Join Dr. Diana Girnita on the 'Thriving with Arthritis' podcast, where she delves into the topic of why women develop more rheumatoid arthritis. Through poignant patient stories like Sarah's, Dr. Girnita elucidates the genetic, hormonal, and lifestyle factors contributing to autoimmune diseases in women.
With a focus on empowerment and resilience, 'Thriving with Arthritis' equips individuals with the knowledge and mindset needed to live life to the fullest despite a diagnosis. Together, we can thrive, not just survive, with arthritis."
Stay tuned for the next episode!
What was covered:
- Explanation of the unique challenges women face with autoimmune diseases like rheumatoid arthritis.
- Presentation of a case study involving a woman named Sarah who was diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis.
- Factors contributing to the increased risk of rheumatoid arthritis in women:
- Genetics, specifically X chromosome and HLA genes.
- Influence of estrogen hormone on inflammation and the immune system.
- Fluctuations in estrogen levels during puberty, pregnancy, and menopause.
- Higher production of inflammatory proteins by the female immune system.
- Impact of chronic stress, anxiety, and depression on inflammation and autoimmune diseases.
- Effects of sleep quality and quantity on inflammation and pain.
- Recommendations for managing rheumatoid arthritis:
- Emphasis on taking control of one's health and maintaining a positive mindset.
- Encouragement for women with rheumatoid arthritis to support each other and thrive together.
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Welcome to Thriving with Arthritis. I'm Dr. Diana Girnita, your host and an experienced rheumatologist. In this podcast, we explore arthritis and autoimmune diseases, covering topics like rheumatoid arthritis, psoriatic arthritis, ankylosing spondylitis, gout, and much more. From valuable insights to cutting edge research, this podcast is your guide to Whatever you are new to this condition or you are a long time warrior, Thriving with Arthritis is here to support you.
Welcome to Thriving with Arthritis. This is a podcast that empowers women like you to understand and better live with this condition. I am your host, Dr. Diana Granita, a rheumatologist dedicated to help you live better with arthritis. As we celebrate International Women's Day, and we also celebrate the Women's Month, it's important to recognize the unique challenges that women face.
Face with autoimmune diseases like rheumatoid arthritis. Almost every day I diagnose someone with rheumatoid arthritis or a patient with rheumatoid arthritis comes back for follow up in my practice, Rheumatologist On Call. If you talk to your friends or your colleagues, you will find out that rheumatoid arthritis affects mostly females.
And this is true. Now let me share a story with you. Sarah was a young woman In her mid 30s, when she called my office requesting an appointment, she was a very accomplished lady, a dedicated mother, and a loving wife. But recently, her life has been turned upside down. In a few months, she started to feel extremely tired, and then she had her wrist swelling up.
She had severe tingling and numbness in her hands, especially in the mornings. When she had a lot of difficulties to brush her teeth, To comb her hair, to prepare breakfasts for her kids, and especially when she wanted to use her computer to type. She tried splints. At night time, she went to see her primary care physician, who gave her some anti inflammatory medication.
She tried all the creams that she could find over the counter, but nothing was helpful. She even went to see a hand surgeon, who thought that this is very unusual to have carpal tunnel syndrome. In both our hands, the surgeon worded my test and when they came back positive, he referred her to me. When Sarah told me her story, I carefully listened to her and then I look at her hands, I look at her results, and I knew that was a positive relative factor and a positive CCP antibody positive.
Her symptoms were mostly suggestive rheumatoid arthritis. And she had those symptoms for about four months, which confirmed my suspicion. I took a moment and then I had to break the news. Sara, your symptoms and your tests are suggestive of rheumatoid arthritis. She bursted in tears and she asked me, why me doctor?
I eat well, I exercise regularly, and I take care of my body. I took her hand. And try to explain to her that this is not her fault. Unfortunately, Sarah's story is not unique. Finding out that you suffer from an autoimmune disease like rheumatoid arthritis can be frustrating and can be confusing. There is an immense emotional toll that all patients with rheumatoid arthritis will experience.
Especially women, when they find out about diagnosis. Not only that they have more stress in their life, trying to juggle the family, the kids, the responsibilities that they have, professional responsibilities, but they also have to deal with an autoimmune disease that will cause more pain. So, it's normal to feel frustrated and confused.
But now let me explain you why we women have a three times more increased risk to develop rheumatoid arthritis when compared to men. Number one, it's our genetics. We as women, we have two X chromosomes while men have just one. These X chromosomes contain certain genes that we call HLA genes. And those genes will regulate our immune system cells.
At certain points, we have some variations or some mutations in the genes and that will increase the risk for rheumatoid arthritis. Because women have two X chromosomes, they have a higher likelihood of having genetic mutations that will make them more susceptible to autoimmune diseases. And then we have our friend, the estrogen hormone, which is found, obviously, higher in us than in men.
But estrogen is not only a sex hormone, it's also a hormone that controls inflammation and the immune system. While estrogen levels generally have anti inflammatory effect, there are certain situations when inflammation gets out of control. Through our life, we have fluctuation in the estrogen level.
Think about your puberty. Think about the pregnancy time or menopause. All of these times in the woman's life will disrupt the immune system regulation and will cause more inflammation, which will increase the risk to develop rheumatoid arthritis.
Now, let me explain you. In menopause, when the estrogen level decreases a lot, that will cause more inflammation in a female's body, and that will translate later into an increased risk to develop rheumatoid arthritis. During pregnancy, where the estrogen level increases up to 60 times more than usual, the risk for inflammation is decreased, because as I said, estrogen has anti inflammatory effect.
And that's why your risk to develop autoimmune diseases in general or How you feel with an autoimmune disease like lupus or rheumatoid arthritis becomes easier. Females that have lupus or rheumatoid arthritis, they will feel so much better during pregnancy. Another reason why females develop more autoimmune diseases is that their immune system seems to produce more Inflammatory proteins, we call these cytokines, more interferon alpha, more interleukin 17, and those molecules were associated with an increased risk of autoimmune diseases.
Now in contrast, the male sex hormone, testosterone, will increase anti inflammatory proteins, which will lead to lower levels of inflammation. So that's why men has less risk to develop autoimmune diseases when compared to women. Now, also, I have to mention this, women typically experience more stress in their life, more anxiety and more depression, and they tend to have not only their stress, but also to take stress from their kids, their families, their friends, or their job.
And all that chronic stress will increase the level of inflammation in your body. The chronic stress Really? So, um, the release more cortisol. And although this can be good, initially, if it's chronic, the release of cortisol is chronic, that will also increase the risk to develop autoimmune diseases. And not only that, but because of pain, or because of responsibilities that we have with our kids.
We want, You We tend to have a more fragmented sleep and a lower quality sleep compared to men. And because we sleep less, we have more inflammation. We have more pain because sleeping less will associate with more pain. And so that's why it's important to sleep more. So, in conclusion, Of course, we cannot change our genes.
We cannot change our load of hormones as we go through our life, but we can change the way that we live our lives and approach a healthier nutrition, stress less, and learn how to manage the stress that we have in our life and definitely sleep more. Because all of these changes that you do will change the way that you feel with rheumatoid arthritis.
Now, coming back to Sarah, after I told her all these reasons and I made her understand it is not her fault she left my office with a sense of hope, she realized that while living with rheumatoid arthritis it is a challenge that she could overcome With the right support and the right mindset,
she was determined to take control of her health and live her life to the fullest, despite a diagnosis of rheumatoid arthritis.
Now thank you for joining me today on Driving With Arthritis. I wish you Happy Women's Day and a celebration month that you deserve.
If you have any questions or comments, please leave them below. Don't forget to subscribe to my episodes. And don't forget to share these episodes with other women.
Together, we can empower each other and we can thrive instead of survive with rheumatoid arthritis. Until the next time, stay strong and stay positive.
Thank you for joining Thriving with Arthritis podcast. If you find today's episode valuable, please subscribe, consider to leave us a review as your feedback helps us improve and reach out to more people like you. you. Remember, you are not alone in your journey with arthritis and autoimmune diseases.
Together, we can learn, grow, thrive, and not just survive. Stay tuned for our next episode, where we will dive deeper into more topics that will matter to you. Until then, keep thriving.