The rheumatoid arthritis is a condition that disables people in 5 or 10 years. It can also diminish the life expectancy with 18 years. About 1% of the global population suffers from this condition and usually the women between 30 and 50 are more affected.
But the great news about all this is that in the last few years the doctors have made real progress on ways to discover the disease early on and to improve the lifestyle of the patients. There are also some aggressive treatments that can sometimes leave the patients living a normal life. You may not have known this but 20 years ago the patients with RA were forced to live in wheelchairs. The doctors think that the rheumatoid arthritis is a medical emergency that increases the mortality rate just like asthma, diabetes, heart diseases and other conditions.
RA affects the body in a symmetric manner: both sides of the body at the same time. This disease affects the wrists, the ankles, the knees, the feet and the hands. The people with RA often say they feel fatigue and stiffness.
RA is an autoimmune disease and this means that the body is attacking itself. The RA attacks the lungs, the heart, the blood vessels and the eyes. Patients that have RA also have an increased chance of having a stroke, a heart attack or lymphoma. RA is also hard to diagnose because there are many other conditions that look like it: lupus, gout or osteoarthritis.
Not even the laboratory testing is conclusive all the time. In 80% of the cases the testing is conclusive. The imaging procedures can be misleading too as the x-rays can sometimes miss the erosions in the early stages of the disease. The magnetic resonance scanner is preferred because it is more sensitive.
And today there are many disease anti-rheumatic drugs – DMARDS – that can be used. These are: methotrexate, leflunomide (Arava), sulfasalazine (Azulfidine), azathioprine (Imuran), cyclosporine, and hydroxychloroquine (Plaquenil). These drugs will relieve the inflammation.
Plus, the Biologic Response Modifiers (BRMS) can target the disease in a specifical manner. They give a chemical response to the cells and allow the disease to be controlled better. BRMS include some drugs that are used for suppressing the tumor necrosis factor and they seem to be efficient.
Here are three tumor necrosis factor suppressor drugs used: etanercept (Enbrel), adalimumab (Humira), and infliximab (Remicade).
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