Learn about mental health issues that may accompany rheumatoid arthritis.

People who live with chronic diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis may experience more than physical pain and disability.

Psoriatic arthritis treatment depends on the severity of symptoms, how they affect daily life, and whether there is joint damage or destruction, says Dan Fohrman, MD, a rheumatologist in private practice in Bend, Ore.

Some people need medication only when symptoms flare; others need strong medication to halt pain, swelling, and to slow or stop joint damage, Dr. Fohrman says.

"The effectiveness of these medications in some patients is nothing short of extraordinary," he says. Here are the treatment options.

Scientists have developed a drug that can bring remarkable improvements to the lives of hundreds of thousands of arthritis sufferers.
A single course of treatment will provide relief from crippling pain and joint damage for rheumatoid arthritis patients for up to a year.
Some sufferers who have tested the drug, rituximab, have been able to return to near-normal life after 20 years of restricted activity.
British doctors behind the groundbreaking treatment claim it could eventually lead to a cure for the severely disabling disease which affects almost 400,000 people in the UK.

New research raises the prospect that some cancer patients with aggressive tumors may benefit from a class of anti-inflammatory drugs used to treat rheumatoid arthritis.

Studying triple-negative breast cancer, researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis found that some aggressive tumors rely on an antiviral pathway that appears to drive inflammation, widely recognized for roles in cancer, rheumatoid arthritis and other inflammatory diseases.

A simple and cheap new treatment for rheumatoid arthritis is set to ­revolutionize the lives of patients crippled by the painful disease. Just a single injection of the new drug, developed by British scientists, is so potent it can give months of relief. Made from the human protein BiP, it ­mobilises the body’s immune system to help stop the disease in its tracks.

As the first human trials of the drug begin, doctors say it is also showing promise as a treatment for brittle bone disease. That means it could help up to four million ­people in Britain who suffer from either osteoporosis or RA.

A revolutionary laser treatment can slash the ­crippling pain of arthritis, British scientists have found.

The technique involves zapping sore joints with a powerful beam of light.

It stimulates the same pressure points targeted in acupuncture – but using low-energy lasers rather than needles.

Volunteers who had the treatment at the University of Dundee reported a ­significant reduction in pain and ­discomfort and an improvement in their quality of life.