Tips For Avoiding/Managing Rheumatoid Arthritis

10almonds is reader-supported. We may, at no cost to you, receive a portion of sales if you purchase a product through a link in this article.

Avoiding/Managing Rheumatoid Arthritis

Arthritis is the umbrella term for a cluster of joint diseases involving inflammation of the joints, hence “arthr-” (joint) “-itis” (suffix used to denote inflammation). These are mostly, but not all, autoimmune diseases, in which the body’s immune system mistakenly attacks our own joints.

Inflammatory vs Non-Inflammatory Arthritis

Arthritis is broadly divided into inflammatory arthritis and non-inflammatory arthritis.

You may be wondering: how does one get non-inflammatory inflammation of the joints?

The answer is, in “non-inflammatory” arthritis, such as osteoarthritis, the damage comes first (by general wear-and-tear) and inflammation generally follows as part of the symptoms, rather than the cause. So the name can be a little confusing. In the case of osteo- and other “non-inflammatory” forms of arthritis, you definitely still want to keep your inflammation at bay as best you can, but it’s not as absolutely critical a deal as it is for “inflammatory” forms of arthritis.

We’ll tackle the beast that is osteoarthritis another day, however.

Today we’re going to focus on…

Rheumatoid Arthritis

This is the most common of the autoimmune forms of arthritis. Some quick facts:

  • It affects a little under 1% of the global population, but the older we get, the more likely it becomes
  • Early onset of rheumatoid arthritis is most likely to show up around the age of 50 (but it can show up at any age)
  • However, incidence (not onset) of rheumatoid arthritis peaks in the 70s age bracket
  • It is 2–4 times more common in women than in men
  • Approximately one third of people stop work within two years of its onset, and this increases thereafter.

Well, that sounds gloomy.

Indeed it’s not fun. There’s a lot of stiffness and aching of joints (often with swelling too), loss of joint function can be common, and then there are knock-on effects like fatigue, weakness, and loss of appetite.

Beyond that it’s an autoimmune disorder, its cause is not known, and there is no known cure.

Is there any good news?

If you don’t have rheumatoid arthritis at the present time, you can reduce your risk factors in several ways:

  • Having an anti-inflammatory diet. Get plenty of fiber, greens, and berries. Fatty fish is great too, as are oily nuts. On the other side of things, high consumption of salt, sugar, alcohol, and red meat are associated with a greater risk of developing rheumatoid arthritis.
  • Not smoking. Smoking is bad for pretty much everything, including your chances of developing rheumatoid arthritis.
  • Not being obese. This one may be more a matter of correlation than causation, because of the dietary factors (if one eats an anti-inflammatory diet, obesity is less likely), but the association is there.

There are other risk factors that are harder to control, such as genetics, age, sex, and having a mother who smoked.

See: Genetic and environmental risk factors for rheumatoid arthritis

What if I already have rheumatoid arthritis?

If you already have rheumatoid arthritis, it becomes a matter of symptom management.

First, reduce inflammation any (reasonable) way you can. We did a main feature on this before, so we’ll just drop that again here:

Keep Inflammation At Bay

Next, consider the available medications. Your doctor may or may not have discussed all of the options with you, so be aware that there are more things available than just pain relief. To talk about them all would require a whole main feature, so instead, here’s a really well-compiled list, along with explanations about each of them, up to date as of this year:

Rheumatoid Arthritis Medication List (And What They Do, And How)

Finally, consider other lifestyle adjustments to manage your symptoms. These include:

  • Exercise—gently, though! You do not want to provoke a flare-up, but you do want to maintain your mobility as best you can. There’s a use-it-or-lose-it factor here. Swimming and yoga are great options, as is tai chi. You may want to avoid exercises that involve repetitive impacts to your joints, like running.
  • Rest—while keeping mobility going. Get good sleep at night (this is important), but don’t make your bed your new home, or your mobility will quickly deteriorate.
  • Hot & cold—both can help, and alternating them can reduce inflammation and stiffness by improving your body’s ability to respond appropriately to these stimuli rather than getting stuck in an inappropriate-response state of inflammation.
  • Mobility aids—if it helps, it helps. Maybe you only need something during a flare-up, but when that’s the case, you want to be as gentle on your body as possible while keeping moving, so if crutches, handrails etc help, then by all means get them and use them.
  • Go easy on the use of braces, splints, etc—these can offer short-term relief, but at a long term cost of loss of mobility. Only you can decide where to draw the line when it comes to that trade-off.

You can also check out our previous article:

Managing Chronic Pain (Realistically!)

Take good care of yourself!

Don’t Forget…

Did you arrive here from our newsletter? Don’t forget to return to the email to continue learning!

Recommended

  • Using the”Task Zero” approach
  • 52 Weeks to Better Mental Health – by Dr. Tina Tessina
    Dr. Tessina’s journal prompts offer a full year of introspective exercises—far from standard CBT charts, they’re designed to uplift and act as a therapist-in-a-book.

Learn to Age Gracefully

Join the 98k+ American women taking control of their health & aging with our 100% free (and fun!) daily emails:

  • The Truth About Chocolate & Skin Health

    10almonds is reader-supported. We may, at no cost to you, receive a portion of sales if you purchase a product through a link in this article.

    It’s Q&A Day at 10almonds!

    Have a question or a request? We love to hear from you!

    In cases where we’ve already covered something, we might link to what we wrote before, but will always be happy to revisit any of our topics again in the future too—there’s always more to say!

    As ever: if the question/request can be answered briefly, we’ll do it here in our Q&A Thursday edition. If not, we’ll make a main feature of it shortly afterwards!

    So, no question/request too big or small

    ❝What’s the science on chocolate and acne? Asking for a family member❞

    The science is: these two things are broadly unrelated to each other.

    There was a very illustrative study done specifically for this, though!

    ❝65 subjects with moderate acne ate either a bar containing ten times the amount of chocolate in a typical bar, or an identical-appearing bar which contained no chocolate. Counting of all the lesions on one side of the face before and after each ingestion period indicated no difference between the bars.

    Five normal subjects ingested two enriched chocolate bars daily for one month; this represented a daily addition of the diet of 1,200 calories, of which about half was vegetable fat. This excessive intake of chocolate and fat did not alter the composition or output of sebum.

    A review of studies purporting to show that diets high in carbohydrate or fat stimulate sebaceous secretion and adversely affect acne vulgaris indicates that these claims are unproved.

    ~ Dr. James Fulton et al.

    Source: Effect of Chocolate on Acne Vulgaris

    As for what might help against acne more than needlessly abstaining from chocolate:

    Why Do We Have Pores, And Could We Not?

    …as well as:

    Of Brains & Breakouts: The Neuroscience Of Your Skin

    And here are some other articles that might interest you about chocolate:

    Enjoy! And while we have your attention… Would you like this section to be bigger? If so, send us more questions!

    Share This Post

  • What Curiosity Really Kills

    10almonds is reader-supported. We may, at no cost to you, receive a portion of sales if you purchase a product through a link in this article.

    Curiosity Kills The Neurodegeneration

    Of the seven things that Leonardo da Vinci considered most important for developing and maintaining the mind, number one on his list was curiosity, and we’re going to be focussing on that today.

    In case you are curious about what seven things made Leonardo’s* list, they were:

    1. Curiosità: an insatiably curious approach to life and an unrelenting quest for continuous learning
    2. Dimostrazione: a commitment to test knowledge through experience, persistence, and a willingness to learn from mistakes
    3. Sensazione: the continual refinement of the senses, especially sight, as a means to enliven experience
    4. Sfumato: (lit: “gone up in smoke”) a willingness to embrace ambiguity, paradox, and uncertainty
    5. Arte/Scienza: the curated balance of art and science, imagination and logic
    6. Corporalità: the cultivation of physical grace, ambidexterity, and fitness
    7. Connessione: a recognition of and appreciation for the interconnectedness of phenomena (systems-based thinking)

    *In case you are curious why we wrote “Leonardo” and not “da Vinci” as per our usual convention of shortening names to last names, da Vinci is not technically a name, in much the same way as “of Nazareth” was not a name.

    You can read more about all 7 of these in a book that we’ve reviewed previously:

    How to Think Like Leonardo da Vinci: Seven Steps to Genius Every Day – by Michael J. Gelb

    But for now, let’s take on “curiosity”!

    If you need an extra reason to focus on growing and nurturing your curiosity, it was also #1 of Dr. Daniel Levitin’s list of…

    The Five Keys Of Aging Healthily

    …and that’s from a modern-day neuroscientist whose research focuses on aging, the brain, health, productivity, and creativity.

    But how do we foster curiosity in the age of Google?

    Curiosity is like a muscle: use it or lose it

    While it’s true that many things can be Googled to satisfy one’s curiosity in an instant…

    • do you? It’s only useful if you do use it
    • is the top result on Google reliable?
    • there are many things that aren’t available there

    In short: douse “fast food information” sources, but don’t rely on them! Not just for the sake of having correct information, but also: for the actual brain benefits which is what we are aiming for here with today’s article.

    If you want the best brain benefits, dive in, and go deep

    Here at 10almonds we often present superficial information, with links to deeper information (often: scholarly articles). We do this because a) there’s only so much we can fit in our articles and b) we know you only have so much time available, and/but may choose to dive deeper.

    Think of it in layers, e.g:

    • Collagen is good for joints and bones
    • Collagen is a protein made of these amino acids that also requires these vitamins and minerals to be present in order to formulate it
    • Those amino acids are needed in these quantities, of which this particular one is usually the weakest link that might need supplementing, and those vitamins and minerals need to be within this period of time, but not these ones at the exact same time, or else it will disrupt the process of collagen synthesis

    (in case you’re curious, we covered this here and here and offered a very good, very in-depth book about it here)

    Now, this doesn’t mean that to have a healthy brain you need to have the equivalent knowledge of an anatomy & physiology degree, but it is good to have that level of curiosity in at least some areas of your life—and the more, the better.

    Top tips for developing a habit of curiosity

    As you probably know, most of our endeavors as humans go best when they are habits:

    How To Really Pick Up (And Keep!) Those Habits

    And as for specifically building a habit of curiosity:

    1. Make a deal with yourself that when someone is excited to tell you what they know about something (no matter whether it is your grandkid, or the socially awkward nerd at a party, or whoever), listen and learn, no matter the topic.
    2. Learn at least one language other than your native language (presumably English for most of our readers). Not only does learning a language convey a lot of brain benefits of its own, but also, it is almost impossible to separate language learning from cultural learning, and so you will learn a lot about another culture too, and have whole new worlds opened up to you. Again, more is better, but one second language is already a lot better than none.
    3. Make a regular habit of going to your local library, and picking out a non-fiction book to take home and read. This has an advantage over a bookshop, by the way (and not just that the library is free): since library books must be returned, you will keep going back, and build a habit of taking out books.
    4. Pick a skill that you’d like to make into a fully-fledged hobby, and commit to continually learning as much about it as you can. We already covered language-learning above, but others might include: gardening (perhaps a specific kind), cooking (perhaps a specific kind), needlecraft (perhaps a specific kind), dance (perhaps a specific kind). You could learn a musical instrument. Or it could be something very directly useful, like learning to be a first responder in case of emergencies, and committing to continually learning more about it (because there is always more to learn).

    And when it comes to the above choices… Pick things that excite you, regardless of how practical or not they are. Because that stimulation that keeps on driving you? That’s what keeps your brain active, healthy, and sharp.

    Enjoy!

    Share This Post

  • Peripheral Neuropathy: How To Avoid It, Manage It, Treat It

    10almonds is reader-supported. We may, at no cost to you, receive a portion of sales if you purchase a product through a link in this article.

    Peripheral neuropathy (and what can be done about it)

    Peripheral neuropathy is nerve damage, usually of the extremities. It can be caused by such things as:

    • Diabetes
    • Alcoholism
    • Infection
    • Injury

    The manifestations can be different:

    • In the case of diabetes, it’s also called diabetic neuropathy, and almost always affects the feet first.
    • In the case of alcoholism, it is more generalized, but tends towards affecting the extremities first.
    • In the case of infection, a lot depends on the nature of the infection and the body’s response.
    • In the case of injury, it’ll naturally be the injured part, or a little “downstream” of the injured part.
      • This could be the case of a single traumatic injury (e.g. hand got trapped in a slammed door)

    This could be the case of a repetitive injury (carpal tunnel syndrome is a kind of peripheral neuropathy, and is usually caused by consistent misalignment of the carpal tunnel, the aperture through which a bundle of nerves make their way from the forearm to the hand)

    Prevention is better than cure

    If you already have peripheral neuropathy, don’t worry, we’ll get to that. But, if you can, prevention is better than cure. This means:

    • Diabetes: if you can, avoid. This may seem like no-brainer advice, but it’s often something people don’t think about until hitting a pre-diabetic stage. Obviously, if you are Type 1 Diabetic, you don’t have this luxury. But in any case, whatever your current status, take care of your blood sugars as best you can, so that your blood can take care of you (and your nerves) in turn. You might want to check out our previous main feature about this:
    • Alcoholism: obviously avoid, if you can. You might like this previous edition of 10almonds addressing this:
    • Infection: this is so varied that one-liner advice is really just “try to look after your immune health”.
      • We’ll do a main feature on this soon!
    • Injury: obviously, try to be careful. But that goes for the more insidious version too! For example, if you spend a lot of time at your computer, consider an ergonomic mouse and keyboard.

    Writer’s note: as you might guess, I spend a lot of time at my computer, and a lot of that time, writing. I additionally spend a lot of time reading. I also have assorted old injuries from my more exciting life long ago. Because of this, it’s been an investment in my health to have:

    A standing desk

    A vertical ergonomic mouse

    An ergonomic split keyboard

    A Kindle*

    *Far lighter and more ergonomic than paper books. Don’t get me wrong, I’m writing to you from a room that also contains about a thousand paper books and I dearly love those too, but more often than not, I read on my e-reader for comfort and ease.

    If you already have peripheral neuropathy

    Most advice popular on the Internet is just about pain management, but what if we want to treat the cause rather than the symptom?

    Let’s look at the things commonly suggested: try ice, try heat, try acupuncture, try spicy rubs (from brand names like Tiger Balm, to home-made chilli ointments), try meditation, try a warm bath, try massage.

    And, all of these are good options; do you see what they have in common?

    It’s about blood flow. And that’s why they can help even in the case of peripheral neuropathy that’s not painful (it can also manifest as numbness, and/or tingling sensations).

    By getting the blood flowing nicely through the affected body part, the blood can nourish the nerves and help them function correctly. This is, in effect, the opposite of what the causes of peripheral neuropathy do.

    But also don’t forget: rest

    • Put your feet up (literally! But we’re talking horizontal here, not elevated past the height of your heart)
    • Rest that weary wrist that has carpal tunnel syndrome (again, resting it flat, so your hand position is aligned with your forearm, so the nerves between are not kinked)
    • Use a brace if necessary to help the affected part stay aligned correctly
      • You can get made-for-purpose wrist and ankle braces—you can also get versions that are made for administering hot/cold therapy, too. That’s just an example product linked that we can recommend; by all means read reviews and choose for yourself, though. Try them and see what helps.

    One more top tip

    We did a feature not long back on lion’s mane mushroom, and it’s single most well-established, well-researched, well-evidenced, completely uncontested benefit is that it aids peripheral neurogenesis, that is to say, the regrowth and healing of the peripheral nervous system.

    So you might want to check that out:

    What Does Lion’s Mane Actually Do, Anyway?

    Share This Post

Related Posts

  • Using the”Task Zero” approach
  • Sun-dried Tomatoes vs Black Olives – Which is Healthier?

    10almonds is reader-supported. We may, at no cost to you, receive a portion of sales if you purchase a product through a link in this article.

    Our Verdict

    When comparing sun-dried tomatoes to black olives, we picked the sun-dried tomatoes.

    Why?

    These common snack-salad items may seem similar in consistency, but their macros are very different: the tomatoes, being dried, have proportionally a lot more protein, carbs, and fiber. The olives, meanwhile, have more fat (and/but yes, a very healthy blend of fats). Note that these comments are true for the things themselves; be aware that sun-dried tomatoes are often sold in vegetable oil, which would obviously change the macros considerably and be much less healthy. So, for the sake of statistics, we’re assuming you got sun-dried tomatoes that aren’t soaked in oil. All in all, we’re calling this category a win for the tomatoes, but those fats from the olives are very good too.

    In terms of vitamins, the sun-dried tomatoes being dried again means that the loss of water weight means the vitamin content is proportionally much higher; the tomatoes are higher in vitamins A, B1, B2, B3, B5, B6, B9, C, and K, while olives are higher only in vitamin E (but in their defence, olives have 165x more vitamin E than sun-dried tomatoes). Still, a win for sun-dried tomatoes here.

    When it comes to minerals, it’s a similar story for the same reason; the loss of water weight in the sun-dried tomatoes makes them much more nutritionally dense; they are higher in calcium, copper, iron, magnesium, manganese, phosphorus, potassium, selenium, and zinc, while the olives are higher only in sodium. Note, we’re looking at black olives today; green olives would be even higher in sodium than black ones, as they are “cured” for longer.

    Lastly, in terms of polyphenols, they both have a lot of great things to bring, but sun-dried tomatoes are pretty much the richest natural source of lycopene, which itself a very powerful polyphenol even my general polyphenol standards, so we’d call this one a win for the sun-dried tomatoes too.

    Want to learn more?

    You might like to read:

    Lycopene’s Benefits For The Gut, Heart, Brain, & More

    Take care!

    Don’t Forget…

    Did you arrive here from our newsletter? Don’t forget to return to the email to continue learning!

    Learn to Age Gracefully

    Join the 98k+ American women taking control of their health & aging with our 100% free (and fun!) daily emails:

  • Peripheral Neuropathy: How To Avoid It, Manage It, Treat It

    10almonds is reader-supported. We may, at no cost to you, receive a portion of sales if you purchase a product through a link in this article.

    Peripheral neuropathy (and what can be done about it)

    Peripheral neuropathy is nerve damage, usually of the extremities. It can be caused by such things as:

    • Diabetes
    • Alcoholism
    • Infection
    • Injury

    The manifestations can be different:

    • In the case of diabetes, it’s also called diabetic neuropathy, and almost always affects the feet first.
    • In the case of alcoholism, it is more generalized, but tends towards affecting the extremities first.
    • In the case of infection, a lot depends on the nature of the infection and the body’s response.
    • In the case of injury, it’ll naturally be the injured part, or a little “downstream” of the injured part.
      • This could be the case of a single traumatic injury (e.g. hand got trapped in a slammed door)

    This could be the case of a repetitive injury (carpal tunnel syndrome is a kind of peripheral neuropathy, and is usually caused by consistent misalignment of the carpal tunnel, the aperture through which a bundle of nerves make their way from the forearm to the hand)

    Prevention is better than cure

    If you already have peripheral neuropathy, don’t worry, we’ll get to that. But, if you can, prevention is better than cure. This means:

    • Diabetes: if you can, avoid. This may seem like no-brainer advice, but it’s often something people don’t think about until hitting a pre-diabetic stage. Obviously, if you are Type 1 Diabetic, you don’t have this luxury. But in any case, whatever your current status, take care of your blood sugars as best you can, so that your blood can take care of you (and your nerves) in turn. You might want to check out our previous main feature about this:
    • Alcoholism: obviously avoid, if you can. You might like this previous edition of 10almonds addressing this:
    • Infection: this is so varied that one-liner advice is really just “try to look after your immune health”.
      • We’ll do a main feature on this soon!
    • Injury: obviously, try to be careful. But that goes for the more insidious version too! For example, if you spend a lot of time at your computer, consider an ergonomic mouse and keyboard.

    Writer’s note: as you might guess, I spend a lot of time at my computer, and a lot of that time, writing. I additionally spend a lot of time reading. I also have assorted old injuries from my more exciting life long ago. Because of this, it’s been an investment in my health to have:

    A standing desk

    A vertical ergonomic mouse

    An ergonomic split keyboard

    A Kindle*

    *Far lighter and more ergonomic than paper books. Don’t get me wrong, I’m writing to you from a room that also contains about a thousand paper books and I dearly love those too, but more often than not, I read on my e-reader for comfort and ease.

    If you already have peripheral neuropathy

    Most advice popular on the Internet is just about pain management, but what if we want to treat the cause rather than the symptom?

    Let’s look at the things commonly suggested: try ice, try heat, try acupuncture, try spicy rubs (from brand names like Tiger Balm, to home-made chilli ointments), try meditation, try a warm bath, try massage.

    And, all of these are good options; do you see what they have in common?

    It’s about blood flow. And that’s why they can help even in the case of peripheral neuropathy that’s not painful (it can also manifest as numbness, and/or tingling sensations).

    By getting the blood flowing nicely through the affected body part, the blood can nourish the nerves and help them function correctly. This is, in effect, the opposite of what the causes of peripheral neuropathy do.

    But also don’t forget: rest

    • Put your feet up (literally! But we’re talking horizontal here, not elevated past the height of your heart)
    • Rest that weary wrist that has carpal tunnel syndrome (again, resting it flat, so your hand position is aligned with your forearm, so the nerves between are not kinked)
    • Use a brace if necessary to help the affected part stay aligned correctly
      • You can get made-for-purpose wrist and ankle braces—you can also get versions that are made for administering hot/cold therapy, too. That’s just an example product linked that we can recommend; by all means read reviews and choose for yourself, though. Try them and see what helps.

    One more top tip

    We did a feature not long back on lion’s mane mushroom, and it’s single most well-established, well-researched, well-evidenced, completely uncontested benefit is that it aids peripheral neurogenesis, that is to say, the regrowth and healing of the peripheral nervous system.

    So you might want to check that out:

    What Does Lion’s Mane Actually Do, Anyway?

    Don’t Forget…

    Did you arrive here from our newsletter? Don’t forget to return to the email to continue learning!

    Learn to Age Gracefully

    Join the 98k+ American women taking control of their health & aging with our 100% free (and fun!) daily emails:

  • Avoiding Razor Burn, Ingrown Hairs & Other Shaving Irritation

    10almonds is reader-supported. We may, at no cost to you, receive a portion of sales if you purchase a product through a link in this article.

    How Does The Video Help?

    Dr. Simi Adedeji’s incredibly friendly persona makes this video (below) on avoiding skin irritation, ingrown hairs, and razor burn after shaving a pleasure to watch.

    To keep things simple, she breaks down her guide into 10 simple tips.

    What Are The 10 Simple Tips?

    Tip 1: Prioritize Hydration. Shaving dry hair can lead to increased skin irritation, so Dr. Simi recommends moistening the hair by showering or using a warm, wet towel for 2-4 minutes before getting the razor out.

    Tip 2: Avoid Dry Shaving. Dry shaving not only removes hair but can also remove the protective upper layer of skin, which contributes to razor burn. To prevent this, simply use some shaving gel or cream.

    Tip 3: Keep Blades New and Sharp. This one’s simple: dull blades can cause skin irritation, whilst a sharp blade ensures a smoother and more comfortable shaving experience.

    Tip 4: Avoid Shaving the Same Area Repeatedly. Multiple passes over the same area can remove skin layers, leading to cuts and irritation. Aim to shave each area only once for safer results.

    Tip 5: Consider Hair Growth Direction. Shaving in the direction of hair growth results in less irritation, although it may not provide the closest shave.

    Tip 6: Apply Gentle Pressure While Shaving. Excessive pressure can lead to cuts and nicks. Use a gentle touch to reduce these risks.

    Tip 7: Incorporate Exfoliation into Your Routine. Exfoliating helps release trapped hairs and reduces the risk of ingrown hairs. For those with sensitive skin, it’s recommended to exfoliate either two days before or after shaving.

    Tip 8: Avoid Excessive Skin Stretching. Over-stretching the skin during shaving can cause hairs to become ingrown.

    Tip 9: Moisturize After Shaving. Shaving can compromise the skin barrier, leading to dryness. Using a moisturizer can be a simple fix.

    Tip 10: Regularly Rinse Your Blade. Make sure that, during the shaving process, you are rinsing your blade frequently to remove hair and skin debris. This keeps it sharp during your shave.

    If this summary doesn’t do it for you, then you can watch the full video here:

    How did you find that video? If you’ve discovered any great videos yourself that you’d like to share with fellow 10almonds readers, then please do email them to us!

    Don’t Forget…

    Did you arrive here from our newsletter? Don’t forget to return to the email to continue learning!

    Learn to Age Gracefully

    Join the 98k+ American women taking control of their health & aging with our 100% free (and fun!) daily emails: