Is Hormone Imbalance the Ultimate Cause Behind Rheumatoid Arthritis?

Whenever you hear the term ‘joint pain’, the first disease that comes to your mind is arthritis.

Arthritis can lead to both swelling and pain or joint inflammation.

However, it is not that arthritis is the only cause of chronic pain.

There are different types of hormonal imbalances too which can lead to joint pain and these usually happen among people with low testosterone or low T.

Once you meet your doctor, he can evaluate to check whether or not the pain is related to arthritis or with low testosterone or any other medical condition.

Before you delve deeper into the other causes of joint pain, let’s take a look at what rheumatoid arthritis is.

Rheumatoid Arthritis – What is it?

RA or Rheumatoid Arthritis is an autoimmune disorder which leads to chronic inflammation all over the joints.

This occurs whenever the immune system of the body attacks itself rather than attacking foreign pathogens like viruses or bacteria.

This leads the inner lining of the joints to thicken which leads to pain and swelling.

With time, RA can be the cause of loss of bones and cartilage and also deformity of joints.

Reports reveal that around 1.5 million people in America suffer from RA and it is thrice more common among women than among men.

Women start developing RA in between the ages of 30 and 60 and men begin to develop it at a later age.

What may be the causes of RA?

There is no exact cause of RA but like several other autoimmune disorders, there are several factors (both environmental and genetic) which can cause such a joint disease.

There are few genetic markers which make it riskier for you to develop rheumatoid arthritis and different other factors are being studied like environmental triggers and obesity.

Effects of hormone on rheumatoid arthritis. Shutterstock Images

Do hormones have any impact on Rheumatoid Arthritis?

The medical experts have long been researching on the links between hormone levels and RA.

For women, if the reproductive hormones like progesterone and estrogen seem to be normal, this can act as a protective layer against developing this auto-immune disorder.

According to researches which were done on middle-aged women with arthritis, it was seen that they reported fewer joint pain complaints during their postovulatory stage.

Women who suffer from RA also report that the joint pain symptoms even get worse post-childbirth and during the second week of their menstrual cycles when the hormone levels remain the lowest.

As with age, the reproductive hormones decrease, some researchers believe that this is the reason why this group of women experiences RA more than the other young-aged segment of the population.

Hormone replacement therapy, just as growth hormone treatment, is a successful option as it uses a combination of estrogen and progesterone to reduce the activity of a woman’s RA.

Nevertheless, this can boost the intensity of the flare-up of the disease whenever they occur.

Apart from that, there are few side-effects too that you need to be aware of:

• Swelling of breasts or tenderness
• Headaches
• Fluid retention
• Mood swings

It is vital for anyone to understand the pros and cons of this hormone treatment before starting off with it.

Treatments for Rheumatoid Arthritis

• It is true that joint damage can have an impact on several parts of your body and this kind of damage can never be reversed.
• This is why doctors recommend an early diagnosis of the disease and according to treatment to get the best result.Since there is no cure for rheumatoid arthritis, the main aim of the treatment is to keep the symptoms under control and counter joint damage.

As we see, there is still a narrow understanding of the relation between RA and female hormones.

There is still more research needed to determine whether there should be established any serious link between the two.

Melissa Feldman writes about a range of lifestyle topics, including health, fitness, nutrition, and the intersection of them all. She has undergraduate degrees in both teaching and psychology. She spent almost 20 years writing and designing English as a Second Language educational materials, including several textbooks. She has presented the cumulative research of many health topics ranging from dietary supplements to joint pain relief products and topical pain reliever. She is skilled at writing compelling articles and producing academic, marketing and creative content. Melissa currently lives in Toronto, Canada and works as an independent research writer. She has more than a decade of experience reviewing and editing publications intended for both public and professional audiences. You can connect with her on. View all posts by Melissa Feldman