Arthritis Symptoms: Arthritis Rheumatoid in ladies

The first rheumatoid arthritis symptoms might be swelling and morning stiffness or only a general aching of the joints. In 90 pct of females, the first areas afflicted by rheumatoid arthritis are the feet and hands. The disease often affects 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 may be a target.

Inflammation can cause body wide symptoms for example  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 like yo have no energy. Fatigue is a really common symptom of RA and may initial overtake you in the afternoon. Fatigue could 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 could 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 also is common.

At initial, such symptoms might 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, with no obvious redness or warmth. About one-quarter of ladies with RA develop raised, organisation lumps called rheumatoid nodules. Rheumatoid nodules are basically abnormal accumulations of cells, just like the synovial cells that we see accumulating within the joint, yet they generally arise just under the skin. Nodules often appear in an area where there's repeated pressure, like on the elbows where you lean them on a table, or the finger joints. As rheumatoid arthritis in hands is a systemic disease, nodules can show up in other places, just like  the eye, the heart, the lungs. They can certainly be very destructive, very damaging, interrupting whatever is in their path of growth. And they could 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 also can 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 be inflamed; a common sign is tiny broken blood vessels in the cuticle area of the nail bed.

You could initial notice the symptoms of RA during the winter, and symptoms often feel worse during the cold months and improve in warm weather. While RA develops gradually in about 50 pct of ladies, with symptoms coming and going for months, a more persistent pattern eventually emerges. This disease requires to be diagnosed immediately and treatment desires to be started fast. To make sure that improves the significance of having women recognize the signs and symptoms.