What Is Reactive Arthritis?

Reactive arthritis is a type of arthritis that you don’t experience all the time. Unlike the normal swelling of the joints that causes pain fairly regularly, reactive arthritis only occurs when you have an infection in a different area of the body. Usually, this infection is in the urinary tract, the genitals, or in the intestines. Most often, you’ll feel pain in your knees or in joints found in the feet or ankles. However, it’s also possible to deal with inflammation in other areas of the body. The good news is that this type of arthritis isn’t that common, and usually it goes away within a year or so if you do have it.

Note that while some people do refer to reactive arthritis as Reiter’s syndrome, it’s not always true. Reiter’s syndrome is a reactive arthritis, but it’s slightly different from general reactive arthritis.

Symptoms of Reactive Arthritis

You usually won’t feel the effects of reactive arthritis until you’ve had an infection for at least a week, but sometimes, it takes up to three weeks before the joint swelling kicks in. Then you’ll feel the usual stiffness and pain that you would with arthritis, although it’s usually focused on the feet, ankles, and legs. Sometimes there is pain in the lower back, but that is fairly rare.

It’s also possible that you’ll develop conjunctivitis, an inflammation of the eyes. You may also have discomfort when urinating or urinate more frequently due to the cervix or prostate gland being inflamed. Finally, you may also see some swelling in your fingers or toes. They can swell to the point that it can be hard to pick up objects.

Things that can Affect Reactive Arthritis

There are a couple of different factors that can affect how often you have to deal with reactive arthritis. This includes your age—most people who deal with reactive arthritis are between 20 and 40 years old. While both men and women are about as likely to have reactive arthritis, men are actually a bit more likely to have to deal with it when they get an STI. Finally, it’s possible that a specific gene is connected to reactive arthritis, but at the same time, some people who have this gene don’t ever have reactive arthritis.

What Causes it?

Reactive Arthritis is caused by an infection that occurs elsewhere. Sometimes, the arthritis is so mild that you may not even realize that it’s happening. There are a number of different bacteria that can cause this issue, including salmonella, shigella, campylobacter, chlamydia, or Yersinia.

Treatment

There are a number of different ways of treating the symptoms of reactive arthritis, but the only way to really deal with it is to treat the underlying infection. However, you can take over-the-counter anti-inflammatory medication to handle the pain, and exercising can help improve the muscle support around the joints.

You may also want to start taking an acai berry supplement. Research has shown that a supplement such as the acai berry may be able to provide you with a number of benefits.

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These statements have not been evaluated by the FDA. These products are not intended to treat, diagnose, or cure any diseases.