Rheumatoid arthritis medication simplified
Rheumatoid arthritis medication is a very complex area. There are an enormous number of medications for rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and a lot of people find them so complicated that they are happy to hand over that side of their treatment to their doctors.
Doctors are there to prescribe medications, they have the necessary training to match the medication to the disease type and it’s severity. However, to have proper control over rheumatoid arthritis, it’s necessary to know the basic types of arthritis medications available and the function they perform.
With this knowledge you are in the position to ask intelligent questions and find out why a certain rheumatoid arthritis medication is being recommended for you. Doctors are busy people and sometimes do not have time to ask all the questions they should about your medical history. Besides, only you know your body and how it reacts to certain chemicals.
So here is a simple (I hope) explanation of the main types of rheumatoid arthritis medication available and what they actually do and cannot do, without going too much into the technicalities. Remember the drug or drugs you are taking has to match the severity of the disease, otherwise you may be taking unnecessarily high doses. Most if not all rheumatoid arthritis medication does have side effects so you’ll need to balance this against the advantages.
Disease Modifying Anti Rheumatic Drugs or DMARDs can slow the progress of RA by interrupting the immune process that promotes inflammation. The advantage of this type of rheumatoid arthritis medication is obvious, since it is able to halt joint and tissue degeneration and may increase chances of remission. The drawbacks are that DMARDs are slow to act and also have side effects that weaken the immune system and lower resistance to infections. DMARDs can also damage organs such as the liver, so it’s vital to monitor for these possibilities.
Biologic Response Modifiers are similar to DMARDs except they attempt to target the part of the immune system responsible for the inflammation and they are administered by injection instead of orally. These drugs work by blocking proteins called cytokines. The advantages and drawbacks are the same as the above and also they are very expensive.
Glucocorticoids or corticoids are the fancy name for steroids. Steroids are widely prescribed for rheumatoid arthritis due to their potent anti-inflammatory action. Some examples of this family of drugs are Prednisone and Cortisone. The advantage with steroids are that they are very effective and fast at reducing inflammation and thus pain. The drawbacks are that they are expensive and the side effects can be quite serious unless used strictly as prescribed or used for a long period of time. They are also a hard drug to withdraw from, so never stop taking these without supervision from your doctor.
These days steroids are frequently used in conjunction with DMARDs until the latter take effect.
Nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs or NSAIDs have a wide range and can be bought over the counter in their simplest form, for example Voltaren and aspirin. Newer NSAIDs are known as Cox-2 inhibitors or Coxibs, for example Celebrex. They target inflammation and pain.
This family of drugs can can have serious effects on the digestive system and possibly the liver. There has already been deaths from the use of Vioxx (now withdrawn). Apart from these drawbacks, NSAIDs do nothing to halt the progression of RA. Use with extreme caution!
Which rheumatoid arthritis medication is for you?
Possibly the best rheumatoid arthritis medication for you will for the most part depend on the severity of your condition, the difficulties you are having and your own preferences. There is not one specific type of medication that can be called the best and secondly there is not one rheumatoid arthritis medication that can treat every person with this disease.
I am currently 64 years old and was diagnosed with RA 3 weeks ago. I have been telling doctors the symptoms of RA for 10 my ears but was consistently told that I had gout [in spite of the fact that there was no elevation of ureic acid in my blood]. I’ve since discovered that RA is often misdiagnosed as gout. 2 years ago, I had a huge flare. Both feet swelled to the extent that I couldn’t walk on them. My hands were so swollen that I couldn’t hold a knife or fork. The pain was something far beyond anything I had ever experienced. The doctor gave me a pain pill. Luckily, a nurse friend told me that prednisone was the protocol approach to my problem. The drug chased the symptoms in about five days but the situation changed. Every morning I awoke with pain in two joints that were different than the joints that were in pain the day before. It was at this point that I saw my first rheumatologist. He told me, confidently, that I had a massive gout attack [in spite of all the testing to the contrary], The next specialist said that I didn’t have gout but he didn’t know what it was. Now that I have researched the symptoms of RA, I realize that I have been telling doctors the textbook symptoms for many years. I am currently taking folic acid and methatrexate. I couldn’t handle the prescribed anti-inflammatory so I quit it on my own. I am applying for medical marijuana for its analgesic and anti-inflammatory properties.
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my doctor wants me to take metho 3 times a week, folice acid once a day and hydrocholorine (not sure how to spell it, twice a day and Humira injections twice a month, is this too much?
It does sound like quite a lot of medication! Have you been recently diagnosed? Is your doctor a GP or a rheumatologist? If this is a recent prescription then see how it goes for a while. Most RA meds are OK for the short term, so it’s fine to try these out. Folic acid is a B vitamin so basically harmless. By metho I’m assuming you mean Methotrexate. That is a DMARD so is not safe to remain on long term. Humira injections are to reduce pain and swelling but can compromise immunity. Not sure what hydrochlorine is, sorry.
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Rheumatoid arthritis is something that is required for further research. However, noticing that Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) have being making quite a break through. However in our country (United States), we still need to research on the effectiveness of herbal remedies such as TCM.
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