Joint pain can be an early symptom of many different diseases. In rheumatoid arthritis, symptoms often develop slowly over a period of weeks or months. Fatigue and stiffness are usually early symptoms of rheumatoid arthritis. Weight loss and a low-grade fever can also occur.

Joint symptoms of rheumatoid arthritis include:

• Painful, swollen, tender, stiff joints. The same joints on both sides of the body (symmetrical) are usually affected, especially the hands, wrists, elbows, feet, ankles, knees, or neck.
• Morning stiffness. Joint stiffness may develop after long periods of sleeping or sitting and lasts at least 60 minutes and often up to several hours.
• Bumps (nodules). Rheumatoid nodules ranging in size from a pea to a mothball develop in nearly one-third of people who have rheumatoid arthritis. Nodules usually form over pressure points in the body such as the elbows, knuckles, spine, and lower leg bones.

Rheumatoid arthritis can affect the hands, wrists, elbows, feet, ankles, knees, or neck. It usually affects both sides of the body at the same time, and more than three sets of joints are affected at one time.

In addition to specific joint symptoms, rheumatoid arthritis can cause symptoms throughout the body (systemic). These include:

• Fatigue.
• A loss of appetite.
• Weight loss.
• Mild fever.
• Numbness and tingling in the hands.

Some of the symptoms of rheumatoid arthritis may be similar to symptoms of other health conditions.