A person is regarded as having Arthritis Rheumatoid if he or she satisfies at least four of the following seven criteria. These standards require that criteria one through four present for at least six weeks:

• Morning stiffness in and round joints lasting at least one hour before maximal improvement.
• Simultaneous swelling around at least three joint areas.
• At least one joint area swollen as above in wrist, knuckle, or the middle joint of a finger.
• Simultaneous involvement of the same joint areas on both sides of the body.
• Nodules (lumps) under the skin.
• Rheumatoid factor in the blood.
• Radiographic (x-ray) evidence of erosion (wearing away of cartilage into bone) of hand or wrist joints.

Note that the above criteria are used to precisely define Arthritis Rheumatoid for research. Ordinarily, if a person has only two or three of the criteria but also has erosion, for example, in the foot joints, this would still be considered Arthritis Rheumatoid. Although the above useful criteria do not include other signs, remember that Arthritis Rheumatoid is a systemic disease.

It not only attacks joints, but can also result in mild fever, loss of appetite and weight, fatigue, or muscle weakness. Aggressive Arthritis Rheumatoid can produce relatively rare but sometimes serious complications.

People with Arthritis Rheumatoid may often experience irritation of the cartilage in the vocal cords, resulting in laryngitis and in occasional trouble swallowing. In other cases the tear glands and ducts may become inflamed, which leads to dryness in the eyes and mouth.

Sometimes this is actually sjogren’s syndrome, another autoimmune disease than can also affect other organs of the body including the kidneys, blood vessels, lungs, and liver. In rare cases the pericardium, the moist membrane around the heart, can become swollen heartbeat. In other uncommon expressions of Arthritis Rheumatoid vasculitis may develop large and small blood vessels become inflamed, which is may result in skin ulcers, nerve numbness, or damage to internal organs.

Arthritis Rheumatoid can present many faces. It may begin abruptly or gradually. Sometimes events such as infections, injuries, surgery, or childbirth precede the onset of Arthritis Rheumatoid, but it is uncertain whether or not these can actually trigger the onset of the disease.

The joints of the wrists, hands, and feet often are hit first, although stiffness and pain may strike first in the knees and ankles. A characteristic early complaint is joint stiffness upon awakening that sometimes lasts for hours. This is caused by an accumulation of fluid in the inflamed tissues during sleep. The swelling gradually subsides as the fluid is absorbed back into the blood when the joint start moving and flexing.

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Keywords: Arthritis Rheumatoid, osteoarthritis, rheumatoid arthritis, back pain, joints

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This entry was posted on Thursday, July 5th, 2007 at 3:37 am and is filed under Arthritis. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.