Hi everyone
I’m looking for some guidance about biologics for RA after a slightly odd experience at hospital.
I had a review appointment as an emergency some weeks ago due to ongoing foot issues and feeling increasingly unwell. Hospital tested me for various things while there and it turned out I had the Australian flu despite flu vaccine so had tamiflu for that. RA related Feet issues unresolved.
Anyway at this appointment the rheumy nurse got consultant in to see me. I am on MTX for last year, was also on hydroxychloroquine but that was stopped due to some issues. The nurse had previously mentioned adding in sulfasalqzine but due to septrin allergy I cannot take it. My swelling and inflammation are much improved with the MTX but I have ongoing stiffness, pain and fatigue, and persistent problems with my fingers and toes. I am seronegative so normally nothing shows up in blood tests and a lot is based on what I report about how I feel.
So the consultant was looking at my joints and asking a hundred questions and asked what did I want, and what do I know about biologics? Did I want one of them? I was really surprised as I have the impression it is hard to get them due to funding issues and I don’t really see the prescription of what drugs are going to work for me as something I am qualified to judge or demand. I said I didn’t know and that in a way I am scared of biologics as from some things I have read maybe they can open the door to other issues. (As in, here we go experimenting with turning off a different part of my immune system, let’s see what happens - which I find scary.) I am not trying to offend anyone who is on them, I felt like this about MTX too. I was thinking partly of the MS warnings on biologics info I have read online as I have a neurological condition which is not MS but means I have already been tested for ms twice and am nervous of nudging my system in that direction.
The dr said it doesn’t work like that (opening the door to other conditions) but he didn’t really expand.
Anyway after this unexpected questioning I was given some new pain medication and the flu diagnosis sort of took us away from the RA discussion. Then in the letter to my gp after the appointment, copied to me, it said that we ‘discussed moving onto biologics ‘ but that I didn’t want them. Which wasn’t really what I thought we had done! The consultant didn’t explain options to me or whether he thought I should consider them or if I could feel better on biologics than I do now.
I wasn’t expecting the conversation to be like I can just request a certain medication, and I had not been expecting to be offered biologics, as I don’t think my condition is bad enough to qualify for funding. So I wasn’t prepared and in retrospect I didn’t take the opportunity to ask what his idea was, and why he raised biologics at all.
Does this seem strange to you? If you are on biologics, how did it come about? I have a routine appointment later in the summer (with a different doctor) and am wondering what to ask.
Many thanks