Arthritis Health Center

News and Features Related to Arthritis

131. Sex, Aging, and Rheumatoid Arthritis
     

     Some women with rheumatoid arthritis sail through menopause without a care while others experience a full menu of menopause symptoms: hot flashes, insomnia, mood swings, weight gain. Menopause can also increase symptoms of RA, such as joint pain and fatigue. There is actually a slight rise in new di

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132. RA and Intimacy: Keeping Relationships Strong
     

     So how's your sex life? With rheumatoid arthritis, that question may make you sigh instead of smile. Fatigue can kill desire. Fear of hip or knee pain can keep you from trying. Or perhaps emotional pain is holding you back -- you just don't feel as connected to your lover as you used to or you don't

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133. WebMD Fibromyalgia Community: Fatigue and Fibromyalgia -- A Sleep Test Can Help
     

     Fatigue that doesn’t go away is one of the most common fibromyalgia symptoms. In many cases, people with fibromyalgia wake up feeling more tired than when they went to bed. This was the case for one member of WebMD’s fibromyalgia community. She decided to have a sleep study to find out if sleep apne

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134. WebMD Fibromyalgia Community: Do I Have Fibromyalgia? Misdiagnosed?
     

     One member of WebMD’s fibromyalgia community wonders if it's possible that she has been misdiagnosed with fibromyalgia. “My pain is centered in my lower back. I was under the impression that fibromyalgia affects the whole body,” she says. She has back spasms and can’t sit for an extended amount of t

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135. 5 Things RA Can Teach Your Kids
     

     That doesn't sound right, does it? The last thing rheumatoid arthritis does is help anyone, least of all you as a parent or your kids, right? Some days RA can keep you from doing all the things you’d like to do. It makes it harder to open a jar of baby food, braid hair, or play catch. But moms with

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136. Moms With RA: Helping Your Family Understand Pain
     

     When Keri Cawthorne was diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis last year, one of her biggest concerns was how it would affect her 10-year-old daughter. “She watched me go through all the emotions. I wasn’t dying, I didn’t have cancer, but it was a hard one to take,” says Cawthorne, a fitness instructor

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137. Eating for 2: Your RA Pregnancy Diet
     

     Amy Louise Nelson, 34, packed on 50 pounds during her first pregnancy and 40 pounds during her second. While she was able to lose the weight rather quickly after she delivered, the extra pounds took a toll on her already damaged joints. Nelson, a stay-at-home mother in Rochester, Minn., was diagnose

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138. Losing Pregnancy Weight When You've Got RA
     

     It can be hard to find the time and energy to exercise when you have a newborn at home. If you also have rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and are having a flare, exercise may be the very last thing you feel like doing. RA is an autoimmune disease in which the body mistakenly attacks its own joints. RA tend

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139. 1 in 12 Women Will Have Autoimmune Disease
     

     Jan. 11, 2011 -- One in 12 women and one in 20 men in the U.S. will develop some sort of autoimmune disease in their lifetime, according to new estimates. Inflammatory autoimmune diseases, such as rheumatoid arthritis (RA), are relatively common conditions, especially among adults aged 50 and older.

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140. Arthritis Doctors Too Often Opt for Drugs, Surgery
     

     Jan. 7, 2011 -- Many doctors who treat people with osteoarthritis are prescribing medications or choosing surgical options instead of recommending more conservative treatments such as weight loss and exercise programs. That’s the main conclusion of a new analysis published in the January 2011 issue

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