Can RA Be Cured?

Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is an autoimmune disease. Human immune system uses antibodies to protect the body against diseases and infections. It is the main line defense of human body against diseases and infections. If you have RA, your antibodies attack your joints by mistake, as if they are a disease. Typically, RA is considered a lifetime disease. So, many people who have been diagnosed find themselves asking “can RA be cured?”

When asking the fundamental question about a cure for rheumatoid arthritis, one needs to also try to define what is meant by a “cure.” In the realm of normal treatment, there are periods of time that patients can be completely free of rheumatoid symptoms. The symptoms of RA can be gone for a while, and then the symptoms return. Some RA patients can cycle in and out of having RA symptoms multiple times throughout their lives.

Rheumatoid arthritis treatment can even completely relieve some people of symptoms for the rest of their lives. The modern medical community would be quick to point out that the total absence of RA symptoms does not constitute “a cure.” If you ask the person who has been free of symptoms for years, they would tell you that the distinction is simply a matter of semantics.

Part of the reason that the modern medical community is reluctant to talk about cures for rheumatoid arthritis is that they still do not completely understand the disease. Modern science does not completely understand how the disease starts, or what constitutes a cure. At the end of the day, it would be hard for your physician to tell you that you have been cured of RA when there is not yet a full understanding of what starts and stops the disease. At this point, the definition of a “cure” might be better understood as the absence of symptoms. Sometimes, this is called being asymptomatic.

So, there are times when the symptoms of RA will go away completely for some people. Then, for reasons that are not fully understood, the symptoms will usually return. Yet, just about every physician you will ever meet can tell you stories (if they would) about people who have been asymptomatic for years. For some people, the problem simply never comes back.

Many times, the people who have had the most success in staying asymptomatic have been willing to look for treatment options that go beyond the norm. They have been willing to look at diet, exercise, relaxation techniques, experimental treatments, and the role of their religious beliefs. In order for you to look for the possibility of a cure for RA, you may have to be willing to broaden your mind.

Scientific research is fine. It certainly has a role in fighting the disease of rheumatoid arthritis. But modern scientific methodology is empirical in nature. You must be able to test a hypothesis. But how do you test faith in any scientific way? How do you scientifically account for miracles that happen in medicine all the time? How are you supposed to scientifically prove you have been cured of rheumatoid arthritis, when the disease cannot be fully understood?

Can RA be cured? It depends upon your definition, and it depends upon who you ask. If you are willing to look past traditional treatments, you will be able to find a host of other treatment options for your rheumatoid arthritis. In fact, these treatments for RA can be done in consort with treatments from your physician. If you can live with being asymptomatic for rheumatoid arthritis, then you might very well have your cure.