I'd like to start off by thanking everyone who reads my blog, especially those of you who read the first part of this. I really appreciate that. This is now going to be three parts because there's a lot I want to get out there, but I'm trying to avoid having a super, crazy long monster of a post. I mentioned in my Kip Moore album review, but I now have a Facebook page for this blog, which can be found in the post below if you're interested. Thanks to those of you who have 'liked' it already!
Now to get back into the world of arthritis...
Last time I said I would be talking about what RA feels like and how it's treated and I'll be getting to that, but first there's some things that I should have mentioned in the last post, but didn't.
The first is that RA, rheumatoid arthritis, is symmetrical - usually if a joint on one side of the body is affected, the same joint on the other side will be as well. Now while that is sort of a hallmark symptom of RA, there's a good amount of people who will tell you that one side hurts more than the other or that they don't really see too much pain on both sides. In my case, it's present on both sides, but my right side is worse. That's usually what hurts the most and shows the most damage. I don't know if this has anything to do with it, but I'm right-handed so maybe your more dominant side is more likely to be the more painful one. Or maybe that has nothing to do with it. I don't know. RA is both fickle and tricky.
To get more into the way that it feels, one of the standard RA symptoms is morning stiffness where joints feel stiff, obviously, and in many cases warm and tender. For some people, this will go away and typically the longer it takes to go away, the more active the disease is. I personally think that the term morning stiffness is kind of misleading and this is one thing that varies greatly from patient to patient. I think a lot would say that they are very stiff in the mornings, but for others, the stiffness doesn't kick in until the end of the day. Many would say that they feel stiff all the time - a sign that they might need to see their rheumatologist.
And speaking of rheumatologists, as you may have assumed, they are the doctors who treat arthritis, autoimmune diseases, osteoporosis and just about anything involving the joints. Usually what happens when people get diagnosed is that they first go to their regular, primary care doctor who will refer them to a rheumatologist if they suspect it's needed. The rheumatologist will then make the official diagnosis. For the lucky ones, the diagnosis will come quickly and they'll be put on a treatment plan right away like I was. For others, it could take several months, if not years, to get diagnosed. This is a very big problem. It has been well proven that early, aggressive treatment is the best way to deal with something like RA - any serious illness really. These things can progress so quickly and I hate knowing that there's people out there who spends years in pain and suffer irreversible joint damage all while waiting to be told what they have. Research is being done all the time, so hopefully, they'll come up with new ways to diagnosis people faster so that they can get started on a treatment plan of sorts.
But I'm getting a little ahead of myself here. What are the symptoms are RA? The easy, simple answer is joint pain. But what kind of pain? Well, this is where things get fun for those of us who have it. The pain varies. Sometimes it's a general achy feeling in the joint; other times it's a general achy feeling all over. Sometimes it's a deep, intense throbbing kind of pain and sometimes it feels like a thousand needles are stabbing the joint. I've seen articles where people try to say that people with RA have a lower pain tolerance than most and I'd be inclined to think that they have a higher pain tolerance. Or if you don't have a high tolerance for pain, I'd say having something like this helps you develop one. There's many people who are always in pain where there's like a basic pain level that never quite goes away and has the capacity to flare up.
Which brings me to the most fun in store for the people who deal with it - the flare. Every person out there with RA is very familiar with their buddy the flare up. A flare being a period of time where the disease is crazy active and the symptoms are much worse than they are usually. First there's the pain, which as I've said, is present at all times at varying levels. This is the worst of the worst in terms of pain. Many will describe it as feeling as if you'd been repeatedly run over by a bus. When you already had a bad case of the flu. Which brings me to another of the hallmark symptoms of RA: fatigue. This isn't a simple case of the yawns either; the fatigue with can be downright debilitating. You can sleep for a day and not feel rested at all; the simplest activities can completely wipe you out and leave you down for the count. For many, the fatigue is the worst part of this.
Other symptoms include chest pain when taking a breath - pleurisy. Intense chest wall and rib pain - costochondritis, which is when the cartilage that connects the ribs to the sternum becomes inflamed. If there is swelling, it's called Tietze syndrome. Now when I say intense pain, I mean pain so severe that many people will believe that they are having a heart attack. Breathing can become very painful and some will catch themselves not breathing the way they normally do due to the pain. And this is where I urge anyone who is experiencing chest pain of any kind, to get themselves to a doctor and get checked out. It's better to be safe than sorry. Especially when it might involve your heart. I should point out that costochondritis is not unique to RA; anyone can get it. It can be caused by something as benign as twisting the wrong way or something like that. Usually in cases of costochondritis, or costo, they will put you on some kind of steroid like prednisone for a week or so and that should take care of it. Though for a lot of people with RA, it can become a chronic condition. It is very painful, but not dangerous. It has nothing to do with the heart itself and will not hurt it. I've been told that one way to tell that chest pain is coming from the chest wall, as it does with costo, and not the heart itself is to press against your chest or ribs and see if it makes the pain worse. If it does, it's costo. If it doesn't do anything, it's more likely to be your heart.
But again, I implore any and everyone with chest pain of any kind to see a doctor to be absolutely certain. A visit that will more than likely involve an X-ray and your doctor pressing against your chest around the collarbone. If it's costo, the first time will make you almost fly off the table. The second time - and believe you me, there will be a second time - will have you contemplating whether or not you want to kick your doctor. The third time, and sadly a lot of times there is a third time, you'll come thisclose to actually doing it. It's just so painful. Which prompts me to say that if you happen to know someone who is dealing with this or rib pain in general, please make the effort to deal with them gently. No tight hugs or anything like that - with costo, any kind of pressure on your rib cage is just about unbearable.
Other symptoms of RA included numbness or burning in the hands and feet or body in general. Low grade fevers are pretty common. Some will develop something called Sjogren's syndrome, which is when your moisture-producing glands are attacked. There are two kinds - primary, where it is the main condition. And secondary Sjogren's which is a byproduct of another disease, like RA. The main symptoms are dry eyes and dry mouth, it can also affect the nose and the skin. Another possible byproduct of RA is Raynaud's disease or phenomenon, I've seen it called both. This is a condition in which causes the blood vessels in the hands and feet to overreact to cold temperatures or stress. Blood flow will reduce and the areas affected will turn white, blue or red - usually in that order, or at least that seems to be the case for me. It's a strange feeling. Almost like the way it feels if you have your hands in really hot or really cold water, an intense burning/tingling kind of sensation. Best way I can think of to describe it. There's medication available for it, but most people will be able to manage it simply by getting warm. Running your hands under or soaking your feet in warm water helps.
The truth is that there's probably dozens of other symptoms that people will experience. I'm not going to get into all of them. Just understand that this disease does all kinds of strange things to the body. I've covered the biggest ones, I think. If any of my RA friends are reading, please feel free to chime in with any I might've missed.
So how is it diagnosed, you ask? Usually it will involve having joint X-rays done to show any damage, in some cases they'll do a joint ultrasound or MRI. They'll want to check your blood - looking at things like the complete blood count (CBC), C-reactive protein (a protein in the blood that increases in response to inflammation), and the ESR (erthorocyte sedimentation rate or the "sed rate", another test for inflammation). The blood work will also look for what is called the Rheumatoid factor (RF or RhF) - this is an antibody that can bind to other antibodies. 80% of adults with RA will have this in their blood; if they do, they are considered seropositive and their RA is therefore seropositive RA. If they are tested and do not have it, they are seronegative and their RA is, all together now, seronegative RA. It is apparently possible for healthy people to have it (1-2% to be exact http://arthritis.about.com/od/radiagnosis/a/rheumfactor.htm). It's even possible to start off not having it and then develop it later on.
Honestly, whether or not you have it really doesn't mean much. At least the way I see it. It just means you have it or don't; the treatment is going to be the same. Typically, people who are seropositive are thought to have a more serious form of RA than those who do not and may have more visible swelling. The only time that this can be a big issue is during diagnosis. It can be harder for seronegative people to get a proper diagnosis as it seems some doctors have a hard time believing it's RA if it doesn't show up in the blood. This is a problem considering that, again, RA is a progressive illness that will get worse if not treated. If not a question of if, it's a question of when.
So how is it treated? You'll find out in part 3. Which means that we have reached the end of this section and really, if you made it this far, bless you. It's a lot and it's technical and whatnot, though hopefully you are finding it interesting and informative. Thank you so much for reading!
Now to get back into the world of arthritis...
Last time I said I would be talking about what RA feels like and how it's treated and I'll be getting to that, but first there's some things that I should have mentioned in the last post, but didn't.
The first is that RA, rheumatoid arthritis, is symmetrical - usually if a joint on one side of the body is affected, the same joint on the other side will be as well. Now while that is sort of a hallmark symptom of RA, there's a good amount of people who will tell you that one side hurts more than the other or that they don't really see too much pain on both sides. In my case, it's present on both sides, but my right side is worse. That's usually what hurts the most and shows the most damage. I don't know if this has anything to do with it, but I'm right-handed so maybe your more dominant side is more likely to be the more painful one. Or maybe that has nothing to do with it. I don't know. RA is both fickle and tricky.
To get more into the way that it feels, one of the standard RA symptoms is morning stiffness where joints feel stiff, obviously, and in many cases warm and tender. For some people, this will go away and typically the longer it takes to go away, the more active the disease is. I personally think that the term morning stiffness is kind of misleading and this is one thing that varies greatly from patient to patient. I think a lot would say that they are very stiff in the mornings, but for others, the stiffness doesn't kick in until the end of the day. Many would say that they feel stiff all the time - a sign that they might need to see their rheumatologist.
And speaking of rheumatologists, as you may have assumed, they are the doctors who treat arthritis, autoimmune diseases, osteoporosis and just about anything involving the joints. Usually what happens when people get diagnosed is that they first go to their regular, primary care doctor who will refer them to a rheumatologist if they suspect it's needed. The rheumatologist will then make the official diagnosis. For the lucky ones, the diagnosis will come quickly and they'll be put on a treatment plan right away like I was. For others, it could take several months, if not years, to get diagnosed. This is a very big problem. It has been well proven that early, aggressive treatment is the best way to deal with something like RA - any serious illness really. These things can progress so quickly and I hate knowing that there's people out there who spends years in pain and suffer irreversible joint damage all while waiting to be told what they have. Research is being done all the time, so hopefully, they'll come up with new ways to diagnosis people faster so that they can get started on a treatment plan of sorts.
But I'm getting a little ahead of myself here. What are the symptoms are RA? The easy, simple answer is joint pain. But what kind of pain? Well, this is where things get fun for those of us who have it. The pain varies. Sometimes it's a general achy feeling in the joint; other times it's a general achy feeling all over. Sometimes it's a deep, intense throbbing kind of pain and sometimes it feels like a thousand needles are stabbing the joint. I've seen articles where people try to say that people with RA have a lower pain tolerance than most and I'd be inclined to think that they have a higher pain tolerance. Or if you don't have a high tolerance for pain, I'd say having something like this helps you develop one. There's many people who are always in pain where there's like a basic pain level that never quite goes away and has the capacity to flare up.
Which brings me to the most fun in store for the people who deal with it - the flare. Every person out there with RA is very familiar with their buddy the flare up. A flare being a period of time where the disease is crazy active and the symptoms are much worse than they are usually. First there's the pain, which as I've said, is present at all times at varying levels. This is the worst of the worst in terms of pain. Many will describe it as feeling as if you'd been repeatedly run over by a bus. When you already had a bad case of the flu. Which brings me to another of the hallmark symptoms of RA: fatigue. This isn't a simple case of the yawns either; the fatigue with can be downright debilitating. You can sleep for a day and not feel rested at all; the simplest activities can completely wipe you out and leave you down for the count. For many, the fatigue is the worst part of this.
Other symptoms include chest pain when taking a breath - pleurisy. Intense chest wall and rib pain - costochondritis, which is when the cartilage that connects the ribs to the sternum becomes inflamed. If there is swelling, it's called Tietze syndrome. Now when I say intense pain, I mean pain so severe that many people will believe that they are having a heart attack. Breathing can become very painful and some will catch themselves not breathing the way they normally do due to the pain. And this is where I urge anyone who is experiencing chest pain of any kind, to get themselves to a doctor and get checked out. It's better to be safe than sorry. Especially when it might involve your heart. I should point out that costochondritis is not unique to RA; anyone can get it. It can be caused by something as benign as twisting the wrong way or something like that. Usually in cases of costochondritis, or costo, they will put you on some kind of steroid like prednisone for a week or so and that should take care of it. Though for a lot of people with RA, it can become a chronic condition. It is very painful, but not dangerous. It has nothing to do with the heart itself and will not hurt it. I've been told that one way to tell that chest pain is coming from the chest wall, as it does with costo, and not the heart itself is to press against your chest or ribs and see if it makes the pain worse. If it does, it's costo. If it doesn't do anything, it's more likely to be your heart.
But again, I implore any and everyone with chest pain of any kind to see a doctor to be absolutely certain. A visit that will more than likely involve an X-ray and your doctor pressing against your chest around the collarbone. If it's costo, the first time will make you almost fly off the table. The second time - and believe you me, there will be a second time - will have you contemplating whether or not you want to kick your doctor. The third time, and sadly a lot of times there is a third time, you'll come thisclose to actually doing it. It's just so painful. Which prompts me to say that if you happen to know someone who is dealing with this or rib pain in general, please make the effort to deal with them gently. No tight hugs or anything like that - with costo, any kind of pressure on your rib cage is just about unbearable.
Other symptoms of RA included numbness or burning in the hands and feet or body in general. Low grade fevers are pretty common. Some will develop something called Sjogren's syndrome, which is when your moisture-producing glands are attacked. There are two kinds - primary, where it is the main condition. And secondary Sjogren's which is a byproduct of another disease, like RA. The main symptoms are dry eyes and dry mouth, it can also affect the nose and the skin. Another possible byproduct of RA is Raynaud's disease or phenomenon, I've seen it called both. This is a condition in which causes the blood vessels in the hands and feet to overreact to cold temperatures or stress. Blood flow will reduce and the areas affected will turn white, blue or red - usually in that order, or at least that seems to be the case for me. It's a strange feeling. Almost like the way it feels if you have your hands in really hot or really cold water, an intense burning/tingling kind of sensation. Best way I can think of to describe it. There's medication available for it, but most people will be able to manage it simply by getting warm. Running your hands under or soaking your feet in warm water helps.
The truth is that there's probably dozens of other symptoms that people will experience. I'm not going to get into all of them. Just understand that this disease does all kinds of strange things to the body. I've covered the biggest ones, I think. If any of my RA friends are reading, please feel free to chime in with any I might've missed.
So how is it diagnosed, you ask? Usually it will involve having joint X-rays done to show any damage, in some cases they'll do a joint ultrasound or MRI. They'll want to check your blood - looking at things like the complete blood count (CBC), C-reactive protein (a protein in the blood that increases in response to inflammation), and the ESR (erthorocyte sedimentation rate or the "sed rate", another test for inflammation). The blood work will also look for what is called the Rheumatoid factor (RF or RhF) - this is an antibody that can bind to other antibodies. 80% of adults with RA will have this in their blood; if they do, they are considered seropositive and their RA is therefore seropositive RA. If they are tested and do not have it, they are seronegative and their RA is, all together now, seronegative RA. It is apparently possible for healthy people to have it (1-2% to be exact http://arthritis.about.com/od/radiagnosis/a/rheumfactor.htm). It's even possible to start off not having it and then develop it later on.
Honestly, whether or not you have it really doesn't mean much. At least the way I see it. It just means you have it or don't; the treatment is going to be the same. Typically, people who are seropositive are thought to have a more serious form of RA than those who do not and may have more visible swelling. The only time that this can be a big issue is during diagnosis. It can be harder for seronegative people to get a proper diagnosis as it seems some doctors have a hard time believing it's RA if it doesn't show up in the blood. This is a problem considering that, again, RA is a progressive illness that will get worse if not treated. If not a question of if, it's a question of when.
So how is it treated? You'll find out in part 3. Which means that we have reached the end of this section and really, if you made it this far, bless you. It's a lot and it's technical and whatnot, though hopefully you are finding it interesting and informative. Thank you so much for reading!
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