For people with lesser-known diseases, lack of public awareness can be a major roadblock to funding research to fight the disease and creating resources to help patients thrive.

In the past, doctors started rheumatoid arthritis treatment with medications that mainly dealt with symptoms. Now, doctors start with medications that attack the disease itself, a tactic confirmed once again by a new study.

Some patients who worry about taking too much of a prescription medicine might not take their meds as prescribed, including arthritis patients. Not following the dose instructions has become a lot more common.

Having a chronic illness means managing it over time to reduce its effects. Patients with lupus who properly manage their disease may be able to reduce its long-term impact.

Azathioprine therapy for lupus is generally considered safe during pregnancy. But children exposed to azathioprine in the womb may be at higher risk of developing speech problems.

When autoimmune diseases and arthritis conditions are combined, autoimmune arthritis results.

With the aging population of baby boomers, the number of joint replacement procedures is rising steadily. But the risks and benefits of surgery might not be the same for every patient.

There's osteoarthritis. And rheumatoid arthritis. And infectious arthritis, childhood arthritis, Still's disease, lupus, Sjogren's disease and many more. In total, there are more than 100 kinds of arthritis.

Inflamed, swollen joints with firm tissue bumps under the skin can send patients to their doctors for treatment. But certain factors make patients change their medicines before long.