Arthritis

I borrowed this from a site on Arthritis.
It's always good to educate.

I've had RA since I was 2 years old. One day I just stopped walking. I didn't cry. I just stopped. Probably because it really hurt. This is what I was diagnosed with 23 years ago...

In RA (as rheumatoid arthritis is often called), the immune system attacks the joints. We don't know why exactly, though it's possibly in response to some trigger (though we don't know what it is). The joints – usually in the hands, wrists, knees or feet, on both sides of the body – swell and become painful and tender. The lining of the joints – the synovium – swells and becomes inflamed. The joints become stiff and harder to move, especially early in the morning. The person feels tired and unwell, especially in the afternoons. Sometimes, lumps appear under the skin near the joints (called rheumatoid nodules).
As the condition progresses, the muscles around the joint waste away, the cartilage in the joint and the bone underneath erode away, and eventually the whole joint is filled with fibrous scar tissue until it freezes completely. Sometimes other organs in the body – the skin, eyes, lungs, heart, blood and kidneys – are also damaged.
Rheumatoid arthritis affects about one per cent of the population – usually younger women, aged 25 or older, with the peak age of onset at 35-45 years. It's three times more common in women than men. Children and elderly people can develop it, but less commonly.

Rheumatoid arthritis strikes people differently. In some people it can start suddenly, but is more likely to start gradually (the symptoms are often put down to ageing at first). It typically (but not always) starts in the fingers. It can suddenly improve – go into remission, never to reappear. (This happens in about 20 per cent of cases.) In others, it improves, only to flare up again, improve, flare up again, and so on.
Mostly though, it is gradually progressive, getting worse over the years until finally after many years, it sometimes reaches a stage when it becomes 'burnt out – the active inflammation, the pain and the tenderness in the joints disappear, leaving the joints permanently deformed from years of scarring and joint damage. This can give rise to typical deformities, such as the 'Boutonniere' (button hole) and 'Swan-neck' deformities in the hands.

For reasons we don't understand, pregnancy usually improves the symptoms.