Remicade

[Guest guest]

Tomorrow I have an appt. with the VA for a consultation for Remicade

which my primary care physician prescribed to go with the

Methotrexate and Plaquinil.

I am wondering if anyone has gone through such a thing and if there

are any arguments I can use in my favor to help convince them of my

need for this medicine.

I am currently taking 200 mg of Plaquinil, 10 mg of Prednisone daily

and 15 mg Methotrexate weekly. I am having pain, inflamation and

swelling. It happens every time I go below 15 mg of Prednisone. They

keep trying to ween me off the stuff but when I go below the magic

number, BINGO!

Thanks and God Bless,

Jay

[Guest guest]

Thanks Harold - that is a good link to keep watching. In one of his

other articles the same doctor said the following which also

supports what you say.

With rheumatoid arthritis (RA), it often takes many months or even

years for the diagnosis to be made and, even when it is made,

treatment is often delayed or inappropriate. This is particularly

disturbing given the extraordinary disease-modifying advances that

have been made with this disorder. In this day and age, just as no

physician would hold back treatment for an infection, hypertension,

angina, peptic ulcer disease or diabetes, neither should they put off

early aggressive RA therapy with disease modifying anti-rheumatic

drugs (DMARDs.) These drugs have been shown to profoundly decrease

the development of joint erosions, joint space narrowing, and

functional limitation, and they also lengthen the life span of RA

patients. The cytokine burden of untreated RA will also promote the

development of premature atherosclerosis and osteoporosis,

unappreciated areas of collateral damage. Even some rheumatologists

still treat well-defined RA with NSAIDs alone, an antiquated concept

for most of the world's rheumatology community...

Annette

> Hi, Jay. It's good to have you back from the slope and

participating with us again. I was just given a link to a recent

piece on early treatment of RA that I think is very clear that early,

aggressive treatment is essential. It also tells what medications

are usually used for it.

http://rheumatology.hss.edu/phys/musings/pagetRA.asp I hope this

helps. You might print it out, highlight certain parts, and take it

with you tomorrow. Good luck and God bless.

> ----- Original Message -----

> From: Jay Bishop

> Rheumatoid Arthritis

> Sent: Monday, October 27, 2003 5:11 PM

> Subject: Remicade

>

>

> Tomorrow I have an appt. with the VA for a consultation for

Remicade

> which my primary care physician prescribed to go with the

> Methotrexate and Plaquinil.

>

> I am wondering if anyone has gone through such a thing and if

there

> are any arguments I can use in my favor to help convince them of

my

> need for this medicine.

>snip