This involves inflammation of the joints and the entire body system. Symptoms include:

• Pain, swelling, redness, warmth, and tenderness in the joints.
• Commonly affected joints include wrists, metacarpophalangeal joints, proximal interphalangeal joints, knees, ankles, and metatarsophalangeal joints.
• Joint stiffness and difficulty moving joints in the morning.
• Rheumatoid nodules found in 17-25% of cases.
• Other symptoms such as low-grade fever, fatigue, loss of appetite, weight loss, eye inflammation, dry mouth, pulmonary fibrosis.
• Complications such as coronary artery occlusion and pericarditis.

Gout is caused by high levels of uric acid in the body and the crystallization of uric acid within joints and other organs, leading to joint inflammation. It is more common in men than women. Symptoms include:

• Inflammation, pain, swelling, redness, and warmth in the ankle, toe joints, knee joints, or other joints. Symptoms come and go.
• If triggered by factors such as consuming foods high in uric acid or drinking alcohol, the inflamed joint will swell rapidly, and there may be fever and body aches.
• If left untreated, inflammation will become more frequent, last longer, affect multiple joints simultaneously, and may lead to chronic arthritis, causing permanent joint deformity and damage.
• Patients have a 20% chance of developing kidney stones and a 10% chance of kidney failure.

SLE is the most common type of autoimmune disease. Abnormal symptoms indicative of SLE include:

• Unexplained prolonged fever.
• Chronic joint pain and swelling.
• Red rashes on the face (often butterfly-shaped) or itchy rashes in sun-exposed areas, photosensitivity.
• Excessive hair loss.
• Swelling in the arms, legs, or hands.
• Feeling tired, weak, etc.

Scleroderma is characterized by hardening of the skin due to excessive fibrous tissue infiltration in the skin layers and internal organs. Symptoms include:

• Darkening and tightening of the skin. Some individuals may not be able to fully clench their fists.
• Bluish or darkened fingertips due to lack of oxygen when exposed to cold (Raynaud's phenomenon).
• 80% of patients experience difficulty swallowing, painful swallowing, acid reflux, or esophagitis.
• Cardiac involvement is found in 30-80% of cases, with myocardial fibrosis.
• Kidney disease is found in 10-40% of cases, with symptoms of headache, high blood pressure, and/or acute blurred vision.

Myositis involves inflammation of multiple muscles simultaneously, such as those in the upper arms, thighs, and esophageal muscles. Key symptoms include:

• Often begins with leg weakness, followed by arm muscle weakness, making it difficult to lift arms or reach high objects. If neck muscles are affected, lifting the head from a pillow can be difficult.
• May experience muscle pain, especially after exercise, difficulty swallowing, nasal regurgitation of liquids, and aspiration of food into the lungs.
• Purple-colored rash around the eyes, especially on the upper eyelids, found in 50% of cases.
• Joint pain or arthritis in multiple joints.
• May experience shortness of breath due to weakness of the diaphragm and intercostal muscles.
• Irregular heartbeat.