Rheumatoid Arthritis a Debilitating Disease It began seven years ago when Sandra woke up and was getting out bed. She went to stand up and she felt this severe pain in both of her feet. When shelooked at her feet they were swollen and bluish red and warm to the touch. Shecould not understand what was happening. At first she thought she might havefrozen her feet. But as time went by she started to get lumps on the bottom ofher feet so she went to see the doctor. The doctor did some tests and hediagnosed Sandra with having a disease called rheumatoid arthritis though it was a mild case at the time. Over the past seven years it has became more severe, even doing little day- to- day jobs has become more difficult. Rheumatoid arthritis can be a crippling disease that causes painful swellingand stiffness that mainly affects the wrists and fingers but it can also affect otherareas of the body (The Arthritis Society, 2001). The Statistics from theCanadian Arthritis Society say it affects 300,000 Canadians, that is 1 in 10 willdevelop rheumatoid arthritis. This paper will discuss what rheumatoid arthritis is, some of the treatment for this disease and lifestyle changes that people can make to live a better with rheumatoid arthritis. What is rheumatoid arthritis? Doctors do not know what exactly causes rheumatoid arthritis, but rheumatoid arthritis is a debilitating disease that has several special features that makes it different from other kinds of arthritis. For example, rheumatoid arthritis generally occurs in a well-formed pattern. This means that if a knee or hand is involved, the other knee and hand are also involved (Nat’l Inst. Of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Disease, 1998). Rheumatoid arthritis is a disease where the immune system begins to attack the joints. This causes an inflammation, usually in the small joints of the hands, wrists, feet and many times spreading to the knees and hips. The affected joints ...
