Understanding Rheumatoid Arthritis (RA)- Definition and Treatment

This post will describe clearly about Rheumatoid Arthritis( RA).  Definition of  RA in terms of Dietitian and how RA affects you .Click here for Detailed information on Rheumatoid arthritis 

Until current day many conventional cure for RA are available(check more on wikipedia). But most of them have issues in terms of their efficacy and safety. There are many alternative therapies available such as antibiotics, botanical, food supplements and dietary modifications which are increasingly being used and studied.

In addition, these alternative therapies other than antibiotics comprise a low rate of adverse effects. Considering such treatments as an option over the conventional treatments can potentially benefit many RA patients.

Understanding Rheumatoid Arthritis from a dietitian perspective

Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is defined as chronic systemic disorder that is evident as inflammation of multiple body joints.

How severe is the RA depends upon person to person. Some people experience little pain and uneasiness, some experience severe inflammation including joint damage and deformity.

RA sometimes can produce extra-articular symptoms, including vasculitis, rheumatoid nodules, anemia, heart or lung disease and peripheral neuropathy. Even if the cause of RA is not known, it is usually termed an autoimmune disease.

It has been considered that RA may be an expression of the immune reaction to an infectious agent. On the other hand, a number of susceptible contributing agents have been studied, but none has been credibly verified to cause RA.

Picture  below shows, how Rheumatoid Arthritis (RA) problem affects our hands.


Pic credit: Dietkundali.com

Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) Treatment and Therapy

Traditional therapy for RA typically starts with non-steroidal anti-inflammatory medicines, called as NSAIDs.

Recently, a similar class of medicine known as COX-2 inhibitors is also being used to treat RA. Severe cases of RA are treated with glucocorticoids which are also called as “disease-modifying drugs” (such as methotrexate or gold). One thing common in the above drugs is none of them cures RA. Other common thing is they all are likely to cause considerable adverse effects. While the COX-2 inhibitors enjoy a lower rate of gastrointestinal reaction than NSAIDs. 

If  you know where you are lacking the proper nutrition in your daily diet then you can easily prevent the Rheumatoid Arthritis symptoms. For that, you must create your Balanced Diet Chart with proper suggestion.

Many doctors and patients are looking other solutions for treating the RA citing the risks and restrictions of conventional therapy. The most frequently favored alternative solution includes nutritional supplements, antibiotics, dietary modifications and botanical.

Many researchers have observed a varying response to the treatments among patients some patients realize very little or sometimes no benefit, on the other hand some show dramatic progress to the point of getting no signs of RA for many years.

These alternative treatments have been adopted both as an add-on and an option to traditional therapy. Other than antibiotics, most of the alternative treatments have relatively no side effects.

RA can cause in late thirties and forties also and can be a severe and at times crippling disease. Since there are risks and limitations to the conventional therapy, many practitioners and patients are looking for other ways to cure the disease.

Alternative therapies such as supplements, dietary modifications are becoming popular now. While not every person has been benefited fully, almost all people have responded positively and there have been no adverse side effects also. Considering the facts these treatments should, therefore, be seriously considered by the people seeking treatment.