Rheumatoid Arthritis is a chronic disease, meaning it can’t be cured. Most people with RA experience intermittent bouts of intense disease activity, called flares. In some people this disease is continuously active and gets worse over time. Others enjoy long periods of remission - no disease activity or symptoms at all.
For reasons no one fully understands, in rheumatoid arthritis, the immune system - which is designed to protect our health by attacking foreign cells such as viruses and bacteria - instead attacks the body’s own tissues, specifically the synovium, a thin membrane that lines the joints. As a result ...