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By Lana Burgess(MNT)

Early signs

What is rheumatoid arthritis?

Complications

Risk factors

When to see a doctor

Rheumatoid arthritis is a disorder where a person’s immune system attacks their joints, causing them to become inflamed. What are the early signs of this condition?

The symptoms of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) typically affect the hands, wrists, and feet. Spotting signs of RA early could lead to an early diagnosis and appropriate treatment.

Early and consistent management of arthritis can prevent joint damage and, ultimately, disability.

This article explores the early signs and symptoms of RA, its risk factors, and when to see a doctor.

Early signs

Rheumatoid arthritis is when the joints become inflammed because a person’s immune system is not functioning properly.

The main symptoms of RA are joint pain and stiffness. Before these symptoms occur, a person may experience some early warning signs.

Some of these early warning signs relate to how a person feels overall, while others are specific to the joints. The symptoms that affect a person’s joints are more likely to indicate RA, particularly if more than one joint or both sides of the body are affected.

Spotting these warning signs can help people seek treatment at the earliest possible opportunity. The early warning signs of RA include:

1. Fatigue

Before experiencing any other symptoms, a person with RA may feel extremely tired and lack energy. They may also feel depressed.

Feelings of fatigue may affect:

everyday activities

relationships

sex drive

productivity at work

Feeling fatigued may be due to the body’s reaction to inflammation in the joints.

2. Slight fever

Inflammation associated with RA may cause people to feel unwell and feverish. They may have a slightly raised temperature, which is an early sign that sometimes accompanies fatigue. It may precede any noticeable effects on the joints.

3. Weight loss

A third early warning sign of RA is unexplained weight loss, which is possibly an indirect effect of inflammation.

When someone is feeling feverish and fatigued, they may lose their appetite, which can cause them to lose weight.

4. Stiffness

Persistent stiffness, tenderness, and pain in joints may be an early sign of rheumatoid arthritis.

Another early sign of RA is joint stiffness. Stiffness may occur in one or two small joints, often in the fingers. It can come on slowly but may last for several days.

In addition to the stiffness that affects specific joints, a general feeling of stiffness in the body may be an early sign of RA.

This type of stiffness usually affects a person after they have been still for a long time. This symptom is the cause of morning stiffness, a characteristic complaint of patients with RA.

5. Joint tenderness

Joint tenderness that affects the hands and feet is a typical early sign of RA.

In the hands, the joint in the middle and at the base of the fingers may feel tender when pressed or during movement.

In the feet, the joints at the base of the toes may be tender. This soreness may cause people to walk on their heels or lift their toes up as they walk.

6. Joint pain

Joint pain in the fingers, wrists, and feet is a sign of RA. Inflammation makes the lining of the joint thicker and also causes the production of extra joint fluid.

Both of these factors put pressure on the capsule that surrounds the joint and irritate the nerve endings that it contains, causing pain.

7. Joint swelling

Joints that look swollen in the hands and feet is a typical sign of RA. Joint swelling tends to be more apparent as RA progresses, but subtle swelling may be an early sign.

8. Joint redness

Inflammation in the joints may give them a red appearance. Discoloration of the skin around the joints in the hands and feet is a sign of RA.

Redness occurs because the inflammation causes the blood vessels in the surrounding skin to widen. Wider vessels allow more blood to flow into this area, giving the skin a red appearance.

9. Joint warmth

Joint warmth is caused by inflammation and may be present before redness or swelling occurs. This can be an early sign of RA.

10. Numbness and tingling

Numbness and tingling affecting the hands and feet may be an early sign of RA. These symptoms are caused by inflammation in the joints that can cause nerve compression, resulting in loss of sensation.

11. Decrease in range of motion

In the early stages of RA, a person may notice they are having trouble bending their wrist back and forth.

As the disease progresses, damage to the joints can affect ligaments and tendons, making it hard to bend and straighten them.

12. Joints affected on both sides

It is common for people affected by RA to experience symptoms in the same joints on both sides of the body. While this symmetry is typical, it is not the case for everyone with the condition.

What is rheumatoid arthritis?

RA results from a problem with the immune system. When a person’s immune system is healthy, it helps to fight infection. In people with RA, the immune system mistakenly attacks the cells in the lining of their joint, resulting in inflammation of the joints, making them swollen, stiff, and painful.