Osteoarthritis (OA) vs Rheumatoid Arthritis (RA)
I have had so many of my friends, family, and coworkers tell me that they have arthritis too, and they aren’t taking any medications for it, they aren’t seeing a specialist, and so on. So I want to take this time to explain what RA is and what OA is.
Osteoarthritis
Let’s start with OA first, that is your everyday, run-of-the-mill Osteoarthritis (OA). Osteoarthritis is a degenerative joint disease, in which the tissues in the joint break down over time. It is the most common type of arthritis and is more common in older people. People with osteoarthritis usually have joint pain and, after rest or inactivity, stiffness for a short time.
We are talking about the one where some of the joints in the body get tender and swell and in some advanced cases the joint may lock and pop. OA is isolated to the joint and only affects the joint. The usual case of OA would be something like your knee being painful when you walk and causing some minor swelling. In more advanced cases, the joint may have.
Rheumatoid Arthritis
Then there is Rheumatoid Arthritis (RA), this is a chronic inflammatory disorder affecting many joints, including those in the hands and feet, but wait there’s more. In rheumatoid arthritis, the body’s immune system attacks its own tissue, including joints. In severe cases, it attacks internal organs.
Rheumatoid arthritis affects joint linings, causing painful swelling. Over long periods, the inflammation associated with rheumatoid arthritis can cause bone erosion and joint deformity. But wait, there’s even more, is you are seropositive (you have a positive rheumatoid factor blood test result, meaning that you have the antibodies that cause your immune system to attack joints), then you often suffer from morning stiffness lasting 30 minutes or longer, you often will get painful rheumatoid nodules (I haven’t yet enjoyed this pleasure, except for a small one on a finger joint), fever, fatigue, and weight loss (of course if you are Gabapentin that you don’t get the weight loss) and you can pass it down to your offspring (my daughter thanks me every day for passing it on to her). But if you act now, you can also get cold body parts (like an ice-cold, hand or knee, while the rest of your body is warm), muscle weakness, anemia, pins and needle sensations, and dry mouth. And as the disease progresses, you can expect physical deformity and eye and lung problems (I already have lung scarring). And today only, you get overwhelming fatigue, where you are taking naps often, just to get by. And if you are the first 100 callers, you get insomnia, anxiety, and depression at the same time. Oh and I forgot (see what I did here), you also get memory issues (my short term is trash and I have HUGE holes in my long-term memory.
Then you get the medications that are supposed to help you with some of the symptoms, and from that, you get either weight gain or loss, depression, brain fog and so much more.
And wait for it, most individuals with RA have OA in some of their joints as well. Isn’t it fun!
So yes, you have OA in your knee, I have that as well, and then I have RA everywhere.
