particular – Health and Wellness for Baby Boomers

One of the many ailments that affect us as we age is Arthritis, and there are many different types of Arthritis in this post; I will be looking at one of them, rheumatoid Arthritis.

There are different types of Arthritis, up to 100 types, but the most common are rheumatoid Arthritis, osteoarthritis, and septic Arthritis.

Rheumatoid Arthritis is the most common type of Arthritis. It is an autoimmune disease that affects 1% of the whole earth’s population, which is equivalent to over 75 million people suffering from this disease which are suffering from this disease. It is chronic, which means a stable condition with intermittent periods of remission and exacerbation. https://betahealthy.com/

What is Rheumatoid Arthritis.

Rheumatoid Arthritis

Rheumatoid Arthritis is a long-term autoimmune disorder that primarily affects joints. It typically results in warm, swollen, and painful joints. Pain and stiffness often worsen following rest. The wrist and hands are most commonly involved, with the same joints typically involved on both sides of the body. Wikipedia

What are the symptoms of rheumatoid Arthritis

https://www.mayoclinic.org/

Symptoms

Signs and symptoms of Rheumatoid Arthritis may include:

Tender, warm, swollen joints
Joint stiffness is usually worse in the mornings and after inactivity
Fatigue, fever, and loss of appetite

Early Rheumatoid Arthritis tends to affect your smaller joints first — particularly the joints that attach 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 percent of people with Rheumatoid Arthritis also experience signs and symptoms that don’t involve the joints. Rheumatoid Arthritis can affect many non-joint structures, including:

Skin
Eyes
Lungs
Heart
Kidneys
Salivary glands
Nerve tissue
Bone marrow
Blood vessels

Rheumatoid arthritis signs and symptoms may vary in severity and may even come and go.

Periods of increased disease activity, called flares, alternate with periods of relative remission — when the swelling and pain fade or disappear. Over time, Rheumatoid Arthritis can cause joints to deform and shift out of place.

How does rheumatoid Arthritis affect your body https://www.healthline.com/

Rheumatoid Arthritis (RA) is more than just joint pain. This chronic inflammatory autoimmune disease mistakenly causes your body to attack healthy joints and leads to widespread inflammation.

While RA is notorious for causing joint pain and inflammation, it can cause other symptoms throughout the body.

RA is a progressive autoimmune disease that mainly affects your joints. According to the Arthritis Foundation, about 1.5 million U.S. people live with RA.

Anyone can get RA, but it generally begins between 30 and 60. It also tends to affect women nearly three times more than men.

The exact cause of RA is unknown, but genetics, infections, or hormonal changes may play a role.

Disease-modifying medications can help slow the progression of RA. Other drugs, combined with lifestyle changes, can help manage the effects and, in turn improve your overall quality of life.

Skeletal system

One of the first signs of RA is inflammation of the smaller joints in the hands and feet. Most of the time, symptoms affect both sides of the body simultaneously.

Common symptoms include pain, swelling, tenderness, and stiffness, which are more pronounced in the morning. Morning RA pain can last for 30 minutes or longer.

RA can also cause tingling or burning sensations in the joints. Symptoms can come and go in “flares” followed by a period of remission, but the initial stages can last at least six weeks.

Symptoms of RA can occur in any of the body’s joints, including your:

fingers
wrists
shoulders
elbows
hips
knees
ankles
toes

RA can also result in:

bunions
claw toes
hammer toes

As the disease progresses, cartilage and bone are damaged and destroyed. Eventually, supporting tendons, ligaments, and muscles weaken. This can lead to a limited range of motion or difficulty moving the joints properly. In the long term, joints can become deformed.

Having RA also puts you at greater risk of osteoporosis, a weakening of the bones. This, in turn can increase your risk of bone fractures and breaks.

Chronic inflammation of the wrists can lead to carpal tunnel syndrome, making it difficult to use your wrists and hands. Weakened or damaged neck or cervical spine bones can cause chronic pain.

Circulatory system

RA can also affect the system responsible for making and transporting blood throughout your body.

A simple blood test can reveal the presence of an antibody called the rheumatoid factor. Not all people with the antibody develop RA, but it’s one of many clues doctors use to diagnose this condition.

RA increases your risk for anemia. This is due to the decreased production of red blood cells. You may also have a higher risk of blocked or hardened arteries.

In rare cases, RA can lead to inflammation of the sac around the heart (pericarditis), the heart muscle (myocarditis), or even congestive heart failure.

A rare but serious complication of RA is inflammation of the blood vessels (rheumatoid vasculitis, or RA rash). Inflamed blood vessels weaken and expand or narrow, interfering with blood flow. This can lead to nerves, skin, heart, and brain problems.

Skin, eyes, and mouth

Rheumatoid nodules are hard lumps caused by inflammation that appear under the skin, usually near joints. They can be bothersome but typically aren’t painful.

According to the Sjogren’s Foundation, as many as 4 million U.S. people have an inflammatory disease called Sjogren’s syndrome. About half of these individuals also have RA or a similar autoimmune disease. When the two conditions are present, it’s called secondary Sjogren’s syndrome.

Respiratory system

RA increases the risk of inflammation or scarring of the linings of the lungs (pleurisy) and damage to lung tissue (rheumatoid lung). Other problems include:

blocked airways (bronchiolitis obliterans)
fluid in the chest (pleural effusion)
high blood pressure in the lungs (pulmonary hypertension)
scarring of the lungs (pulmonary fibrosis)
rheumatoid nodules on the lungs

Other systems

The pain and discomfort of RA can make it difficult to sleep. RA may lead to extreme fatigue and a lack of energy. In some cases, RA flare-ups can cause flu-like symptoms such as:

short-term fever
sweating
lack of appetite

Early diagnosis and treatment may help slow the progression of RA. Disease-modifying medications, symptom relievers, and lifestyle changes can significantly improve your quality of life.

Treatments FOR RA

Healthy joints are the “hinges” that let you move around. Many of us take that for granted. However, these simple movements aren’t always automatic or easy when you have RA. They can be painful.

The goals and treatments used by physical and occupational therapists sometimes overlap, but there are some general differences.

Physical Therapy for Rheumatoid Arthritis

The goal of it is to keep you moving. It uses exercise and other methods to stimulate muscles, bones, and joints. The result is more strength, tone, and overall fitness.

Physical therapists understand the mechanics of bones, joints, and muscles working together, the problems that can happen, and what to do about them. It’s a good idea to work with a therapist, whether you’ve had RA for a long time or are newly diagnosed, no matter how severe it is.

Exercise. This is the cornerstone of any physical therapy plan. It will match your ability and fitness level and include flexibility, strength, and cardio.

Heat or ice. Treating inflamed or painful joints with heat or ice packs helps some people feel better.

Massage. It can also help you feel better.

Motivation and encouragement. It’s a big plus to have a pro to cheer you on and push you to keep going.

Occupational Therapy for Rheumatoid Arthritis

This helps you stay independent. A therapist will check to see what you need help with. Then, he can teach you better or easier ways to accomplish those things.

Occupational therapists can recommend or provide solutions if activities like dressing, cooking, or bathing become hard or painful. Assistive devices are products or improvements that make everyday tasks easier.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yc-9dfem3lM om/watch?v=Yc-9dfem3lM

Rheumatoid Arthritis Diet

There is no specific diet for Rheumatoid Arthritis, but it is suggested that the Paleo diet would be perfect for Arthritis sufferers

Eat food that fights inflammation. some of these are beans, Broccoli, Cherries, Citrus Fruits,

fish, Nuts, Ginger, Green Tea, Soy, Turmeric, Whole Grains

Thank you for your time and comments; I do hope you found this post informative,

.NOTE: This post includes affiliate links, which, if clicked on and a product purchased, I get a small commission (with no increase in cost to you)

In maintaining healthy joints it is important to consume the type of foods that will promote healthy joints. Unfortunately for us, our busy lifestyles do not afford us the time to eat properly so instead we just grab some fast food which in most cases does not contain the vitamins or minerals that our joints and bones need to be strong and remain flexible.

I have done some research and while not finding any particular diet that is good for arthritic pain I have found some foods that we can add to our diet and some we can avoid, in doing so will help us keep our joints and bones healthy.

Foods to add to our balanced diet

Nuts, Especially almonds and sunflower seeds These are the best source of vitamin E which can help protect the outer membrane of joint cells. Vitamin E also defends against free radicals which cause joint inflammation and cell damage.
Citrus and berries. Oranges juice which is a rich source of calcium, which grows and strengthens your bones. It also contains vitamin D which helps our body to absorb calcium and keep joint tissue healthy. Berries are a great source of vitamin C.
Have more of Nuts fruits and vegetables

Apples are high in quercetin, which is an antioxidant that helps build collagen. Collagen helps make up cartilage which acts as a shock absorber in your joints and helps prevent arthritis.

Salmon and other fatty fish contain a high amount of omega 3 fatty acids. Omega 3 helps decrease the production of chemicals which spread inflammation to the joints. Also, other sources of omega 3 are olive oil and coconut oil.

Cherries contain anthocyanin which has natural, anti-inflammatory properties. Anthocyanins in cherries also help to maintain healthy levels of uric acid ( which in excess can be damaging to the body)

So while there is no special diet for joint health, it would be wise to add these foods to our balanced diet. I think that most fruit and vegetables are a good source of vitamins and minerals that will help in keeping our body healthy.

Foods to avoid in maintaining healthy joints

Sugars. Sugar does nothing for our health they are just empty calories that increase our blood sugar levels. One can also become addicted to sugar. Sugar also causes inflammation development and has a bad impact on our health.
Saturated and trans fats are common in processed foods and some fast foods. These fats can cause high cholesterol which can lead to high blood pressure and heart attack.
Eat less pastry and bread.

Saturated Fat is generally considered to be bad for health because it raises the levels of low-density lipoprotein (LDL) in the blood. LDL is a type of cholesterol that can clog the arteries and increase the risk of heart disease and stroke.

Trans fat is found in most processed foods containing partially hydrogenated oil, such as crackers, cookies, cakes, pies, and snack foods. Stick margarine, shortening, coffee creamer, fast food, frozen pizza So stay away from these foods as much as possible.

Red meat and Dairy Even though red meat is a good source of iron and vitamin B and dairy which is rich in calcium it is said excessive consumption of red meat and dairy can cause an inflammatory reaction. So it would be wise to limit our consumption.

Salts and sodium. This can be tricky to avoid that’s why it is so important to read labels and watch out for the salty snacks. Not only is salt not good for healthy joints but too much salt can lead to high blood pressure and that can lead to a heart attack.

Cigarette and alcoholic beverages. These are not good for anything, they do not have any health benefits just the opposite they cause cancer and damage our liver. So try to stay away from these as much as possible.
Keep away from Alcoholic drinks and cigarettes.

Lifestyle Changes

Following an anti-inflammatory diet which includes the foods listed above and any other nuts, and fresh vegetables, and fresh fruits and avoiding the foods that can cause inflammation.

Also, being overweight and obese is not good, it would be good for us to try to lose some weight. Arthritis pain can be intensified by excess weight, which can put substantial added stress on already overworked joints. Keeping our body weight within a healthy range can go far in providing joint pain relief.

Stress reduction both physical and emotional stress is linked to increasing physiological inflammation throughout the body.

So it is good for us to engage in some stress-reducing activities such as gardening or taking an easy walk or stretching these simple activities will not only bring down our stress level but also increase our daily physical activity, it can also help to bring down chronic levels of inflammation and ease pain or discomfort which is linked to irregular sleep a major source of physiological stress.
We can also add some easy exercise to our daily activities without adding extra time. For example, while standing at our desk, table, or kitchen counter, stand on the leg without holding on for a count of 30 ( but make sure something is within reach in case we lose our balance) then change legs do as many reps as you can.

We can also use leg weights, walk around with them on for about 15-20 minutes.
When sitting try to stand without aid (holding on to something example chair arms)stretch your arms out in front of you or hug yourself these two exercise helps to strengthen your legs.

Conclusion

Our bones and joints support our every move, and it is easy to take them for granted Our skeleton is living tissue and needs a constant supply of vitamins and nutrients. And as we age we sometimes suffer from bone loss joint pain and inflammation. It is therefore very important that our bodies are receiving the proper nutrients that are needed to strengthen our bones and joints

I have left a link to some easy exercises from Silver Sneakers Hope you enjoy them, if you do them often enough you will be amazed how the pain and joint movements will be much better

Thank you so much for stopping by and taking the time to read this post, I do hope you found it informative, And should you have a comment or a question Please leave it in the space provided and I will reply

NOTE: This post includes affiliate links, which, if clicked on and a product purchased, I get a small commission (with no increase in cost to you).

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What is Rheumatoid Arthritis And Its Causes