What Is Rheumatoid Arthritis?
Rheumatoid arthritis is an autoimmune disease that causes your immune system to attack the lining of your joints. This leads to inflammation, pain, stiffness, and swelling, especially in the hands, wrists, and knees.
Over time, RA can damage cartilage and bone, making joints harder to move and sometimes leading to long-term disability. Unlike osteoarthritis, which happens from wear and tear, RA is caused by your immune system mistakenly targeting healthy tissue.
RA Diagnosis
Since RA symptoms can look like other joint conditions, a clear diagnosis often takes several steps. These may include:
- Blood tests to check for rheumatoid factor, anti-CCP antibodies, and signs of inflammation
- X-rays, ultrasounds, or MRIs to look for joint damage
- Physical exams to check for swelling, stiffness, and joint function
- Reviewing your medical and family history to identify risk factors
RA Treatment
Treatment for RA focuses on reducing inflammation, relieving pain, and slowing joint damage. Most people start with nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, or NSAIDs, to ease symptoms. Doctors may also prescribe corticosteroids to quickly reduce swelling or disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs, or DMARDs, to slow the disease.
Biologic medications, a more targeted type of DMARD, can be beneficial when standard drugs don’t work well. Infusion therapies, which include certain biologics, are given through an IV and help control RA by blocking specific parts of the immune system that cause joint damage.