Rheumatoid arthritis is a chronic and intractable disease, and many patients often have many misconceptions during the long-term treatment process, which results in either joint deformation or paralysis of the limbs several years later, or serious drug side effects due to incorrect medication. In fact, if rheumatoid arthritis patients can avoid the various misunderstandings in treatment, serious drug side effects and the bad results of paralysis in bed can be completely avoided, and some patients’ joint deformation can be reduced or delayed. A young woman, Xiao Wang, found a good job in a star hotel after graduating from university, unfortunately suffered from rheumatoid arthritis six months ago. After visiting the hospital, the doctor prescribed her some anti-rheumatic drugs, and she ate them for a period of time, thinking that the effect was very good, and there was no stomach pain, abdominal pain and other adverse reactions. But one day, she suddenly had a stomach bleed, resulting in hospitalization, blood transfusion and surgery, which cost a lot in medical expenses, and a large part of her stomach was removed, and her health deteriorated significantly after the surgery. Since then, Xiao Wang no longer dare to take anti-rheumatic drugs, enduring the pain all day long, watching the gradual deformation of joints, she almost lost confidence in life. The tragedy occurred mainly because Xiao Wang always thought that the drug should be eaten on an empty stomach to be fully absorbed, so she took the drug on an empty stomach for a long time, until a stomach bleed occurred. In the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis, the most common side effect of the drug is gastric bleeding or gastric perforation. Once the gastric bleeding or gastric perforation occurs, it will bring great difficulties to the future treatment, like Xiao Wang’s case is very common. So how to use drugs to be safer? The first thing is to choose the safer drugs as much as possible, such as OxyContin (which contains anti-rheumatic drugs and gastrointestinal protection drugs), Relifen (non-acidic drugs), Nimesulide (the latest anti-rheumatic drugs, gastrointestinal damage is very light). Do not take some old drugs with low safety for a long time, otherwise it seems to save a lot of money in a short period of time, but from a long term point of view if side effects of the drug occur, not only will it cost more money to treat, but it will also cause some irreparable damage. The second method is to try to arrange to take the medication after meals or in the middle of meals (but some enteric tablets should be taken before meals), and drink more water after taking the medication can reduce the concentration of the drug in the gastrointestinal tract, reducing the stimulating effect of the drug on the gastrointestinal tract. The third method is to take some drugs to protect the stomach at the same time, such as ranitidine and omeprazole, etc. The fourth is not to take two anti-inflammatory drugs at the same time, and to reduce the dose of anti-inflammatory drugs as much as possible. How can I reduce the dose of anti-inflammatory drugs? That is to apply a combination of slow-acting anti-rheumatic drugs. Another misconception is that many patients are only satisfied with reducing joint pain in the process of treatment and do not actively think of ways to prevent joint deformation, so they only take some anti-inflammatory and pain-relieving western drugs or certain Chinese medicines for a long time. Some patients lose confidence in the treatment and no longer visit the hospital regularly or have checkups, nor do they care about what new treatments are available. They take a little bit of western medicine or Chinese medicine for pain relief every day, and then they go to hospital only when they finally become paralyzed, but it is already too late, and the joints are already deformed and ankylosed, which is difficult to reverse. I once saw two elderly female patients with rheumatoid arthritis. One patient had been taking Chinese herbal medicine for nine years without a day’s interruption, and the other patient had been taking Chinese herbal medicine without interruption for eight years. When I went to the consultation, the two old people were already paralyzed, their hands were obviously deformed like chicken claws, and they could not hold chopsticks or dress themselves. These two elderly people seemed to be able to reduce the pain of their joints after taking Chinese medicine, but the deformation of their joints became more and more obvious every year, and they became paralyzed when the Chinese medicine was stopped. Similar cases are common in many middle-aged and elderly rheumatoid arthritis patients. Nowadays, the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis should not be limited to relieving joint swelling and pain, but should focus on preventing or slowing down the occurrence of joint deformities. Unfortunately, medical research has not yet proven that simply taking Chinese herbal medicine or anti-inflammatory and pain-relieving Western medicine can prevent or delay the onset of joint deformities. What medications can prevent or delay the onset of joint deformity? Medical studies around the world have shown that slow-acting antirheumatic drugs such as methotrexate, salbutamol, chloroquine, rhodopsin, and penicillamine have such effects. Slow-acting antirheumatic drugs not only reduce inflammation and pain, improve symptoms and reduce the dose of long-term anti-inflammatory and pain-relieving drugs, but also slow down the occurrence of joint deformities. If applied correctly, the side effects are quite small. Many rheumatoid arthritis patients abroad are currently taking these drugs for more than a few years on a long-term basis, generally without significant side effects, while their quality of life is significantly improved. It is gratifying to note that there is now a new drug or method of treatment for rheumatoid arthritis almost every 2 to 3 years, and it is believed that there will be fewer and fewer patients with joint deformity or disability due to rheumatoid arthritis in the future.