The risk factors causes types and symptoms of arthritis have been explained in Arthritis: Understanding the disease. In this part we explain briefly the diagnosis and treatment of arthritis. How will arthritis affect me? How arthritis affects you depends on the type and duration of arthritis you are suffering from. You may suffer from discomfort pain stiffness and/or fatigue and could find it difficult to carry out everyday tasks. If you have inflammatory arthritis you are at a higher risk of getting an infection like flu which could be more severe and more prone to complications and also medications could