### Rheumatoid Arthritis vs. Lupus: How to Tell Them Apart **Rheumatoid Arthritis (RA)** and **Lupus** are both autoimmune diseases, meaning your immune system mistakenly attacks your own body. While they share similarities, they also have distinct differences. #### Rheumatoid Arthritis (RA) - **Primary Target:** Mainly affects joints, especially smaller ones like fingers, hands, and feet. It can also affect wrists, elbows, and other body parts. - **Symmetry:** Symptoms usually appear symmetrically. If one hand hurts, the other likely will too. - **Symptoms:** Pain, stiffness, swelling, and sometimes fever, weight loss, and dry eyes. Symptoms can come on slowly and may have periods of flares and remissions. - **Diagnosis:** Blood tests for anticyclic citrullinated peptide and rheumatoid factor (RF), physical exams, and imaging tests like X-rays and ultrasounds. - **Treatment:** NSAIDs, DMARDs, mild exercise, and sometimes surgery for severe joint damage. #### Lupus - **Primary Target:** Can affect many parts of the body, including joints, skin, kidneys, and more. - **Symptoms:** Pain, stiffness, swelling in joints, mild fever, weight loss, dry eyes, and distinct symptoms like a butterfly rash over cheeks and nose, headaches, kidney problems, hair loss, mouth ulcers, and blood cell abnormalities. - **Diagnosis:** More challenging to diagnose. Requires physical exams, blood tests, imaging tests, and checking for 11 specific symptoms. If you have 4 or more, you may have lupus. - **Treatment:** NSAIDs, corticosteroids, antimalarial drugs like hydroxychloroquine, and biologic drugs like anifrolumab-fnia and belimumab. Balance of rest and exercise is crucial. Both conditions are more common in women. While there are no cures, various treatments can help manage symptoms and improve quality of life.