Did you know Rheumatoid Arthritis (RA) is three times more likely to appear in women than men? First of all...
What is RA? Well here's a definition straight from Wikipedia: Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is a chronic, systemic autoimmune disorder that causes the immune system to attack the joints, where it causes inflammation (arthritis) and destruction.
(Remember you can always search Google for specific definitions on the top right hand side of the page) So that sounds smart, and I'm sure if you said it when having a coffee with your friends they'd be impressed.
But what does all that mumbo jumbo really mean? Well, lets break it down.
Chronic is the opposite of acute which is short.
So Chronic means long or prolonged.
OK lets take a look at what's next; Systemic autoimmune disorder.
I'm guessing this is what lost most of us.
This pretty much means that our bodies' immune systems can sometime attack its OWN cells thinking that they are a threat to the body.
So if we put all that together what is a better definition? Rheumatoid arthritis is a longterm disease that involves the body attacking its own cells, specifically in the joints.
This causes them to swell and degrade.
Great! Now that we know what RA really is let's take a look at a random fact of RA and then get into some wacky treatments! Did you know we don't know the specific factors that cause RA? However, we do know that is related to genes.
So how is RA going to be treated? Well first we might need to use a quick acting med such as an NSAID, Prednisone, or Aspirin.
This is mainly because the "main" treatments can take up to 6months to work!! What are these main treatments I speak of? Well these treatments generally involve stopping or inhibiting (click me!) cellular immunity.
The drug classes include: Anti-malarials Gold salts There are many other treatments that are effective but I thought these two were the most interesting.
Wait! Did you say anti-malarials?!?! And what about GOLD salts?!? You might think I'm crazy but it's true..
..
Anti-malarials and Gold salts are used for RA regularly.
An example of an Anti-malarial is Chloroquine.
This seems to work within one to three months after the treatment is started.
Gold...
This one surprised me too.
But it's not really what you think.
Gold Salts are actually what are used for RA.
Gold Salts have their highest effect start at 3-4 months.
They also stop the progression of bone and joint damage as well.
However, gold isn't used too often because there are a few serious side effects.
What's the "gold standard" or generally first treatment that people get? Methotrexate.
This is a first line immunosuppressive agent that is very reliable in RA.
Almost done! I wanted to mention one more drug used for RA.
This med seemed to be sparked by some pretty ingenious people and I thought you'd like to hear about it.
Infliximab.
Infliximab Reduces the symptoms of RA and has good Synergism (Try looking that up in the search box!) with Methotrexate.
This reduces TNF-alpha levels in the body.
TNF-alpha is a part of the body's inflammation process.
If these levels are reduced then there won't be as much inflammation in your joints! That's great...
but why is this drug so interesting again? Well I'll tell you! This drug is what's known as a Chimeric Monoclonal antibody.
"Eh? You've lost me.
" Actually it's quite simple.
This means we grab a piece of a mouse antibody and stick it on a piece of a human antibody! Pretty cool huh? Anyways, this mouse/human antibody will bind to and neutralize TNF-alpha.
Hence, we have a decrease in inflammation symptoms in RA.
Well, I hope you learned something new.
Remember to comment if you have any questions! Thanks for reading :)
What is RA? Well here's a definition straight from Wikipedia: Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is a chronic, systemic autoimmune disorder that causes the immune system to attack the joints, where it causes inflammation (arthritis) and destruction.
(Remember you can always search Google for specific definitions on the top right hand side of the page) So that sounds smart, and I'm sure if you said it when having a coffee with your friends they'd be impressed.
But what does all that mumbo jumbo really mean? Well, lets break it down.
Chronic is the opposite of acute which is short.
So Chronic means long or prolonged.
OK lets take a look at what's next; Systemic autoimmune disorder.
I'm guessing this is what lost most of us.
This pretty much means that our bodies' immune systems can sometime attack its OWN cells thinking that they are a threat to the body.
So if we put all that together what is a better definition? Rheumatoid arthritis is a longterm disease that involves the body attacking its own cells, specifically in the joints.
This causes them to swell and degrade.
Great! Now that we know what RA really is let's take a look at a random fact of RA and then get into some wacky treatments! Did you know we don't know the specific factors that cause RA? However, we do know that is related to genes.
So how is RA going to be treated? Well first we might need to use a quick acting med such as an NSAID, Prednisone, or Aspirin.
This is mainly because the "main" treatments can take up to 6months to work!! What are these main treatments I speak of? Well these treatments generally involve stopping or inhibiting (click me!) cellular immunity.
The drug classes include: Anti-malarials Gold salts There are many other treatments that are effective but I thought these two were the most interesting.
Wait! Did you say anti-malarials?!?! And what about GOLD salts?!? You might think I'm crazy but it's true..
..
Anti-malarials and Gold salts are used for RA regularly.
An example of an Anti-malarial is Chloroquine.
This seems to work within one to three months after the treatment is started.
Gold...
This one surprised me too.
But it's not really what you think.
Gold Salts are actually what are used for RA.
Gold Salts have their highest effect start at 3-4 months.
They also stop the progression of bone and joint damage as well.
However, gold isn't used too often because there are a few serious side effects.
What's the "gold standard" or generally first treatment that people get? Methotrexate.
This is a first line immunosuppressive agent that is very reliable in RA.
Almost done! I wanted to mention one more drug used for RA.
This med seemed to be sparked by some pretty ingenious people and I thought you'd like to hear about it.
Infliximab.
Infliximab Reduces the symptoms of RA and has good Synergism (Try looking that up in the search box!) with Methotrexate.
This reduces TNF-alpha levels in the body.
TNF-alpha is a part of the body's inflammation process.
If these levels are reduced then there won't be as much inflammation in your joints! That's great...
but why is this drug so interesting again? Well I'll tell you! This drug is what's known as a Chimeric Monoclonal antibody.
"Eh? You've lost me.
" Actually it's quite simple.
This means we grab a piece of a mouse antibody and stick it on a piece of a human antibody! Pretty cool huh? Anyways, this mouse/human antibody will bind to and neutralize TNF-alpha.
Hence, we have a decrease in inflammation symptoms in RA.
Well, I hope you learned something new.
Remember to comment if you have any questions! Thanks for reading :)
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