Will New Medication Guidelines For Rheumatoid Arthritis Improve Patient Satisfaction With Treatment? By Kathleen Hoffman, PhD, MSPH Despite the advances and diversification of disease modifying antirheumatic drugs (DMARDs) to treat rheumatoid arthritis (RA), a recent report surveying current RA patients showed that the majority are not satisfied with their treatment experience. In [...]
I was diagnosed with Ankylosing Spondylitis at 15 By Kathleen Hoffman, PhD, MSPH Imagine a patient with inflammatory joint pain. You’re probably not visualizing a young person in his 20’s or teens with severe lower back pain, but that’s a likely scenario for sufferers of ankylosing spondylitis (AS). One Inspire member said: [...]
Living with a Mysterious Illness: Scleroderma By Kathleen Hoffman, PhD, MSPH Unless you’re a specialist, you might not recognize a chronic disease that is named for its effect on the skin -- but might not appear there. It’s scleroderma. In fact, the symptoms vary greatly for each person: From 75-90% of patients [...]
Treatment Discussions of Rheumatoid Arthritis on Inspire By Kathleen Hoffman, PhD, MSPH When someone says “arthritis,” do you imagine an elderly person? When joints deteriorate through age and use, that’s osteoarthritis. But patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) are fighting being actively crippled by their own immune systems, a disease that is unrelated [...]
Video Vignettes: Through Their Own Eyes: Rare Autoimmune Liver Diseases By Kathleen Hoffman, PhD, MSPH The liver has been called a forgiving organ because of its capacity to regenerate. However, chronic unrelenting damage over years can overwhelm its regenerative abilities, resulting in permanent scarring. Well-known risk factors-being overweight, alcohol abuse, viral infections [...]
