Quote:
Originally Posted by northerngal
It's so strange how every doctor has such different opinions in their treatment plans. In my case I was given IVIG, plasma exchange and rituxin, the IVIG was considered first line and least dangerous. The immune suppressors (imuran, cytoxin etc) were considered the "big guns" in the opinions of all the doctors I saw.
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Well that is interesting Northerngal. I am guessing you aren't in the UK? For my body the drugs I've tried so far eg Sulfasalazine, methotrexate (both oral and injectable), Hydroxychloraquine and then Imuran have certainly been big guns!
And many RA friends have tried and failed to tolerate or improve on these first line disease modifying antirheumatic drugs and yet have tolerated and improved with the biologics further down the line.
So despite the doctors saying "big gun" in terms of tolerance what they actually mean is big gun in terms of expense to the NHS. I'm sure the same cost indications generally apply all over the world though. So maybe it is just the term "big gun" which is used properly wherever you are ie big gun to the body's tolerance levels rather than big gun to the tax payer/ health insurance companies!? Mat x