5. Flu-like Symptoms
As an autoimmune condition, rheumatoid arthritis is caused by the body’s immune system attacking itself, which leads to the swelling and the pain.
At the same time, this can also lead to symptoms similar to the flu or an infection: tiredness, low energy, temperature changes, and more. To understand this, it helps to recognize that the immune system is actually what causes these symptoms when we are suffering from a cold as well.
Colds and flu themselves don’t actually have ‘symptoms’ as such. The symptoms are caused by our own immune system fighting to remove the virus/bacteria: and this is also what happens when you have an infection.