Freedom from Rheumatoid Arthritis

To raise awareness about the condition, The Times of India with MSN Labs organized a webinar, Freedom from Rheumatoid Arthritis in 15 cities Hyderabad, Ahmedabad, Kolkata, Chennai, Gurgaon, Indore, Jaipur, Nagpur, Lucknow, Noida, Pune, Chandigarh, Mumbai, Delhi, Bengaluru What is RA Explaining about Rheumatoid Arthritis, Dr Ashit Syngle said, RA is a chronic symmetrical inflammatory disorder, which means that your immune system attacks healthy cells in your body by mistake, causing inflammation in the affected parts of the body.

Rheumatoid Arthritis affects approximately 1% of the population of India. However, for treating nearly a crore of patients, the country needs at least 10 lakh rheumatologists, which are at an extreme shortfall at present. To raise awareness about the condition, The Times of India with MSN Labs organized a webinar, "Freedom from Rheumatoid Arthritis" in 15 cities Hyderabad, Ahmedabad, Kolkata, Chennai, Gurgaon, Indore, Jaipur, Nagpur, Lucknow, Noida, Pune, Chandigarh, Mumbai, Delhi, Bengaluru What is RA Explaining about Rheumatoid Arthritis, Dr. Ashit Syngle said, "RA is a chronic symmetrical inflammatory disorder, which means that your immune system attacks healthy cells in your body by mistake, causing inflammation in the affected parts of the body. Rheumatoid Arthritis affects approximately 1 percent of the Indian population. RA mainly attacks the joints.

Morning Stiffness and pain in the joints are the early symptoms to look out for, said Dr. Shan, adding that the stiffness might last from half an hour to two hours depending on the severity. If the disease becomes obvious, swelling in the small joints of the hands and legs is another sign of RA.

Joints that are affected by RA are inflammatory, small joint, asymmetrical, polyarthritis. "It affects small joints of hand and feet. There may/ may not be visible swelling. Both right and left wrist, ankles, elbow, knees, and even jaws may even be affected. Joints inside the larynx too but that is not very common. People should consult a rheumatologist if there is any prolonged pain to rule out other diseases, "advised Dr. Tanoy Bose.

Managing the condition Once a person is affected, he/she is at a crossroads on how best to manage the disease. "Once diagnosed, most people, especially the young or the unmarried- are in shock. Acceptance of the disease is very important and the patient along with parents and in-laws (in case of unmarried women), should learn to accept it" said Dr. Pooja Dhaon. She stressed one should consult a rheumatologist as early as possible with the onset of symptoms. Duration of treatment could stretch life-long'', she said. "Left untreated, RA can lead to joint damage or deformity or even total disability. Treatment should be taken from the very beginning to the end," she said.

Role of Immunity Since RA is an autoimmune and inflammatory disease, which means one's immune system attacks the healthy cells in the body, doctors enlightened the audience about autoimmunity. Dr. Roy said, "Auto-immunity is when a person's innate immune system backfires and damages their joints. That should not be confused with low- immunity or hyper-immunity." Dr. Keerthi added that many patients have the myth that if they start taking immunity boosters then RA can be prevented, which does not help cure RA As the doctors stated, RA is an autoimmune and inflammatory disease, wherein one's immune system attacks the healthy cells in the body. However, there are many misunderstandings about the illness. Dr. Mehra said. "People believe that only if they have low immunity, they for the treatment will cause low immunity, but these are just myths. Patients who develop RA do not necessarily have low immunity. The disease is caused because of certain environmental or genetic risks which cause the immune system to dysfunction." However, she also added that there are rare disorders of immune deficiency which also cause RA among other conditions.

Know the cause Informing about the prevalence of the disease, Dr. Preksha Dwivedi, said, "There are a lot of myths around the disease like it is only a disease of old age. Rather it affects most in the population of 30-5- age group. Though middle-aged women are at higher risk than men, RA is equally common in both men and women towards old age. RA can even affect kids" Dr. Abhishek Arvind Zanwar explained, "The focus of treatment is also tackling various other problems such as diabetes, cholesterol bedside cardiovascular disorder. It is important to note that patients must consume a balanced diet, exercise for about 30-45 minutes a day, and focus on not consuming certain pro-inflammatory substances like tobacco, excess sugar, red meat, and bakery products. The key is to also maintain a steady weight." Why urgency matters The doctors continuously stressed prompt diagnosis and early treatment which would help in reducing the risk factors. Dr. Ankit Jainsaid, "Within six weeks of the onset of the disease, it is possible to diagnose the condition. However, in reality, people ignore their pain for years or buy drugs from local pharmacies which is just a temporary solution. By the time they realize to consult a rheumatologist, the condition has worsened. Therefore, it is of utmost importance to get early diagnosis and the correct treatment." Doctors who participated Pune Dr Arvind Chopra Dr. Pravin Patil Dr. Nachiket Jeevan Kulkarni Dr. Abhishek Arvind Zanwar Dr. Aniruddha Temba Dr. Ajit BapuraoNalawade Bhopal Dr. Ashish K Badika Dr. Preksha Dwivedi Dr. Akshat Pandey Dr. Apurva Khare Dr. Rahul Sahu Noida Dr. P D Rath Dr. Sonal Mehra Dr. Ankit Jain Dr. Subodh Gururani Dr. Sundeep Grover Bangalore Dr. Ramesh Jois Dr. Abhishek Patil Dr. Chethana Dharmapalaiah Dr. Ramya J Chandigarh Dr. Ashit Syngle Dr. Anil Abrol Dr. Satbir Kaur Dr. Parshant Aggarwal Dr. Vikas Gupta Chennai Dr. K Shanmuganandan Dr. S. Sham Dr. Thilagavathi N Dr. T. Aarthi Priya Kolkata Dr. R N Sarkar Dr. Parasar Ghosh Dr. Abhrajit Ray Dr. Tanoy Bose Lucknow Dr S K Das Dr. Pooja Dhaon Dr Sujata Ganguly Dr. Durgesh Srivastava Dr. Shweta Agarwal Hyderabad Dr. G Narasimulu Dr. Sarath Chandra MouliVeeravalli Dr. Raj Kiran Dudam Dr. A. N Roy Dr. Keerthi Talari Bommakanli Gurgaon Dr. Vishal Kaura Aggarwal Dr. Gaurav Seth Dr. Shallu Verma Dr. Siddharth Kumar Jaipur Dr. Rahul Jain Dr. Akhil Goel Dr. Manoj Khatri Dr. Anu Daber Dr. Avinash Jain Ahmedabad Dr Reena Sharma Dr. Anuj Shukla Dr. Romi Shah Dr. Puja Shrivastava Dr. Vishnu Sharma Nagpur Dr. Smruti Ramteke Dr. Sandeep Kharka Dr. SachinDhote Dr. Parikshit Sagdeo Delhi Dr. Lt General Ved Chaturvedi Dr. Maj Gen D S Bhakuni Dr (Prof) Sudeep Upadhyaya Dr. Jatinder Juneja Dr. Priyanka Kharbanda Dr. Divya Agarwal Mumbai Dr. Varsha P Bagul Dr. S . M. Akerkar Dr. Mamatha P Venkatesh Dr. Raheesh Ravindran Dr. Nilesh Nolkha