Rheumatoid arthritis starts slowly, with prodromal symptoms such as fatigue, weight loss, poor appetite, low fever, and numbness and tingling in the hands and feet for a few weeks to months. This is followed by pain and stiffness in a particular joint, and later by increasing joint enlargement. At the beginning, one or two joints may be involved, often in a wandering fashion. The involvement of the joints often begins in the distal phalanges of the extremities and later involves other joints. The proximal interphalangeal joints are the most frequently affected, with pyknotic enlargement; followed by the metacarpophalangeal, toe, wrist, knee, elbow, ankle, shoulder and hip joints. It is accompanied by morning joint stiffness and muscle pain, and the stiffness may be reduced with moderate activity. As the lesion progresses, there may be irregular fever and significant anemia. The diseased joints eventually become stiff and deformed, with the knees, elbows, fingers, and wrists fixed in flexion. The fingers often become subluxed laterally at the metacarpophalangeal joint, forming a characteristic ulnar deviation deformity, and the distal phalangeal joint is flexed and the proximal interphalangeal joint is hyperextended, giving a gooseneck-like deformity, at which point the patient requires assistance in daily life. About 10% to 30% of patients have small subcutaneous nodules, hard as rubber, in the bulging parts of the joints, such as the eminence of the upper limbs, the wrists and the ankles of the lower limbs, which are called rheumatoid nodules. Rheumatoid nodules are not easily absorbed, and their appearance often indicates that the disease is in a severe active stage. Rheumatoid arthritis is easy to pay attention to in the later stages and is not easily misdiagnosed, but is often not easily noticed in the early stages. Therefore, when you have symptoms such as chronic fatigue, weight loss, poor appetite, or low fever and numbness and tingling in the hands and feet with pain and stiffness in a particular joint that is wandering, you should definitely visit a rheumatologist. When you have symmetrical joint swelling and pain, mainly in the small joints of the extremities, among which metacarpophalangeal joints, proximal interphalangeal joints and wrist joints are the most common, and elbow, shoulder and knee joints are involved, accompanied by morning stiffness (the stiffness and tightness of the joints after waking up in the morning, which can be significantly improved after activity), you may have rheumatoid arthritis, and you should go to the Rheumatology and Immunology Department in time. It is more important to consult the rheumatology department.