Beijing’s spring, the first warm and cold, many people suffering from rheumatism, and began to enter the season of suffering. Many people know that they have “rheumatism”, but do you know what is “rheumatism”? In China’s oldest medical book “Huang Di Nei Jing”, the wind, cold, dampness, three kinds of external evil gas is called malady. Ills means not being able to get through, and not being able to get through means pain. Therefore, modern medicine collectively refers to pain symptoms caused by skeletal muscles as “rheumatism”. Therefore, “rheumatism” is a general term for a large group of diseases, is a family of diseases. In this family of diseases, the most important member is “rheumatoid arthritis”. So today, let’s talk about rheumatoid arthritis. What is rheumatoid arthritis? Some people may be confused when they see this question – rheumatoid arthritis? Never heard of it! Others may have a very horrified look on their face – rheumatoid arthritis, a very scary disease! This is probably the image that comes to their mind of all sorts of joint deformities. However, the dangers of rheumatoid arthritis go far beyond that. First of all, rheumatoid arthritis can cause swelling and pain in the joints, like a fire burning them. And the joints in all parts of our body can be involved, from the smallest joints in our fingers to the largest joints in our hips, all of which can be invaded by rheumatoid arthritis. So what happens when fire burns the joints? It is to burn the bones. If the joints are swollen and painful for a long time without timely treatment, erosion and destruction of the bone around the joints will occur, further leading to deformation of the joints. Therefore, the term “pain of bone erosion” to describe the pain of rheumatoid arthritis is very apt. Long-term, multi-part joint deformation will eventually lead to disability. If you can imagine a young mother or a young man who is supposed to be in his prime being confined to bed for a long period of time without being able to take care of himself, you can imagine how much of a burden rheumatoid arthritis can bring to a family. Some people may ask, “If rheumatoid arthritis is so serious, why have I never seen it before? Is it true that very few people suffer from this disease? The prevalence of rheumatoid arthritis is about 0.5%. This seems to be a very low percentage, but we can imagine that the population of Beijing is about 26 million, according to this percentage, there are 130,000 rheumatoid arthritis patients in the whole of Beijing, which is still a very large number. However, it is reassuring to know that rheumatoid arthritis is a treatable disease. The arthritis can be well controlled with medication and injections, and it does not affect normal life and work at all. In the early stage of rheumatoid arthritis, it may only manifest as pain and swelling in a few joints, and if it is not treated in a standardized manner, the progression to advanced joint deformities will take place over a period of about 10-20 years. That means we have 10-20 years to prevent a joint from becoming a terrible deformity. But even then, it’s not something to be taken lightly. Because there is no proven prevention for rheumatoid arthritis, and the critical period for treatment is the first 2-3 years after the onset of the disease, the earlier the treatment, the better the results. The earlier the treatment, the better the results. Therefore, treatment should be carried out before it is too late. If there is swelling and pain in the joints, even for a short period of time, seek medical attention as soon as possible for early diagnosis and treatment. Speaking of treatment, what patients can do themselves is to have a balanced diet, improve their lifestyle, exercise properly and try to avoid going into cold and wet environments. In addition, more importantly, must go to the regular hospital to listen to the professional guidance and advice of doctors, do not believe in what the so-called “ancestral secret recipe” or “folk remedies”, so as not to delay the condition, resulting in serious consequences. Therefore, rheumatoid arthritis is a long-term chronic disease, serious disability, but early treatment can receive good results, the most critical is early diagnosis, early treatment!