Harm and Complications caused by Rheumatoid Arthritis

Rheumatoid Arthritis (RA) can do much harm to people. Generally speaking, three main indications can be distinguished:

1. It can cause kidney disease: Renal dysfunction caused by RA is always related to the long-term use of anti-rheumatoid drugs and non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs. The situation can be improved by stopping using these drugs. The long-term use of non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs can also cause interstitial nephritis, which can gradually lead to kidney failure. Therefore, old people and patients with nephropathy should use these drugs carefully.

2. RA can cause respiratory disease: Usually it causes pleurisy and interstitial pneumonia, which are especially common among old people who have suffered from the disease for a long time. The major RA lesion is rheumatoid synovial inflammation, and RA can produce granulation tissue with many blood vessels damaging cartilago articularis. As time passes, the articular surfaces will mix together and result in ankylosis. During the process, the occurrence of joint deformity is likely because of inattention to correct posture through pain and ache. In addition, the nearby muscles become stiff and atrophic because of the sore pain of joints and limited motion.

3. RA can cause heart disease: The rate of RA complicated with pericarditis reaches between 20% and 50%, and some patients even exhibit rheumatoid nodules. Most patients have no visible symptoms. The symptoms will be discovered only in an ultrasonic cardiogram. RA can also cause left-sided heart failure.

RA should be discovered and treated as early as possible. Missing the optimal period of treatment leads to many complications, which always occur in the middle and later periods of RA. The following list presents typical RA complications.

1. Eye disease: RA causes dryness and discomfort of cornea and conjunctiva. A few patients have complications involving scleritis and iritis, which always occur in the 2–3 mm margin of the cornea. Some patients with severe conditions even exhibit nodules or necrosis.

2. Kidney disease: Renal dysfunction caused by RA is always related to the long-term use of anti-rheumatoid drugs and analgesic drugs. This situation can be improved by stopping to use these drugs. The long-term use of analgesic drugs may cause interstitial nephritis, which can gradually lead to kidney failure. RA complications may also result in renal amyloidosis. These lesions will not occur only when RA is controlled. 

3. Pneumonia: Patients always have complications involving pneumonia because of their weaker immune ability and bacterial infection.

4. Urinary tract infection: RA patients are likely to exhibit urinary tract infection if they do not pay attention to their disease or catch a cold.

5. Infectious disease: RA patients are more easily infected than common people when infectious diseases are prevalent in their environment, because they have had RA for a long time, and their immune abilities are weak.

Early discovery of RA leads to easier recovery. “Hu’s TCM Nutrition Immune Therapy” is a kind of green rehabilitation therapy for treating RA and AS by taking advantage of pure natural Chinese herbal medicines. The therapy supplements nutrition, regulates immunologic functions, diminishes inflammation, relieves pain, and repairs damaged joints for RA and AS patients, thereby leading to recovery. Through the worldwide promotion of this therapy for over 10 years, over 200,000 RA and AS patients have regained their health.