NSAIDs and some of the rheumatoid arthritis drugs relieve symptoms but do not change the overall progression of the disease. As an analogy, consider a house that is “suffering” from termites. You could delay the house falling down by removing heavy furniture, tiptoeing about, and putting large beams under the joists; however, none of these methods would do anything to stop the gradual destruction of your house. Eventually, the termites would cause enough irreversible damage, and your house would collapse.

These delaying tactics are like NSAIDs. They treat the symptoms, but they don’t address the underlying cause.

In the case of the termites, a more definitive approach would be to hire an exterminator to kill them. In medical terms, this would be described as a “disease-modifying” treatment.

The DMARD drugs act more like this approach. They reach deeply into rheumatoid arthritis and affect it closer to its root.

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