Last updated on August 21, 2024 by Dr. Subashri Thanigaivel
In this read, you will undoubtedly find a better view of Rheumatoid Arthritis and also the remedy suggested to heal yourself.
What is Rheumatoid Arthritis?
Rheumatoid Arthritis is a type of arthritis that is termed as an auto-immune chronic disease. This means your immune system mistakenly attacks your healthy body cells. Assuming your cells to be foreign invaders, your immune system responds by secreting chemicals that attack fluid named synovium that helps in your joint mobility.
Since the lining of your joints is attacked, your joints become sore and inflamed which can cause damage to the nearby bones, cartilage, tendons, and ligaments.
Symptoms of Rheumatoid Arthritis
In case you are suffering from an illness, your body has great senses to indicate to you that it is feeling uneasy in the area of inflammation through specific symptoms. Symptoms should not be ignored. The following symptoms of Rheumatoid Arthritis must require attention.
- Morning Stiffness
After you wake up and start doing your daily chores, you may feel like your joints have lost their mobility. You will find mild or severe stiffness around your joints which may last for a few hours.
- Joint pain and swelling
If you are suffering from Rheumatoid Arthritis, you may find swelling in your joints accompanied by joint pain. If the severity of Rheumatoid Arthritis increases then firm swellings called Rheumatoid nodules can develop under the skin around affected joints.
- Symmetrical Inflammation of Joints
Say you have swelling in your right wrist then probably you are prone to have swelling in your left wrist also. The reason is your body equally allocates secretion of chemicals to both its left and right side. The auto-immune system also performs in the same way. Hence, it is known as Symmetrical inflammation disease.
Some people with Rheumatoid Arthritis have the following general symptoms:
- Tiredness
- Lack of energy
- Sweating
- Poor appetite
- Weight Loss
Is Rheumatoid Arthritis Progressive?
Yes, Rheumatoid Arthritis develops slowly from general symptoms to severe symptoms as weeks pass by months.
Joint pain and swelling of joints are the early symptoms of Rheumatoid Arthritis. As the disease progresses, the joints may lose their shape and alignment. If you are having Rheumatoid Arthritis in your hands, then at the severe stage, your fingers may become crooked.
Apart from the deformation of the joints, Rheumatoid Arthritis also affects other parts of the body like the lungs, heart, eyes, and mouth.
In the eyes, it can cause dryness, redness, or increased/decreased power while in the mouth, it can lead to gum inflammation or infection. You can feel shortness of breath if there is inflammation in your lungs caused by Rheumatoid Arthritis.
Types of Rheumatoid Arthritis
Whether you are suffering from seropositive or seronegative Rheumatoid Arthritis, is decided by the levels of Rheumatoid factors (RF) in your body. Rheumatoid factors are proteins produced by your immune system that can attack healthy tissue in your body. Also, Anti-CCP levels in your blood are a factor to indicate the probability of developing Rheumatoid Arthritis. Most people with RA have anti-CCPs, RF, or both. The types of Rheumatoid Arthritis are as follows:
Seropositive Rheumatoid Arthritis:
If the RF/anti-CCP of your blood cells is positive then you are highly prone to develop Rheumatoid Arthritis. Having these proteins doesn’t necessarily mean you have Rheumatoid Arthritis.
Seropositive Rheumatoid Arthritis is considered to be more progressive and severe than seronegative RA. Seropositive RA is associated with more joint damage, deformity, rheumatoid nodules, development of vasculitis, lung issues, and extra-articular manifestations.
Seronegative Rheumatoid Arthritis:
If the RF/anti-CCP of blood cells is negative then the chances are less for you to develop Rheumatoid Arthritis but still through X-Rays and scans suggested by your doctor, it can be confirmed that it is seronegative RA.
This type of RA is less severe and its symptoms can be unpredictable.
Juvenile RA:
This type of Arthritis is most common in children younger than age 16. Like adult RA, symptoms of juvenile RA include joint inflammation, stiffness, and pain.
Ayurvedic View of Rheumatoid Arthritis
A disease clinically related to RA is described as “Amavata” in the ayurvedic context. It is a disease affecting the bowel where undigested food settles in our blood. Ama can be understood as accumulated toxic substances and cellular waste products accumulating at different levels of physiology.
At the same time, Vata aggravates in your body causing an imbalance in dosha levels which leads to the “Amavata” condition.
This concept can be better related as impairment of Agni (digestive power) will lead to the production of Ama (toxic waste). Hence it leads to an imbalance of doshas in your body causing RA.
Management of Amavata
To manage Amavata, the following steps are usually followed in Ayurveda.
- Checking the formation of Ama
- Levels of digestion and excretion of Ama dosha
- Srothoshodhana(Cleansing circulatory channels)
- Pacifying vitiated Vata dosha
Ayurvedic Treatment For Rheumatoid Arthritis
To treat a certain condition, the levels of dosha in your body play a major role according to the ayurvedic context.RA condition referred to as Amavata in Ayurveda can be treated in the below mentioned ways:
- Langhana
Langhana means either absolute fasting or a light diet. This method helps in increasing your digestive power and helps in reducing the secretion of toxic substances in your body.
- Shodhana chikitsa
It is the process of cleansing your body by using Panchakarma therapy. It helps in the removal of accumulated ama from the gut and microchannels so that Vata can circulate and perform its physiological functions.
- Shamana Chikitsa
Shamana Chikitsa checks further production of ama by correcting agnimandhya and keeping doshas in balance. It helps in increasing Agni (digestive power), removing excessive Kapha, and preventing further production of ama.
Does managing Rheumatoid Arthritis seem to be hectic? With us, we can fight RA together. At Liveright, we provide personalized solutions for RA and also measures for living a healthy lifestyle.
