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Things to Avoid When You Have RA
Below are a dozen things that can make you feel worse, cause your symptoms to flare, or cause your disease to progress. While you may be aware of some of this list, the rest are lesser known in terms of being linked to RA.
1. Not Sticking to Treatment
After you are diagnosed with RA, your doctor will recommend a course of treatment to help manage RA symptoms and disease activity. If you fail to follow the treatment regimen — by not filling prescriptions, not taking medication as directed, not exercising, or skipping appointments — there is an increased risk of worsening symptoms and disease activity. That’s the case even when it’s unintentional, such as when you forget. While your reasons for not following your treatment plan may be entirely valid, it is your responsibility to discuss those reasons with your doctor before you make changes to the prescribed regimen. You could benefit from a medication change or the addition of a treatment. Be sure to have that conversation with your doctor and decide on your next move together. RELATED: Rheumatoid Arthritis Disease Progression and Symptoms: An Overview RELATED: Best and Worst Exercise Trends for Rheumatoid Arthritis
3. Eating a Pro-Inflammatory Diet
Certain foods and additives are believed to increase inflammation in the body, such as sugar, saturated fats, trans fats, omega-6 fatty acids, refined carbohydrates, monosodium glutamate (MSG), gluten, aspartame, and alcohol. A diet for RA should include anti-inflammatory foods, and pro-inflammatory foods should be reduced or avoided. Check out Dr. Andrew Weil’s Anti-Inflammatory Food Pyramid. RELATED: A Comprehensive Guide to an Anti-Inflammatory Diet RELATED: Planning Ahead or Being Spontaneous: Which Approach Works Better for People With Rheumatoid Arthritis?
5. Smoking
A study published in April 2019 in The Journal of Rheumatology found that smoking was associated with higher levels of disease activity in RA, including more swollen joints. In addition, smoking can reduce bone mass, making you more susceptible to osteoporosis, according to the Arthritis Foundation. Quitting is a surefire way to improve your RA, lung health, bone health, and overall health. RELATED: How to Quit Smoking When You Have Rheumatoid Arthritis
6. Stressing Out
If you have RA, you don’t need to be told that stress makes it worse. You know, because you live it. Interestingly, many people with RA are able to point to a stressful or traumatic event that occurred just before the onset of a flare. A study published in February 2021 in the journal Rheumatology (Oxford) found that women who had recently been diagnosed with RA reported more stressful life events in the year prior to the onset of symptoms compared with those who didn’t have RA. RELATED: How the Stress Response Affects Rheumatoid Arthritis
7. Focusing on Negativity and Pessimism
Simply put, it takes a positive attitude, rather than a negative or pessimistic one, to achieve positive results. It is logical that you need a positive approach to stay on track with your treatment regimen, exercise routine, diet, and more. You must believe in the goal. In a study published in December 2018 in The Clinical Journal of Pain, researchers found that optimism and mental resilience were associated with less pain severity in people with or at risk for knee osteoarthritis. RELATED: Catastrophizing About Rheumatoid Arthritis Pain Can Make It Worse
8. Becoming Dehydrated
We are often reminded to drink water and stay well hydrated but for some reason don’t always follow through. Dehydration is linked to fatigue, a slower metabolism, worse cognitive functioning, and the formation of kidney stones. You may be surprised to learn that lack of hydration is also tied to increased joint pain. RELATED: 6 Tips to Help You Stay Hydrated
9. Forgetting to Protect Your Joints
Joint protection is an important part of any treatment program for RA. The goal is to reduce pain, prevent deformity, stabilize the joints, and reduce stress on the joints. This is accomplished through the use of splints, braces, or assistive devices; exercise; proper body mechanics; pacing your activities; and modifying your environment if necessary. Failure to protect your joints can make RA worse. RELATED: 8 Ways to Prevent Rheumatoid Arthritis Joint Damage
10. Neglecting Your Oral Health
Research suggests that tooth loss may predict RA and its severity. Researchers who have studied the connection between RA and periodontal disease discovered similarities in the joint and oral tissues, and in the inflammatory processes that affect them. The types of cells that infiltrate both tissues of the joints in RA and of the mouth in periodontitis — a progressive form of gum disease — are similar. Also, the levels of pro-inflammatory proteins, such as tumor necrosis factor (TNF), interleukin-1, and interleukin-6, are also similar in both RA and periodontitis. There are potential consequences when oral health is neglected. RELATED: Rheumatoid Arthritis and Gum Disease: What You Need to Know
11. Investing in Quack Cures
A quack cure is essentially “hope in a bottle,” an unproven remedy that is ineffective at best and potentially harmful at worst. It is a waste of time and money, especially if you abandon the prescribed treatment from your rheumatologist in favor of the unproven remedy that is cloaked in deception. You risk making your RA worse. RELATED: Watch Out for These Rheumatoid Arthritis Alternative Therapies
12. Ignoring RA Symptoms
When you experience the first symptoms of RA, it’s not unusual to assume you injured yourself. You hope it will go away in time, and when it doesn’t, you find yourself self-treating with over-the-counter pain relief products. How long you spend in this phase of waiting and self-treating is crucial, because, with RA, early diagnosis and early treatment is imperative to slowing disease progression and preventing joint deformity. Waiting too long can make your RA worse. The same rule applies once you’ve been diagnosed with RA. Any new or worsening symptoms that were previously well managed can be a sign RA is progressing. Be sure to reach out to your doctor to talk about next steps, which may involve a change in treatment.
