an RA diagnosis!

Notable Persons with this Disease

  • Lucille Ball, Actress
  • Paula Abdul, Singer/Dancer
  • Terry Bradshaw, NFL Player
  • Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Artist

Interesting Facts about this Disease

  • Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is often thought to be the most common type of autoimmune arthritis, but those with Axial Spondyloarthritis may challenge this! Also, many people originally diagnosed with RA may eventually be rediagnosed with a different AiArthritis disease (this is, in part, because the RA diagnosis is one of the easiest diagnostic criteria to meet).
  • There used to be a diagnosis of Juvenile Rheumatoid Arthritis (JRA) decades ago, but after it was realized that juvenile arthritis onset is not exactly the same disease as RA, it was changed to Juvenile Idiopathic (no known cause) Arthritis, or JIA. You may still hear people refer to it as JRA, especially if this was their diagnosis as a child.
  • While some adults originally diagnosed with either JRA or JIA may refer to their current diagnosis as Rheumatoid Arthritis (RA), it's really a matter of choice. Some adults still say JRA/JIA OR will say JRA/JIA/RA.

In an effort to ensure this page has the most accurate and up-to-date information, this page is currently awaiting medical review. Some information is subject to change.


Page Last Updated: 2/1/2023

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