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Rheumatoid arthritis and medication go hand in hand. But… what about the horror stories about side effects? How do you balance the fear of what might come with the meds with hope for remission? Read more in my new column for HealthCentral:

“The ads make it look easy—you can create a wonderful life of walking on the beach with your beloved and a golden retriever by simply treating your rheumatoid arthritis (RA) with this pill or that injection. And then they ruin it by rattling off dozens of truly horrifying potential side effects, skipping entirely how you’re supposed to cope with this information. But the reality is that making the decision to treat your RA—whether at all or with a particular medication—is a complicated emotional tightrope walk between what-if angst and the promise of hope. How do you choose treatment and how scared should you be? Let’s talk about it.

When I started my first biologic 15 years ago, the available science said it came with a higher risk of lymphoma, a type of cancer. As the certainty of a ruined life from out-of-control RA inflammation was by far the scarier option than choosing to hope, I held my breath and jumped off the metaphorical cliff into the waiting arms of yet another medication. This time, it worked. A decade and a half later, I have created a wonderful life that occasionally includes walks along the urban lakefront with my beloved, while our two cats snooze away the day at home. About the cancer risk? Now, we know that this particular type of biologic does not increase the risk of lymphoma any more than untreated RA does.”

Read the rest of my column on balancing medication fear with facts and hope on HealthCentral.