I am in a moaning mood too so you're not on your own Shenac!
It's all very well people in Scandinavia getting Biologic drugs so quickly after diagnosis but who's to say that's the way forward? Biologics are toxic (apologies to those of you who hadn't realised this). They work by blocking certain cytokine agents which are involved in the inflammatory process. TNF blockers bind to tumor necrosis factor-alpha, rendering it inactive, and interfering with inflammatory activity, ultimately decreasing the chance of long term joint damage. It's not a natural process it's a chemically engineered one. Great but ...
What if the progress of RA disease can be slowed down by other less harsh treatments such as hydroxychloroquine or sulfasalasine, gold injections of low dose steroid? What if, for example, it's post-partum RA which can actually disappear as the hormones re-adjust? Are these Scandinavians not being cheated out of the chance of less potent treatments?
Julia is right, advancement in the last decade has been phenomenal and people treated early have a much better prognosis than 15-20 years ago. There will come a time when auto-immune disease is wiped out completely be it by gene therapy, vaccination (this is an interesting one!) or any number of things currently being researched.
But heyho there's always hope! Here's a link to one of the studies about the
IRF5 function switch off molecule This was first mooted early last year I think. Several countries including the UK are involved in this research.
Lyn x
