From joints to the heart, 5 ways Rheumatoid Arthritis affects your body; signs to note

Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is an extremely discomforting illness that leads to painful symptoms and can affect the quality of life. It is an autoimmune and inflammatory disease, wherein your immune system attacks healthy cells in the body mistaking it for foreign pathogens. This causes inflammation in the several parts of the body including the joints. Let us take a look at how rheumatoid arthritis affects different parts of the body and the symptoms it can trigger.

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Rheumatoid arthritis mostly affects the joints in the hands, wrists and knees, in which the lining of the joints in these areas become inflamed and swollen, causing tissue damage and leading to symptoms such as chronic pain, lack of balance and in severe cases, deformity. If left untreated, the symptoms can sometimes spread to other parts of the body, including ankles, elbows, hips and shoulders.

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Rheumatoid arthritis mainly affects the joints. However, it can also cause inflammation of the blood vessels. The condition is known as Rheumatoid vasculitis. It usually occurs when you suffer from RA for a long period of time, affecting vessels of the skin, fingers and toes, nerves, eyes, and heart. According to Cedars Sinai, untreated RA can cause serious complications, including death.

The WebMD says that rheumatoid arthritis can hurt peripheral nerves, which make up a part of the peripheral nervous system. The inflammation caused due to the condition can put pressure on the nerves, causing carpal tunnel syndrome, a condition that leads to weakness, numbness, and/or tingling in the thumb, index, and middle fingers.

According to a report published in National Institute of Health (NIH), "Depression and anxiety are major psychiatric problems that can be related to RA either because of a biological and cytokine-related mechanism or because of the psychological impact of chronic medical adversity on a patients' mental well-being."

Furthermore, it has been noted that people with mental health conditions are less responsive to treatment and contribute to a higher disease activity in RA.

Since rheumatoid arthritis affects different parts of the body, it can cause several symptoms. Some of common symptoms of RA include:

- Pain and aching in multiple joints

- Stiffness in multiple joints

- Tenderness and swelling in more than one joints

- Weight loss

- Fatigue or tiredness

- Weakness

Rheumatoid arthritis is associated with inflammation in one or many joints. This in turn increases one's risk of hardened and blocked arteries, as well as inflammation of the sac that encloses your heart, as per the Mayo Clinic. This can further make a person more prone to heart diseases such as heart attack, stroke, atrial fibrillation and heart failure.