Rheumatoid arthritis is a long-term condition that causes pain, swelling, and stiffness in the joints. Periods of worsening symptoms, known as flare-ups or flare-downs, may occur.

“Rheumatoid arthritis is an auto-immune disease in which your immune system has become overactive and started to attack the healthy tissue around the joints. This can lead to inflammation which leads to joint damage.”

For Rheumatoid Arthritis Awareness Week, Biorex Diagnostics spoke with Keri a Versus Arthritis staff member and volunteer who was diagnosed with Rheumatoid Arthritis.

Keri experienced her first signs when she was 21. She explained, “I woke up one morning with really painful, stiff thumbs and I had a loss of function in them. I struggled to pull on my socks and put up my hair in the morning. Gradually others of my joints became affected such as my elbow, my wrists, my knees and my feet. This really affected my ability to walk and do daily tasks. Many symptoms I’ve experienced with rheumatoid arthritis are that my joints have become painful, red, hot to touch, puffy, swollen and really stiff, especially in the mornings.”

Feeling that many people only attribute joint pain to rheumatoid arthritis, Keri went on to highlight the other symptoms she has experienced; “dry eyes, dry mouth and extreme fatigue.”

Keri went on to say that she relieved the stiffness caused by rheumatoid arthritis by “keeping active, I feel movement is key. So I go for short walks and don’t sit for long periods of time. I’ve found the gentle exercises on the versus arthritis website very helpful and have been very beneficial for me.”

Rheumatoid arthritis has significantly affected many daily activities in Keri’s life over the years. “It has affected my mobility, I’ve had a loss of independence and I struggle to carry out many daily tasks such as brushing my hair, washing my face, even getting out of a chair, cutting up my food or getting dressed.

I haven’t always been able to work and had to give up my original idea of a career. I didn’t match my peers in many things in my life; I had to graduate late. I now have to get into a routine of going to hospital visits for my infusions to receive my drug to treat my arthritis and go for regular blood tests. However, life can be normal again thanks to the treatments that are now available for people with rheumatoid arthritis.

I still have my limitations but I have learnt many self-management techniquesthrough attending one of versus arthritis pain management courses ”

When it comes to coping with a rheumatoid arthritis flare-up, Keri stated that it’s about “learning to pace myself, to not overdo it on the good days or the bad days. I find that gentle exercise and stretching also help. I’ve found that the heated pool of the hydrotherapy pool was really great at helping to decrease my stiffness when I’m having a flare. I also like to use hot water bottles or head patches on any of my stiff joints that are really painful. But when my joints are hot to the touch I tend to use ice or cool packs on them to try and reduce the inflammation.”

Keri also noted that having rheumatoid arthritis can be “isolating especially when you are in the middle of a flare and you can have a low mood. I find talking to others who understand the condition is really crucial.”

Biorex Diagnostics manufactures both Anti-CCP and RF-Latex which play a key role in the diagnosis of rheumatoid arthritis.

The Biorex Diagnostics RF-Latex test is a rapid slide agglutination test for the qualitative and semi-quantitative detection of Rheumatoid Factors in serum. Latex suspension coated with human gamma-globulin agglutinates in the presence of rheumatoid factors in the patient’s serum.

Rheumatoid factors are antibodies directed against antigenic sites in the Fc fragment of human and animal IgG. Their frequent occurrence in rheumatoid arthritis makes them useful for diagnosis and monitoring of the disease, although RF is also found in several rheumatic disorders such as Sjogren’s syndrome and Lupus erythematosus (SLE).

The Biorex Anti-cyclic citrullinated peptide antibody (Anti-CCP) is an in-vitro test for the quantitative determination of Anti-CCP in human serum or plasma.

The diagnosis of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) often relies on clinical manifestations and laboratory tests such as rheumatoid factor and C-reactive protein. However, the identification of citrulline as a target of a whole set of auto-antibodies detected in the sera of RA patients has led to the development of anti-CCP assays (antibody to cyclic citrullinated peptides) which possess a high specificity for RA. The clinical performance of anti-CCP assays has been further improved by the use of multiple citrullinated peptides, resulting in a second generation of anti-CCP assays.