Do people with other chronic conditions engage in love/hate relationships with medications?
Do they look forward to new treatment regimens while simultaneously loathing the very idea of a new medication protocol?
Do people think about what daily life would be like if the new medication worked really well?
Do they fantasize about a new medication facilitating remission for long periods of time allowing for many painless night and pain-free days?
Do people research the medications and each of the side effects prior to ingesting or injecting it?
Do they look at the research and preferred practices from thirty, forty or fifty years ago, only to realize that several of the medications are still in use today and are actually the gold standards for treatment?
Do people know that the reasons why some of these medications work are not well understood at all?
Do they know that here are 100 genes that can cause rheumatoid arthritis?
Do people know that right now, it is not possible to match a specific gene with a specific therapy for treatment?
Do people know that methotrexate, a chemotherapy medication, carries a black box warning due to the danger level associated with taking it?
Do they know that hydroxychloroquine, a malaria medication, also carries a black box warning?
Do people understand that leflunomide and sulfasalazine, two more DMARDs, also carry black box warnings?
Do they know that black box warnings, issued by the Food and Drug Administration, are the highest warning level for medications due to the major risks in taking them?
Do people know any of this information and still knowingly, willingly, ingest or inject these medications, or others, and view them as lovely poison?
I know I did. I still might. What does that say about the pain level associated with RA? It should say something. It should say something.
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