Symptoms of Rheumatoid Arthritis
- Pain: The individual would start to experience pain in the joints caused due to RA and this is mostly an aching as well as throbbing kind of pain which tends to worsen during the morning hours or post a long duration of inactivity. When RA is active it leads to swelling of the joints due to both the thickening of the joint lining tissues and also due to excess fluid present in the joints. This joint which is inflamed and swollen tends to stretch and cause irritation to the capsule which is known to surround the joint. These joint capsules are known to have a nerve ending present within it that immediately sends out those pain signals to the brain.
- Stiffness: In an individual RA can also lead to making those joints feel stiff. In one of the example, in case if the hands are affected with this symptom then the individual may find it difficult to form a fist or they won’t be able to even bend their fingers completely. Stiffness is also considered to be one of the typical symptoms of RA. Those joints which are affected due to the active RA get inflamed and stiffen in the morning than in the later part of the day. This morning stiffness is taken as a measure by the doctors for checking on the severity of those active joint inflammation.
- Warmth, inflammation and redness: This medical condition can also lead to the lining of the joint to become inflamed, hot, very much tender upon touching and swollen. When there is warmth in the joints then it is a possible sign of inflammation caused due to active RA. When the doctor’s monitor the activity of this condition then they look out for the warmth in the joints. Since RA is known to respond to the treatments this issue of warmth can be resolved. Redness is also known to occur due to inflammation. The redness of the joint may not occur in all cases of inflamed joints caused due to RA.
- Fatigue: Individual would often feel tired or there would be prevalence of weakness even after the individual has taken bed rest. This is known to be a common symptom in varied stages of RA and especially occurs when the inflammation in the joint becomes active. It can be caused by the body’s reaction to the lack of sleep, case of anaemia, use of certain medications or inflammation. Fatigue leads to lack of energy which in turn has an effect on the mood as well as the emotions, sex drive, attentiveness of the individual, their creativity, occupation and relationships.
- Pain in the chest: In case if RA tends to impact the heart or the lung region then the individual would start to experience a continuous pain in the chest.
- Loss of weight: There can be instance of sudden loss of weight in the individual even when the quantity of food consumed remains the same and does not change.
- Case of fever: The individual is also likely to experience in certain cases a rise in the body temperature which can go above 102 degrees Fahrenheit. This cannot be considered as a common symptom though but it is known to occur in few of the RA patients when the condition becomes active leading to inflammation. Many a times there is only mild case of fever and this can get treated rapidly as the inflammation is corrected. Since RA patients are mostly in need of medications which can help to reduce their normal immune response hence it becomes important that in such cases when they develop fever even though mild then infection is known to be considered as one of the possible causes.
- Dryness in the eyes: Individuals affected with RA may also experience certain issues in their eyes such as eyes turning dry or suddenly start to swell.
- Night Sweating: When an individual is suffering from arthritis, they may be probably experiencing severe case of night sweats which may tend to be quite a disturbing as well as upsetting case for certain individuals.
- Poor appetite: Many of the individuals suffering from RA would start to experience lack of taste in terms of food hence they would eat less than those individuals who do not suffer from this disease.
