What is Rheumatoid Arthritis?
Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is a prolong, systemic inflammatory disorder that primarily affects the joints. A person suffering from rheumatoid arthritis may either experience deformation or painful joints either of which can result in loss of function.
Rheumatoid arthritis by itself can be debilitating and making it worse is, well.. worse and more debilitating. Luckily, however, there has been no documented record of anyone dying from the disease and whose only most irritating feature is pain or delibitation.
If you are not careful with the disease know that the following are some of the factors that can make it more painful:
Smoking
Smoking is not just a contributing factor to developing rheumatoid arthritis for anyone, it, too makes it worst to those who are already afflicted. According to Kevin Deane, MD, “Smoking makes it harder for rheumatoid arthritis treatment to be effective.” This means that the habit of smoking intervenes with the effectivity of the drug to rheumatoid arthritis.
Inadequate omega-3 in diet
Omega-3, as a nutrient, is good against inflammation to which rheumatoid arthiritis thrived on as a disease. However, this is not to mistaken of the inflammation as the disease but rather its symptom which can be alleviated. In fact, eating more foods that are rich in omega-3 more than omega-6 makes the process more effective than the other way around.
Putting off treatment
Once the early symptoms of rheumatoid arthritis arises, it is best that it does not get worse. Doctors suggests that it be treated with disease-modifying anti-rheumatic drugs (DMARDS) to slow down the progression of the disease.
Sedentary lifestyle
Being sedentary can harm anyone in many ways, one of which is making your rheumatoid arthritis worse. According to Deane, “Exercise and physical activity also seem to have some anti-inflammatory effects that may have benefits for people with rheumatoid arthritis.”
Doing high-impact exercise
Exercising is good, but not all exercise methods apply to one who has an inflamed joints, especially at advanced cases. High-impact exercises is a major no-no if you have the mentioned cases. Instead, just make use of stretching to make your joints flexible. Once it flared down, you can opt for low-impact exercise and just increase the intensity on those workouts.
Stress
Stress has a way of altering our immune function and exacerbate the issue of rheumatoid arthritis. In fact, stress can make perceived symptoms worse. Choosing to opt for de-stressing practices such as meditation can help people with RA control pain.
Overweight
When we are overweight, our bodies tend to put additional stress on our joints. This is especially true for the joints on both knees, even feet. Reduce the stress put onto your joints by losing weight. This makes it significantly lighter for our joints to bear.