Canada ahead of the States in drug approvals??! I think not. Enbrel hasn't been approved yet, or if it has, only in the last month. Remicade is still listed by my benefits company as RA only and we were at least 4 years behind the States and England in approving the use of mefloquine as an anti-malarial (not AS, I realize, but the only one I know about for sure because I had to pay for it out of pocket because it was still considered experimental here two years after it had been approved in the States and England). Health Canada must have the slooooooweeeeeeest approval process on the planet!!
Thanks for the offer on McGill. It's only about 45 minutes from me actually. My rheumy is at the same hospital as one of Canada's top AS researchers/specialists and, considering my rheumy sent me to this guy for a 2nd opinion on dx, I'm pretty sure he'd be open to a consult. I'll think about it, but I want to wait and see for a little bit first.
His main concern about the new DMARDS is that they are only just now finding out the worst side effects of some of the earliest DMARDS, one of which caused lymphatic cancer, and he's concerned about that. Although it's a risk I'm willing to take, I appreciate his caution. There's also the fact that my company benefits haven't got Remicade, Kinneret, Humira or Enbrel approved for AS yet, and regardless, to get one of these I'd have to go through hoops. Which is what I'm doing taking vioxx. We have to show that nothing else will work in order to get me approved for a drug that costs about $20,000 a year!
That said, however, I do wish that my rheumy would fight for me to get one of the DMARDS and maybe I can talk him into sulfasalazine to start. I just think this thing needs to be nipped in the bud right now, before I end up needing a hip replacement and all that other fun stuff. In the meantime, as my rheumy said, we need to get my pain levels under control. Which is what the vioxx and tylenol are for.
Thanks so much, Sabrina.
Hugs,
Kat
