Rheumatology is a medical specialty concerned with the diagnosis and management of autoimmune conditions.  There are lots of autoimmune illnesses.  Sometimes these conditions affect one part of our body, but many can affect more than one system.

In this section you can find information on the variety of conditions treated within Rheumatology which you can access via Versus Arthritis. We have included 2 short films on the most common inflammatory Arthritis we treat in Rheumatology.

When you are newly diagnosed with an autoimmune condition, it can be a time of great adjustment, where you are making lots of changes and trying medications that suppress your immune system.

The more you learn about your condition the easier you will find to manage this long term. Support is available for this.  Versus Arthritis and the National Rheumatoid Arthritis Society (NRAS), both have excellent guides online.

Access the following websites for more information

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Versus Arthritis

A one stop shop for understanding everything about the condition, please lots of extra advice and support to answer all your questions

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NRAS

An excellent resource site that provides information and support services for those affected by rheumatoid arthritis (RA), their families, friends, carers and health professionals.

A good starting point is to watch these two films

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What is Rheumatoid Arthritis?

Rheumatoid arthritis is a condition that can cause pain, swelling and stiffness in joints. It is what is known as an auto-immune condition. This means that the immune system, which is the body’s natural self-defence system, gets confused and starts to attack your body’s healthy tissues. In rheumatoid arthritis, the main way it does this is with inflammation in your joints. If you have RA, you’re not alone. It affects around 400,000 adults aged 16 and over in the UK.

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What is Psoriatic Arthritis?

Psoriatic arthritis (soh-rye-at-ik arth-rye-tus) can cause pain, swelling and stiffness in and around your joints. It affects about 1 in 4 people who already have the skin condition psoriasis (soh-rye-a-sis). Psoriasis causes patches of red, flaky skin which is covered with silvery-like patches. Some people may develop psoriatic arthritis before the psoriasis is even present. In rare cases people have psoriatic arthritis and never have any noticeable patches of psoriasis. Psoriatic arthritis and psoriasis are both autoimmune conditions, caused by a fault in the immune system.