Medpedia RA entry | Arthritis Information

Medpedia is new to me - like Wikipedia, but developed because they didn't like the wiki medical entries. Here is their RA article:

http://wiki.medpedia.com/Rheumatoid_Arthritis#cite_note-0
Well, they weren't afraid to talk about the elephant in the RA room:

Researchers are working to determine what causes the autoimmune destruction involved in rheumatoid arthritis. Current belief is in a combination of genetic susceptibility and environmental factors ^[1] ^[2]

Some environmental risks include the following: ^[3]

Smoking
Female sex hormones (birth control pills and pregnancy are protective)
Postpartum period (increased risk)
Breastfeeding after a first pregnancy
Infection (Epstein-Barr virus, parvovirus and some bacteria such as Proteus and Mycoplasma) - still being studied.

and

A growing body of evidence indicates that infectious agents, such as viruses and bacteria, may trigger rheumatoid arthritis in people who have an inherited predisposition to the disease. Scientists are trying to discover which infectious agents may be responsible and how they trigger arthritis.

Interesting link. Thanks! Wait a second... I never experienced loss of appetite. That one I wouldn't mind so much. Heh... I'm carrying an extra 40 pounds or so. Especially now that working out is so hard and I don't play ball anymore...I suspected the depo-provera I took for birth control. but then it was also shortly after giving birth the RA symptoms appears. so multiple factors. immune system overload is what I concluded eventually.

Interesting statement about studying infection as cause of RA. Just what Dr. Brown says.Reread this post.Still like this.
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