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Today’s #RABlog Week prompt is Biologics can be scary. This is true and it has led to a lot of misperceptions about these kinds of medications. My goal today is to bust some myths about Biologics. Settle in with a cup of tea. To do this subject justice, I had to go a bit long.

Your doctor has talked to you about starting a biologic for your rheumatoid arthritis (RA), so you do the natural thing for anyone with an Internet connection: you ask Google. Maybe you also ask other people you know who have RA. And that’s when you see and hear some comments that scare the crap out of you. Such as:

“Don’t take those drugs, they are poison.”

“I’d never put that in my body. I’m going all natural.”

“I went all natural and I’m in remission.”

I believe these types of comments reflect a lack of understanding of not just the Biologics, but the disease they treat.

A serious solution
I’m not going to lie to you. Biologics are a serious medication. They have a black box warning, which means that some of the serious side effects can be fatal. Luckily, the serious side effects are also in the ‘rare’ category.

That doesn’t change the fact that these types of side effects are very serious. It doesn’t change the fact that Biologics are immunosuppressant drugs, which has the potential for a whole other list of consequences.

But they are not poison. If they were, the FDA wouldn’t have approved them and doctors wouldn’t prescribed them. And no, thousands of doctors all over the world are not in cahoots with pharmaceutical companies, mindlessly prescribing dangerous drugs so they can get money. Because that’s one of the stories out there, as well.

Biologics are a medication that is prescribed because in addition to the serious ones, they can also have quite miraculous consequences and more on that in a bit.

Medications — all medications — have two types of effects. The beneficial ones that successfully treat the disease for which there prescribed. They also have the potential for other effects that are not related to treating that disease. If you look of any medication, you will see a list of side effects divided into categories such as Common, Less Common, and Rare. If you look closely at that last category, you’ll be tempted to go stick your head in the sand for a couple of years.

A serious problem
Biologics were developed as a serious solution to a serious problem. Some rheumatologists consider RA to be a medical emergency. Once you start researching RA, you begin to see why. This is a systemic autoimmune disease. It doesn’t “just” affect the joints, it also affects other systems in your body, such as your vascular system, and internal organs.

Yikes, right? Hang in there — I’m almost done with the scary information.

RA inflammation is nasty. Left to its own devices it eats the cartilage in your joints, causing deformities and intense pain. But that’s not enough for it. RA inflammation can also damage your internal organs. That’s why historically people with RA have had a 10-year shorter life expectancy than the general population. It’s called the mortality gap and it is largely due to the effect of RA inflammation on the cardiovascular system.

But what about those who went into remission by taking vitamins and eating a particular diet? I have three comments on that. One, there is no scientific evidence to show that RA can be cured, period. Two, there is no scientific evidence to show that diet and vitamins can cure RA. That said, there appears to be different types of RA, some of which may respond to diet. Does it affect symptoms or the underlying disease? We need more research to say for sure. And lastly, three: spontaneous remission does happen. Rarely, but it happens. So do periods of low disease activity — RA ebbs and flows.

From worst case to best case
I’m the worst case scenario. I grew up in an era when there were no treatments for RA. Back then, the progression of the disease took you from walking and functioning to a wheelchair as inevitably as sunrise and sunset. I was 14 years old the last time I walked. I had bilateral hip replacements when I was 16. That was also when I got the power wheelchair that enabled me to leave the hospital bed in which I had spent the previous two years and go out and live my life.

These days, there are treatments. In fact, the development of new treatments have accelerated in the last 15 years or so. We have half a dozen non-biologic DMARDs (disease modifying antirheumatic drugs) and close to a dozen Biologics. The availability of treatment that have the potential to be extremely effective have caused a change in how RA is treated. No longer is it “go low and go slow,” which leaves the RA to feast upon your body. Now it’s early and aggressive.

And this is where the good news starts coming in. Now, despite still using a wheelchair, I’m the best case scenario. Because the meds I’m taking are working.

The miracles
Because of these treatments and the change in the approach to treatment, RA is now increasingly considered an invisible illness.

Mind-boggling. I don’t think you can truly know how miraculous this development is unless you grew up in a time when the prognosis was inevitable and daunting: damage, deformity, and disability.

These days, people are going into remission. Remission! And if they’re not going into remission, many have low enough disease activity that they can function close to normally.

Other good news: because of the Biologics, the mortality gap is shrinking. People with RA are living longer and healthier lives. I’m one of them. Eleven years ago, I had a huge flare that almost killed me. I got funding for Biologics and for the first time in my life, my RA is under control.

Not everyone responds to the meds currently on the market. We need much more research to meet the need. Many more drugs are in development. There is hope.

What about the risk?
The Biologics do come with risks. Serious side effects, the consequences of being immunosuppressed, and the potential for developing certain kinds of cancer (although new research shows that this doesn’t include lymphoma).

Again: yikes!

But it’s important to know that these are risks, not certainties. Many people take Biologics for years with only manageable side effects and during that time, they are living their lives to the fullest.

Each one of us have to weigh the pros and cons and make the decision that is right for each of us. But I believe it is essential to make sure that your decision is not based in fear or only knowing half of the story. The purpose of informed consent is that you know the risks and potential consequences of the decisions you make. Taking the meds has a risk of potential nasty consequences. Not taking the meds has a certainty of nasty consequences.

Talk to your doctor about how big the risk is. Compare it to the other risks you take it every day. For instance, I bet you drove in a car today, despite the significant risk of being in an accident. Did you take a shower this morning? That carries a risk of falling and hitting your head. Did you kiss your beloved? You could have caught a nasty virus.

Life is full of risk.

I chose to take the risks because I wanted to live, not merely exist. My best option for that was medication. And every day, I am grateful for the consequences: the ability to live my life.