Lupus Or Rheumatoid Arthritis: Identifying The Difference

Since they are both autoimmune disorders in which the body sets upon itself and causes damage, lupus and rheumatoid arthritis are often mistaken for the other. So, energy-sapping disorders?

Experts agree that it’s almost impossible to diagnose these disorders because the clinical symptoms and laboratory abnormalities tend to have in common with each other.

Lupus and rheumatoid arthritis affect women much more frequently than men. They are also both multisystem diseases, meaning, they can affect many organs. Like lupus, rheumatoid arthritis zeroes in and causes damage to the blood vessels. Both diseases disrupt the normal function of the immune system, resulting in damaged tissues.

Lupus or systemic lupus erythematosus, is a complex disease whose cause is still unknown. It can affect many parts of the body including joints, skin, and internal organs. Most often, the person develops a rash in the shape of a butterfly on the cheeks and across the bridge of the nose. Other symptoms include fatigue, hair loss, inflammation of the kidney, mouth sores, sensitivity to light, fever, and weight loss.

Like lupus, the cause of rheumatoid arthritis is unknown. It usually affects the wrists, fingers, knees, feet, and ankles. The disease usually begins to manifest itself with fatigue and weakness, morning stiffness that lasts for more than an hour, widespread muscle aches, and loss of appetite.

People afflicted with lupus usually feels pain in the joints, but this pain is not associated with actual damage to the join itself. In some cases, swelling is not present in people with lupus. In rheumatoid arthritis, however, swelling is always present. This swollen lining is called the synovium. Pain is commonly felt by patients, but it is less

prominent compared to that of lupus.

One person can suffer from both lupus and rheumatoid arthritis. When someone with lupus develops symptoms of rheumatoid-like arthritis, including deformities of the joint, treatment for rheumatoid arthritis should be applied instead. The patient is prescribed the standard RA treatment forms such as methotrexate, sulfasalazine, and, in some cases, more powerful to control joint inflammation.

Learn more about Lupus and Rheumatoid Arthritis and more Rheumatoid Arthritis Symptoms at anaudlife.com