Even people with advanced RA can benefit from medical treatment. The treatment benefits can include the following:
- Reduced joint pain
- Reduced involvement of other joints
- Increased mobility
- Reduced risk for cancer, heart disease, and stroke
Joint Pain
Even if a joint has undergone considerable erosion and lost some mobility, inflammation can still result in continued pain, tenderness, and disability. RA can continue to damage joints, even if they are not very painful.
Involvement of Other Joints
RA is a progressive disease. The inflammatory process may involve only a few joints today, but other joints might be involved tomorrow. Reducing the disease activity with aggressive medical treatment may prevent the involvement of other joints that could result in further pain and disability.
Mobility
Joints can be immobilized by pain, inflammation, and erosions. Current treatment can decrease this pain and inflammation of joints, which can result in an increased ability to walk, go to work, and enjoy hobbies. While current treatment may rebuild damaged joints, reducing the pain and inflammation is also worthwhile.
Systemic Risk of Heart Disease, Stroke, and Cancer
Many studies have shown that the chronic inflammation associated with RA raises a person's risk for developing heart disease, stroke, and cancer, especially cancer of the lymph nodes (lymphoma). Reducing the amount of inflammation can reduce your risk of experiencing the long-term complications of RA.
If you continue to have RA symptoms, you should discuss your treatment with your doctor. Working together, you should strive to balance the risks of continued uncontrolled inflammation against the risks of more aggressive treatment.