Rheumatoid Arthritis Support Group
Rheumatoid arthritis is a chronic, inflammatory, multisystem, autoimmune disorder. It is a disabling and painful condition which can lead to substantial loss of mobility due to pain and joint destruction. The disease is also systemic in that it often also affects many extra-articular tissues throughout the body including the skin, blood vessels, heart, lungs, and...
Lack of pain can be a real problem, because if the damage is continuing but the person feels no pain, then the disease will be progressing, and the person will not think to look farther for something which will actually stop the progression of the disease.
This actually happened in my home town with Remicade trials. 52% of the people in the control group (NO Remicade) thought they had improved and their pain was less, when in fact, they had further significant damage. Strong thing - the power of the mind over pain.