What Causes Rheumatoid Arthritis?
What causes Rheumatoid Arthritis? Simple answer? Well, there is no simple answer. Rheumatoid Arthritis is a sneaky, mysterious and often misdiagnosed condition. That's why so many people who have Rheumatoid Arthritis get so frustrated trying to find out what's happening to them before the accurate diagnosis is made.
Rheumatoid Arthritis shows up as a mixed bag of symptoms, never exactly the same for each person. That's confusing enough. Symptoms such as fatigue, early morning muscle stiffness, swollen glands, and poor appetite could be easily explained by so many things. And the joint pain in hands or feet seems like over-working or trying hard to keep pace with the children. But then the symptoms hang on longer and longer, hurt more deeply and start to limit activities.
With those symptoms, painful months go by while doctors try to isolate and identify the mysterious cause. When bumps appear beneath the skin or shortness of breath makes ordinary movements difficult, the exhausted patient can be shuffled between specialists with no improvement.
For some patients, the symptoms are gradual and progressive. Other patients feel like they ran into a brick wall of pain. Rheumatoid Arthritis refuses to be predictable.
When a diagnosis of Rheumatoid Arthritis is finally made, the patient asks "how did this happen to me?" As hard as it was to come up with the diagnosis, the doctors have to admit, "we don't know". At this point, there is no defined cause for Rheumatoid Arthritis.
Some researchers strongly believe in a genetic connection which makes certain people more likely to get this disease. They think it hides in the genes, exploding at some point, usually around age 25-60 when Rheumatoid Arthritis is most often diagnosed. If not spontaneously, then the gene for Rheumatoid Arthritis is triggered by some equally unknown outside factor. Best orthopedic doctor in NYC is offering the safest treatment for rheumatoid arthritis treatment.
Other researchers are looking into the possibility that a virus or bacteria entering the body sets off the immune system. As an autoimmune disorder, Rheumatoid Arthritis is literally a self-destruct mode telling the immune system to go to war against its own body. If that theory works, then the type of virus or bacteria has to be isolated so it can be treated. That kind of discovery might also lead to a vaccine to prevent Rheumatoid Arthritis, but sadly, that option seems far in the future.
People who receive a diagnosis of Rheumatoid Arthritis can be so discouraged by all these unknowns and at the same time annoyed by not knowing what caused this to land in their lives. Women are twice as likely than men to get Rheumatoid Arthritis, yet even children can get this painful disease.
While causes are not known, one thing is known: stress and anxiety only make matters worse. What is known is that treatments, exercises, and a positive attitude go a long way to dealing with Rheumatoid Arthritis.
Meanwhile, we are back where we started. What causes Rheumatoid Arthritis? Simple answer? No one knows yet. But with research, there is hope.
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