Does Rilassáre's alternative medicine replace traditional medicine?
No, alternative medicine is a complement to treatments that the patient may be undergoing and is not contraindicated in any case due to its safety and lack of adverse reactions or side effects. Alternative medicine helps strengthen your immune system and regulates your body’s acidity for optimal functioning.
What is rheumatoid arthritis?
Rheumatoid arthritis is a chronic inflammatory disorder that can affect more than just the joints. In some people, the condition can damage various body systems, including the skin, eyes, lungs, heart, and blood vessels.
Rheumatoid arthritis is an autoimmune disorder that occurs when your immune system mistakenly attacks your own body's tissues.
Unlike the wear-and-tear damage of osteoarthritis, rheumatoid arthritis affects the lining of your joints, causing a painful swelling that can eventually result in bone erosion and joint deformity.
The inflammation associated with rheumatoid arthritis is what can also damage other parts of the body. Although new medications have greatly improved treatment options, severe rheumatoid arthritis can still cause physical disabilities.
Symptoms of rheumatoid arthritis:
Signs and symptoms of rheumatoid arthritis may include:
- • Tender, warm, swollen joints.
- • Joint stiffness that is usually worse in the mornings and after inactivity.
- • Fatigue, fever, and loss of appetite.
In its early stages, rheumatoid arthritis tends to first affect smaller joints — particularly the joints that connect your fingers to your hands and your toes to your feet.
As the disease progresses, symptoms often spread to the wrists, knees, ankles, elbows, hips, and shoulders. In most cases, symptoms occur in the same joints on both sides of your body.
About 40% of people who have rheumatoid arthritis also experience signs and symptoms that don't involve the joints. Areas that may be affected include:
- • Skin
- • Eyes
- • Lungs
- • Heart
- • Kidneys
- • Salivary glands
- • Nerve tissue
- • Bone marrow
- • Blood vessels
Signs and symptoms of rheumatoid arthritis may vary in severity and may even come and go. Periods of increased disease activity, called flares, alternate with periods of relative remission — when swelling and pain fade or disappear. Over time, rheumatoid arthritis can cause joints to deform and shift out of place.
Causes of rheumatoid arthritis
Rheumatoid arthritis is an autoimmune disease. Normally, your immune system helps protect your body from infection and disease. In rheumatoid arthritis, the immune system attacks healthy tissue in the joints. It can also cause medical problems in the heart, lungs, nerves, eyes, and skin.
Doctors don't know what starts this process, although a genetic component appears likely. While your genes don’t actually cause rheumatoid arthritis, they can make you more likely to react to environmental factors — such as infection with certain viruses and bacteria — that may trigger the disease.
Risk Factors
Factors that may increase your risk of rheumatoid arthritis include:
- •Sex. Women are more likely than men to develop rheumatoid arthritis.
- •Age. Rheumatoid arthritis can occur at any age, but it most commonly begins in middle age.
- •Family history. If a family member has rheumatoid arthritis, you may have an increased risk of the disease.
- •Smoking. Cigarette smoking increases your risk of developing rheumatoid arthritis, particularly if you have a genetic predisposition. Smoking also appears to be associated with greater disease severity.
- •Excess weight. People who are overweight appear to be at a higher risk of developing rheumatoid arthritis.
Diagnosis of rheumatoid arthritis
Rheumatoid arthritis can be difficult to diagnose in its early stages because the early signs and symptoms mimic those of many other diseases. There is no single blood test or physical finding to confirm the diagnosis.
During the physical exam, your doctor will check your joints for swelling, redness, and warmth. The doctor may also check your reflexes and muscle strength.
Blood tests
People with rheumatoid arthritis often have an elevated erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR or sed rate) or C-reactive protein (CRP), which may indicate the presence of an inflammatory process in the body. Other common blood tests look for rheumatoid factor and anti-cyclic citrullinated peptide (anti-CCP) antibodies.
Imaging tests
Your doctor may recommend X-rays to help track the progression of rheumatoid arthritis in your joints over time. MRI and ultrasound tests can help your doctor judge the severity of the disease in your body.
Complications of rheumatoid arthritis
Rheumatoid arthritis increases your risk of developing:
- •Osteoporosis. Rheumatoid arthritis itself, along with some medications used to treat it, can increase your risk of osteoporosis — a condition that weakens bones and makes them more prone to fracture.
- •Rheumatoid nodules. These firm bumps of tissue most commonly form around pressure points, such as the elbows. However, these nodules can form anywhere in the body, including the heart and lungs.
- •Dry eyes and mouth. People who have rheumatoid arthritis are much more likely to develop Sjogren's syndrome, a disorder that decreases the amount of moisture in the eyes and mouth.
- •Infections. Rheumatoid arthritis itself and many medications used to combat it can impair the immune system, leading to increased infections. Protect yourself with vaccines against diseases such as the flu, pneumonia, shingles, and COVID-19.
- •Abnormal body composition. The ratio of fat to lean mass is often higher in people with rheumatoid arthritis, even in those with a normal body mass index (BMI).
- •Carpal tunnel syndrome. If rheumatoid arthritis affects your wrists, the inflammation can compress the nerve that serves most of your hand and fingers.
- •Heart problems. Rheumatoid arthritis increases your risk of hardened and blocked arteries, as well as inflammation of the sac that encloses your heart.
- •Lung disease. People with rheumatoid arthritis have an increased risk of inflammation and scarring of lung tissues, which can lead to progressive shortness of breath.
- •Lymphoma. Rheumatoid arthritis increases the risk of lymphoma, a group of blood cancers that develop in the lymphatic system.
Treatment for rheumatoid arthritis
There is no cure for rheumatoid arthritis. But clinical studies show that remission of symptoms is more likely when treatment begins early with medications known as disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs (DMARDs).
Medications
The type of medication your doctor recommends will depend on the severity of your symptoms and how long you've had rheumatoid arthritis.
Medications
The type of medication your doctor recommends will depend on the severity of your symptoms and how long you've had rheumatoid arthritis.
- •NSAIDs. Nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs can relieve pain and reduce inflammation. Over-the-counter NSAIDs include ibuprofen (Advil, Motrin IB) and naproxen sodium (Aleve). Stronger NSAIDs are available by prescription. Side effects may include stomach irritation, heart problems, and kidney damage.
- •Steroids. Corticosteroid medications, such as prednisone, reduce inflammation and pain and slow joint damage. Side effects may include thinning bones, weight gain, and diabetes. Doctors often prescribe a corticosteroid to relieve symptoms quickly, with the goal of gradually tapering off the medication.
- •Conventional DMARDs. These drugs can slow the progression of rheumatoid arthritis and save the joints and other tissues from permanent damage. Common DMARDs include methotrexate (Trexall, Otrexup, others), leflunomide (Arava), hydroxychloroquine (Plaquenil), and sulfasalazine (Azulfidine). Side effects vary but may include liver damage and increased risk of infections.
- •Biologic DMARDs. Also known as biologic response modifiers, this newer class of DMARDs includes adalimumab (Humira), etanercept (Enbrel), infliximab (Remicade), and others. They target specific parts of the immune system that trigger inflammation. They are usually most effective when paired with a conventional DMARD like methotrexate. These drugs also increase the risk of infections.
- •Targeted synthetic DMARDs. These include drugs such as tofacitinib (Xeljanz), baricitinib (Olumiant), and upadacitinib (Rinvoq), which target pathways inside immune cells. They are used when traditional DMARDs and biologics have failed.
Therapy
Your doctor may refer you to a physical or occupational therapist who can teach you exercises to keep your joints flexible. The therapist may also suggest new ways to do daily tasks to ease the strain on your joints. For example, you might want to pick up an object using your forearms instead of your hands, or use tools to open jars more easily.
Surgery
If medications fail to prevent or slow joint damage, you and your doctor may consider surgery to repair damaged joints. Surgery can help restore your ability to use your joint, reduce pain, and improve function.
Rheumatoid arthritis surgery may involve one or more of the following procedures:
- • Synovectomy — surgery to remove the inflamed synovium (lining of the joint).
- • Tendon repair — tendons around your joint may loosen or rupture.
- • Joint fusion — may be recommended to stabilize or realign a joint.
- • Total joint replacement — your surgeon removes the damaged parts of your joint and inserts a prosthesis made of metal and plastic.
Stem Cells
A supportive alternative for the condition that is safe and non-invasive.
Stem cells are the basic building blocks of all human tissues and are considered potential treatments in part because they can transmit valuable information about tissue growth and recovery to other cells in the body. Arthritis involves joint degeneration due to the loss of cartilage that cushions the bones, and researchers have only recently begun to explore stem cells for treating orthopedic conditions such as shoulder arthritis. So far, progress has been reported in the application of stem cells for arthritis treatment, with the ultimate goal of using them to regenerate cartilage.
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