The symptoms, similarities and treatment of rheumatoid arthritis and lupus

These are autoimmune diseases which occur due to the immune system attacking the body cells. They in turn trigger inflammations and damaging health issues.

In general, these autoimmune diseases are caused due to malfunction of the immune system. Immune system fails to recognize its own cells and tissues and foreign bodies and thus attacks on its own cells.

About 0.6% of U.S adult population is suffering from Rheumatoid Arthritis.

The differences
Rheumatoid Arthritis is commonly seen in the people between the age group 25 to 55. Even though the causes for its attack are unknown, but genes, environment, and hormones play a key role in its occurrence. It is common in joints like fingers and wrists but can attack any joint. In some cases, it can also attack eyes and mouth. Lupus Arthritis usually starts in early adulthood. It comes in different ways for different people. Symptoms of this disease vary from person to person. It mostly affects heart, lungs, joints, and kidneys.

Similarities
Both these diseases share a lot of common symptoms like joint pains, inflammation, fatigue, and soreness. Often, both the diseases are misdiagnosed as each other.

A closer look at the differences
Even though they appear to be similar, they both are completely different. Some of the differences between the two are:

Rheumatoid Arthritis
·It affects the joints and lungs.

·It can deform the joints.

·It causes high inflammation around lungs and even around heart sometimes.

·It doesn’t affect internal organs.

·Joint pains will be high in the mornings and subside as the day passes on.

Lupus

·It mostly affects the skin and internal organs like kidneys, heart, lungs etc.

·It affects joints but does not deform them.

·It can cause life-threatening diseases.

·Kidney failures, heart problems, blood clotting problems are the common side effects of Lupus.

·Joint pains due to Lupus remain constant throughout the day.

Treatment
There are therapies that reduce inflammation and pain. In the case of RA, some respond to the medicine partially and some only up to a limited period of time. The treatment mainly concentrates on slowing down the tissue damages and reducing complications.

For Lupus, since it comes in different forms, no effective therapies exist. Anti-inflammatory drugs and skin care are the primary steps taken in lupus. They help in reducing pain. In the advanced levels of lupus, chemotherapy can help to a certain extent by reducing the activities of the immune system.

Research is being carried out to find the infected parts of the immune system, and also to execute damage control.