Patient/caregiver was educated on the pathophysiology of rheumatoid arthritis as follows:
- Usually antibodies attack and destroy any foreign tissues in your body but are protective against native tissues and do not harm them.
- The protective immune system in some individuals can occasionally go into overdrive, get poorly regulated, and lead to production of autoantibodies. The cause or stimulation for this overdrive of immune system is poorly understood.
- The autoantibodies thus produced can identify native tissues as foreign and mount an aggressive attack against the native tissues and destroy them.
- Rheumatoid arthritis is an arthritis due to production of autoantibodies. The autoantibodies produced attack and damage the lining of many big and small joints, which eventually lead to erosion & damage to the bone and inflammation, resulting in rheumatoid arthritis.
- White blood cells, which are protective and fight against any infecting organisms, increasingly migrate to the affected joint as part of inflammatory response. Chemicals released from these white blood cells cause signs and symptoms of arthritis and lead to further damage to the bone and the joint.
- Rheumatoid arthritis can happen in bouts, as and when there are fresh episodes of inflammation. Activation of multiple episodes of rheumatoid arthritis over a period of time result in permanent bone deformity and poorly controlled pain.
