Will New Medication Guidelines For Rheumatoid Arthritis Improve Patient Satisfaction With Treatment?

Will New Medication Guidelines For Rheumatoid Arthritis Improve Patient Satisfaction With Treatment? By Kathleen Hoffman, PhD, MSPH Despite the advances and diversification of disease modifying antirheumatic drugs (DMARDs) to treat rheumatoid arthritis (RA), a recent report surveying current RA patients showed that the majority are not satisfied with their treatment experience. In a study of 258 patients, all of whom were taking at least 1 DMARD, only 26% were satisfied with the results of their treatment. In fact, 43% reported taking pain relievers daily or almost daily, and 44% said that they were currently having a flare.1 [...]

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Oct 2021By |0 Comments

I was diagnosed with Ankylosing Spondylitis at 15

I was diagnosed with Ankylosing Spondylitis at 15 By Kathleen Hoffman, PhD, MSPH Imagine a patient with inflammatory joint pain. You’re probably not visualizing a young person in his 20’s or teens with severe lower back pain, but that’s a likely scenario for sufferers of ankylosing spondylitis (AS). One Inspire member said: I was diagnosed with AS at 15 years old ... in my case it took an emergency room visit when I could hardly move and freaked out. I had an amazing House-style emergency room doctor who solved the mystery by ruling out injuries/mechanical problems and [...]

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May 2021By |0 Comments

Living with a Mysterious Illness: Scleroderma

Living with a Mysterious Illness: Scleroderma By Kathleen Hoffman, PhD, MSPH Unless you’re a specialist, you might not recognize a chronic disease that is named for its effect on the skin -- but might not appear there. It’s scleroderma. In fact, the symptoms vary greatly for each person: From 75-90% of patients have GI symptoms with it; it can be visible or invisible; it can come and go or last a lifetime; and can be mild or life threatening. The cause is unknown and it might appear at any age., It affects about 300,000 people in the [...]

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Dec 2020By |0 Comments

Treatment Discussions of Rheumatoid Arthritis on Inspire

Treatment Discussions of Rheumatoid Arthritis on Inspire By Kathleen Hoffman, PhD, MSPH When someone says “arthritis,” do you imagine an elderly person? When joints deteriorate through age and use, that’s osteoarthritis. But patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) are fighting being actively crippled by their own immune systems, a disease that is unrelated to age. According to the Global RA Network, 1 in every 100 people gets RA. Both the disease and its treatments entail widespread consequences.1 It’s not surprising that patients and caregivers discuss RA-related symptoms and treatments across Inspire, but especially in the Arthritis Support Community [...]

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Jun 2020By |0 Comments

Video Vignettes: Through Their Own Eyes: Rare Autoimmune Liver Diseases

Video Vignettes: Through Their Own Eyes: Rare Autoimmune Liver Diseases By Kathleen Hoffman, PhD, MSPH The liver has been called a forgiving organ because of its capacity to regenerate. However, chronic unrelenting damage over years can overwhelm its regenerative abilities, resulting in permanent scarring. Well-known risk factors-being overweight, alcohol abuse, viral infections like Hepatits-C--make cirrhosis of the liver the seventh leading cause of death in the US, affecting an estimated 1 in 400 adults. 1 Yet, a small number of cirrhosis cases are caused by three rare autoimmune diseases,  autoimmune hepatitis (AIH), primary biliary cholangitis (PBC) and [...]

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Jan 2019By |1 Comment