People with arthritis often say that they can predict the weather based on how their joints feel. Some notice their pain and stiffness flares up in the cold and wet winter months, while others find hot and humid summer weather can make symptoms worse.
If you have arthritis, summer heat and humidity can increase your joint pain and make daily activities a challenge. Many people who have arthritis feel more discomfort as the weather changes throughout the year.
In addition to pain, this disease causes stiffness in the affected joints. You may have difficulty getting out of bed or walking in the morning because of stiff and painful ankles, knees, or feet. This stiffness is usually worse in the mornings and can last for 45 minutes or more.
“Many people with RA find that cold weather tends to increase their pain and stiffness. And living in a warm climate can help to reduce the symptoms of pain and stiffness.”
Arthritis can be a difficult condition to live with all year round, but for many patients, wintertime becomes especially troublesome, as stiff joints in low temperatures exacerbate their usual symptoms of chronic pain.
RA patients have been shown to benefit from dry rather than humid and warm, but not hot, climate, especially close to the skin, with reduced symptoms (Patberg and Rasker, 2004). An increase in pain among RA patients in humid, cold, and high pressure weather has been shown in the study by Strusberg et al.
Try to get plenty of rest during a flare-up, when your joints can be particularly painful and inflamed. Putting further strain on very swollen and painful joints can often make the pain and inflammation worse.
Overexertion, poor sleep, stress or an infection like the flu can all set off RA symptoms. With a predictable flare you'll temporarily feel worse, but your symptoms will resolve in time. Unpredictable flares have more uncertainty associated with them.
Diagnosis with arthritis doesn't necessarily effect your driving at all but it might so it is important you fully understand the law. Driving with arthritis doesn't have to difficult and you can still keep your car in many instances.
Is Arthritis a Disability? Simply being diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis does not qualify you for disability. However, if your ability to work is greatly affected or impaired by your condition, then with the proper documentation, you may be entitled to SSA disability benefits.
RA is a very serious autoimmune disease, in which your immune system mistakenly attacks your own body's tissues and causes severe joint pain, stiffness, severe fatigue, and sometimes deformity, usually in the hands, shoulders, knees, and/or feet.
The more joints that are painful and swollen, the more severe the disease may be, says Dr. Cush. Joint pain and swelling are characteristic signs and symptoms of rheumatoid arthritis. Rheumatologists consider this a very important way to measure disease severity.
Although there's no cure for rheumatoid arthritis, early treatment and support (including medicine, lifestyle changes, supportive treatments and surgery) can reduce the risk of joint damage and limit the impact of the condition. Your treatment will usually involve care from your GP and several different specialists.
Many people with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) can silence their symptoms and halt progression of the disease thanks to biologics, targeted DMARDs and more aggressive treatment approaches. Yet some patients who achieve remission struggle to sustain it.
People with RA are more likely to change occupations, reduce work hours, lose their job, retire early, and find themselves unable to find suitable work.
The World Health Organization (WHO) recommends adults get 150 minutes of moderate exercise each week, and this includes those suffering with rheumatoid arthritis.
The exact cause of rheumatoid arthritis is unknown. Researchers think it's caused by a combination of genetics, hormones and environmental factors. Normally, your immune system protects your body from disease. With rheumatoid arthritis, something triggers your immune system to attack your joints.
Over the years, studies have shown that RA can shorten lifespan by an average of about ten years, the cause for this decrease is due to multiple factors, and there is an increasing impetus of managing other factors aside from physical disability and improvement of quality of life.
A person with RA may feel intense pain in their joints during flares. This may feel like sustained pressure, a burning sensation, or a sharp pain. However, people with RA may also experience periods of remission when they feel few to no symptoms. In addition to causing pain in the joints, RA can affect the whole body.
It can increase the need for sleep and make it hard to concentrate or do anything. Constantly feeling exhausted and not being able to maintain an active lifestyle can affect your mood too: Many people who have rheumatoid arthritis also feel depressed, irritable or anxious.
Weight-bearing exercises, such as walking, can help prevent a loss of bone density (osteoporosis), which can result from rheumatoid arthritis. Studies indicate that exercise will not worsen rheumatoid arthritis symptoms.
Pushing through pain is not the thing to do. If your joints are hot or swollen, exercise can increase the damage and cause more pain. Remember, arthritis pain and pain from a strenuous workout are not the same. A little soreness a day or two after a workout is OK.