Rheumatoid Arthritis »
What is rheumatoid arthritis?
Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is an autoimmune disease that causes chronic inflammation of the joints. Rheumatoid
arthritis can also cause inflammation of the tissue around the joints, as well
as in other organs in the body. Autoimmune diseases are illnesses that occur when
the body's tissues are mistakenly attacked by their own immune system. The immune
system is a complex organization of cells and antibodies
designed normally
to "seek and destroy" invaders of the body, particularly
infections. Patients with autoimmune diseases have antibodies in their blood
that target their own body tissues, where they can be associated with
inflammation. Because it can affect multiple other organs of the body,
rheumatoid arthritis is referred to as a systemic illness and is sometimes
called rheumatoid disease.
While rheumatoid arthritis is a chronic
illness, meaning it can last for years, patients may ex...
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I am a 15 year old female and I have bursitis in my left ankle. I am pretty sure I have it in a few other places too, my shoulders and hips. I have been on an antiinflammatory for a while now. Mine was caused from years of cheerleading and tumbling injuries. Since I am the base of the stunt, catching the flyer puts a lot of stress on my body. It's pretty sad that I have ended up with this at such a young age. It is very painful and it burns really bad. I went on with it extremely swollen for 2 weeks before I went to the doctor. There was a chance that if I wanted to continue to cheer in college I might have not been able to cheer the rest of high school. I was crushed because on top of having bursitis I have severe trauma and several stress fractures in my ankle and shin plus shin splints. My hips burn horribly and I can barley walk up stairs anymore. At school it's really difficult getting around because we have a lot of steps and I cringe going up them. My cheerleading skills are going down because of the pain. I just can't do the things I used to be able to. There is no way I can continue to cheer anymore the pain is just to much to handle and I am a really tough person when it comes to getting hurt. Published: October 06 ::