Arthritis Symptoms: Arthritis Rheumatoid in Women

The first rheumatoid arthritis symptoms can be swelling and morning stiffness or only a general aching of the joints. In ninety per cent of females, the 1st areas affected by rheumatoid arthritis are the feet and hands. The disease often influences the wrist and the finger joints nearest the palm, also as joints in the jaw, neck, shoulders, elbows, hips, knees, ankles and toes. Any joint within the body might be a target.

Inflammation can cause body wide symptoms such as low grade fever, flu like body aches, and a general feeling of not being well. You can also lose your appetite, lose weight, and feel as if yo have no energy. Fatigue is an incredibly common symptom of RA and can initial overtake you in the afternoon. Fatigue may be also a symptom of anemia, which often accompanies RA. Inflammation can impact the tear producing glands in the eyes and saliva producing glands in the mouth, so you can experience dry eyes and dry mouth. You can have muscle pain and stiffness after sitting or lying in 1 position for a long time. Depression is additionally common.

At 1st, all of these symptoms could not add up to much. Often a ladies will complain of joint pain to her doctor, and all which can be observed in a puffiness of the hands, without obvious redness or warmth. About one-quarter of females with RA develop raised, company lumps called rheumatoid nodules. Rheumatoid nodules are actually abnormal accumulations of cells, much like the synovial cells that we see accumulating in the joint, but they typically arise just under the skin. Nodules often appear in an area where there's repeated pressure, similar to on the elbows where you lean them on a table, or the finger joints. Because rheumatoid arthritis in hands is a systemic disease, nodules can show up in other places, like the eye, the heart, the lungs. They could possibly be very destructive, very damaging, interrupting what ever is in their path of growth. And they can be disfiguring and disconcerting to patients.

Up to half of RA patients can develop inflammation in the linings of the chest and lungs, causing pain on taking a deep breath and breathlessness; rheumatoid nodules may also appear in the lung tissues itself, not just the lining. Inflammation can also affect the sac around the heart, producing fever, chest pain, a dry cough and difficulty breathing. Blood vessels can also be inflamed; a common sign is tiny broken blood vessels in the cuticle area of the nail bed.

You could first notice the symptoms of RA through the winter, and symptoms often feel worse through the cold months and develop in warm weather. While RA develops gradually in about 50 per-cent of ladies, with symptoms coming and going for months, a more steady pattern eventually emerges. This disease requires to be diagnosed very fast and treatment demands to be started rapidly. To ensure that raises the value of having women recognize the signs and symptoms.