Rheumatoid arthritis is the most common type of autoimmune arthritis. The inflammatory process can damage the arteries that feed the heart.
Unlike the wear and tear damage of osteoarthritis, rheumatoid arthritis affects the lining of the joints, causing painful swelling that can eventually lead to bone erosion. Photo: Shutterstock.
The arthritis Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) can become disabling as the disease progresses, especially if treatment is omitted or physical and pharmacological therapies are inconsistent.
Lung involvement
Not being treated in time, this disease can affect different organs of the patient. It is a pathology that can generate different conditions in the lung, where the inflammatory process can develop fibrosis in the lung, a very severe and disabling condition that also requires the attention and monitoring of a pulmonary pulmonologist.
In these cases, patients can develop dependence on oxygen for their daily lives, limiting their quality of life. “These are patients who walk down a corridor and are already tired. It is a very severe complication, very feared and it is one of those we want to avoid,” the rheumatology specialist Amarilis de Jesús stressed in an interview with the Journal of Medicine and Public Health.
On the other hand, coronary problems are other complications that often go unnoticed by the same patient. “The inflammatory process can damage the coronary arteries, the heart arteries that feed the heart. These patients can develop problems of ischemia, myocardial infarction, and many times they are catastrophic infarctions, where they often end up with coronary bypass,” he indicated.
Symptoms of rheumatoid arthritis
-Weightloss.
-Exams that reflect arthritis.
-Fever.
-Pain.
-Fatigue.
–Arthritis symmetrical
-Reduced movement in small joints (wrists, ankles)
-morning stiffness
Importance of an accurate diagnosis
In most cases, detection in the first three months of the disease in what is known as “the treatment window”, a period in which symptoms can be achieved with treatment to remit or hide, but not cure , well the arthritis Rheumatoid is a chronic disease.
It is important that the patient is evaluated in all his organs and that he is educated about his condition so that he understands the need to prevent the inflammatory process of the disease, since by achieving this, he has control over all areas of the body.
Other complications:
-Vasculitis in different areas of the skin.
-Anemia.
-Inflammatory processes in the eyes.
-Damage to the lungs.
– Fatigue extreme tiredness.
-Increased risk of developing osteoporosis: not only because of arthritis as such, but by medications that can sometimes decrease bone mass.