Essential Facts About Inflammation and Rheumatoid Arthritis in Vacaville

For you to understand the connection better, here are some essential facts that relates inflammation to rheumatoid arthritis from your Vacaville Chiropractor.

Rheumatoid arthritis essential facts in Vacaville

1. One hallmark of rheumatoid arthritis is that it's an inflammatory form of arthritis - Rheumatoid arthritis is considered an autoimmune disease since the immune system attacks your joints. This event causes inflammation inside and around the joints, which leads to pain, stiffness, and swelling. The inflammation is the one that causes damage to the joints either because inflammatory chemicals eat into bone and cartilage or the tissues around the joints swell.
2. RA flares usually involve increased inflammation - RA flares happen because there are episodes of increased disease activity. Since RA is an autoimmune disease, the flare is a signal that the body is fighting itself more than usual, which causes an increase in antibody levels and markers of inflammation. On top of that, antigens are trying to get into the joints and when the immune cells in the joints are activated, the lining of the joints becomes inflamed.
3. Inflammation is a mechanism that leads to RA complications - With RA, chronic inflammation can happen and that can cause problems all over your body such as your eyes, heart, and lungs. RA patients who display a high level of C-reactive protein (CRP, an inflammation marker) that is more than 10mg/L have higher risks of a heart attack than those with a CRP level below 1mg/L. Also, 80% of RA patients have some lung involvement especially inflammation. If the lung tissue inflammation becomes prolonged and severe, it can develop into pulmonary fibrosis, which could cause difficulty in breathing.
4. One of the main goals of RA treatment is to stop inflammation - Common RA therapies are designed to reduce inflammation inside the joint and decrease the release of inflammatory chemicals. Medications - including corticosteroids, biologic drugs, non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs), and disease-modifying anti-rheumatic drugs (DMARDs) - can reduce the underlying inflammation and pain associated with RA.
5. Controlling inflammation in RA can have positive effects on your health - Even though controlling inflammation is important in treating arthritis, it could also protect the long-term health of people from all other conditions. People with RA who were treated with DMARDs experienced a decrease in their CRP levels and an increase in the ability of their high-density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol to extract bad cholesterol from lipidladen cells. This effect reduces their risk of developing cardiovascular disease.

With this information, you could say that RA has a strong connection with inflammation. This means that any RA treatments you undergo can also benefit inflammation in the process.