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Julie Robbins

| Jun 29, 2024 12:39 pm

re the difficult to treat RA... how about the patient as in myself, with a 35 yr history of RA..and ive been tried on long cycles of DMARDS, biologics& different combos.. yes, there had been reactive depression from the chronic pain, extrasystmic disease (GI dysmotility, pericarditis, pleuritis, RA lung disease, etc). but it is treated quite early on ..and not a problem..My rheum gave all treatments a long try before moving onto the next.. I am finally doing better, on a combo of high dose xeljanz, cellcept (for RA-ILD), small dose daily pred ... but i dont think my refractory status could be blamed on depression..I am generally a very positive person with a great support system.. I agree, anyone with depression should be offered treatment..but i dont think in my case, it can be blamed for being difficult to treat.. I have a varied genetic, familial history of close family with other autoimmune disease such as IBD,RA,sjogrens,vasculitis..and i have been told that could be part of why i am difficult to treat.. alot of inflammatory pathways to target.. Thank you for letting me give my input! Thx for your coverage of EULAR!