Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is a long-term autoimmune disease that primarily affects joints. It usually results in warm, swollen and painful joints. Pain and stiffness often worsen after rest. It usually involves the wrist and hands, usually involving the same joints on both sides of the body. The disease can also affect other parts of the body, including skin, eyes, lungs, heart, nerves and blood. This can result in low red blood cell counts, inflammation around the lungs and inflammation around the heart. Fever and low energy may also be present. Often symptoms occur gradually over weeks to months.
Although the cause of rheumatoid arthritis is not clear, it is believed to involve a combination of genetic and environmental factors. The underlying mechanism involves the body's immune system attacking the joints. This results in inflammation and thickening of the joint capsule. It also affects the underlying bone and cartilage. Diagnosis is usually made based on a person's signs and symptoms. X-rays and laboratory tests can support a diagnosis or rule out other diseases with similar symptoms. Other diseases that may present similarly include systemic lupus erythematosus, arthritis psoriatica and fibromyalgia.
Treatment BeterKlinic
BeterKliniek is the clinic for Integrative Medicine that bridges regular and non-regular medicine.
An van Veen (physician) and Michael van Gils (therapist) look for the cause of a condition or disease. That is where the treatment starts otherwise, as people often say, it is 'carrying water to the sea'. We call this cause medicine. Sometimes it is also desirable to treat the symptoms (at the same time). We call this symptom medicine.
Chronic disorders often have their cause in epi- genetics. You can schedule a free informative telephone consultation (phone number 040-7117337 until 1 p.m.) at BeterKliniek to discuss your symptoms so that we can provide you with further advice.
