Stress Treatment for Rheumatoid Arthritis

Stress is a component of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) that should not be ignored. Both physical and emotional stress play a part in this painful and crippling disease, which causes stiffness, swelling, pain and loss of joint function. Complementary medicine or CAM therapy can be coupled with conventional treatment of RA in an effort to teach the sufferer how to better cope with stress and eliminate it as much as possible.

Physical Stress

• Easing physical stress is essential and can be achieved several ways: using a device such as a splint that relieves the stress on the joints; resting when you need to; and making lifestyle changes to better accommodate your arthritic body. Physical therapy and modified forms of exercise will also help ease physical, as well as mental, stress. Some RA sufferers undergo acupuncture to relieve stress and pain.

Mindfulness Stress Reduction

• A meditation called mindfulness-based stress reduction has proved to have good psychological results on RA patients, according to the Natural Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine. The meditation does not relieve stress symptoms, but it helps sufferers who have become depressed because of their physical condition cope with despondency. Dr. Richard Roseff, MD, a Connecticut-based rheumatologist, notes that emotional stress can be a factor in the worsening of rheumatoid arthritis.

Effects of Stress

• Stress can result in inflammation of the joints which causes pain. When you are under stress, you release a molecule called cytokine, which provokes inflammation and pain. Every effort needs to be made to determine what your stressors are and how you can either eliminate them or better cope with them. Stress can result in depression. Consequently, anti-depressants are often prescribed for RA sufferers. Anti-depressants sometimes relieve pain as well as combat depression.

Secondary Depression or Stress

• Secondary depression or stress goes along with an illness that isn't under control and isn't being treated properly, Dr. Roseff explains. New and better treatments for RA help stop the progression of the disease, which controls some of the symptoms and helps reduce depression and stress.

Exercise

• Exercising will benefit you physically and emotionally and practicing yoga will teach you how to stretch and maintain your flexibility, which you are likely to lose if you have RA and quit moving.

Stop Smoking

• If you smoke, stop. Smokers are more likely to develop RA. If you already have the disease, smoking makes it worse.