ouch!

keep it in the family

One of the most asked questions by all the doctors i have come into contact with in the last 11 years is
'who else has RA in your family'
to which my answer has always been no-one,
I always loved the perplexed looks this answer would produce.... and the follow up' are you sure?'

Now however i won't feel so smug when asked this question , as Mum is showing all the signs of having early RA.....

The difference between her and I, is I had a fab GP who picked up my signs and symptoms early..... mum's GP just keeps palming her off with pain killers and telling her to go back if it doesn't feel better in a couple of weeks.

It makes me really cross although i shouldn't expect any different from GP's now........ they always seem to defer
Mum has been going to the GP for almost a year now with the same symptoms and as yet still hasn't been given even a blood test which would indicate whether or not it is RA.....

You'd think that this would be a good place to start seeing has her daughter is riddle with it.......

surely a blood test is the sensible way to go rather than another perscription for painkillers......
but then i guess there's no money to be made in blood tests

A pain in the arse.. (literally)

So, here's the tale....(or not)

In 1996 I was diagnosed with Rheumatoid Arthritis.... We have danced with this beast now for 10yrs (by 'we' I mean the boys and I).

I was sent this little package when Pip was just 18 months old and wanted to send it right back but there was no return address... So it has stayed with us hidden in the cupboard under the stairs but every now and then it escapes and reeks havoc.

Anyway, the upshot of having this disease has made us aware how flippantly it is regarded...

It's an 'old persons disease'. Everyone expects to get Arthritis when they're older, thats just the way it is right?

And, because of those cliches, there is little funding for the relevant drugs needed by people who have to tame this beast. We have had personal experience of having to fight our local health authority to get drugs I needed as they were considered too expensive... A fight I know others are still embroiled in...

So not only do we have to justify our need for these drugs (as there is a criteria we must have pursued and exhausted before we can be considered for these drugs) but now NICE are recommending that some drugs have an age limit applied to them....

Now I caught this 'gem' of information on Radio 4 news earlier this week... But the implications could be appalling...

If you just considered this disease alone...

Will a patient, if over 40, no longer be able to try the more expensive of the RA drugs because they are deemed too old? And, therefore have to put up with less effective treatment? Who determines at what age your quality of life outweighs value for money?

It will be interesting to see how this recommendation develops.