Shivani Aggarwal was barely 21 when she first felt a sudden pain in her knees. It wasn’t a regular muscular catch or stiffness. Her mother, who suffers from Rheumatoid Arthritis (RA), suggested she see her doctor. Within 15 days, the then student of nutrition science knew she had inherited her mother’s condition.

RA is an autoimmune disease where instead of protecting the body against infections and foreign particles, the immune system attacks it. It predominantly causes inflammation of the joints, but can occasionally also affect other organs such as the lungs, eyes and kidneys. Though often confused with each other, arthritis is caused by the wear and tear on a joint over a lifetime; RA is an inflammatory kind of arthritis that affects younger people, that too, mostly women. The treatment usually includes disease modifying anti-rheumatic drugs.