Defining Rheumatoid Arthritis

What is rheumatoid arthritis? It is an autoimmune disease that leads to the chronic swelling of the joints and may also affect the tissue surrounding the joints and in other organs of the body. An autoimmune disease is a condition that happens when the tissues in the body are attacked “by mistake” by its own immune defenses.

Understand that there are differences between arthritis and rheumatism, and rheumatoid arthritis and lupus. Rheumatism is a conventional and non-specific term to describe a range of conditions that involve the joints, the bones, the skin, the kidneys, the lungs and the heart. Arthritis is a general term that describes the swelling of the joints, but not necessarily the cause. It may involve conditions such as psoriatic arthritis, gouty arthritis, infective arthritis and osteoarthritis. Osteoarthritis is a degenerative joint condition that often inflicts older individuals – it is mainly the cause of wear and tear.

But unlike osteoarthritis, rheumatoid arthritis can happen at any age and is often hereditary. When it comes to lupus and the arthritis condition, they are both autoimmune diseases that target the body in a similar way., which can lead an individual to think he or she may suffer from lupus when they in fact have the other condition, and vice versa. The arthritic condition can inflict not just the joints but also the lungs, eyes and mouth. Lupus on the other hand can occur in many forms, and can inflict virtually any area of the body, mainly the joints, skin, lungs, heart, kidneys, lungs and brain.