What is rheumatoid arthritis? Rheumatoid arthritis, or “RA,” is a disease that affects millions of people worldwide. RA mainly affects the joints of the upper and lower extremities, especially the fingers and toes, causing the linings of the joints to swell and become inflamed. This inflammation causes severely painful swelling in the joints. RA suffers are often forced to resort to using large doses of powerful medications for arthritis pain relief.
RA is an autoimmune disease in which the body reacts against itself and begins to destroy healthy tissues. The specific causes are unknown but thought to be caused by the body trying to defend itself against infection. Sufferers are mostly middle to older age women but rheumatoid arthritis also attacks men and children. Chronic inflammation and swelling can cause the joints to permanently stiffen, often becoming deformed, making holding or grasping and walking very painful and very difficult. Severe cases leave RA sufferers unable to perform even simple tasks.
Steroid and non steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs have been the main medications used to treat RA. Early treatments with newly developed, disease modifying, anti-rheumatic drugs that affect the body’s immune response are proving successful.
There are other very effective joint pain treatments besides powerful drugs and their potentially harmful side effects. Direct arthritis pain relief treatments may include exercising in water. Range of motion exercises of the joints can help reduce inflammation and swelling. Exercising in a swimming pool greatly reduces the pressure on weight bearing joints thus making them less painful to move.
Studies have shown many RA sufferers have gluten intolerance. For them eating a diet low in gluten, a protein found in grains such as wheat, barley, oats, and rye, and gluten containing additives in many processed foods can greatly diminish RA symptoms. A low gluten diet can also increase general health and fitness, owing to the nutritional content of foods that are good gluten substitutes.
Anyone interested in alternative methods of treatment for RA should consult a physician and discuss all possible treatment options for pain relief.
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