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Immune Suppression Therapy for Rheumatoid Arthritis & Inflammatory Bowel Disease

There are about 1.6 million Americans affected with inflammatory bowel diseases and about 4 million with auto-immune mediated arthritis such as Rheumatoid Arthritis and Ankylosing Spondylitis. What these disorders have in common is that they often are treated with a class of medication known as “Biologics”. Biologics are a very sophisticated class of medication that target specific molecules of the inflammatory cascade. Each biologic generally has a different target.

Patients that are now on these medications worry that these potent medications will be detrimental to their health in the COVID-19 pandemic. There is concern that they are more likely to be infected, and concern that if infected, they would have worse outcomes.

Thought leaders from the American Gastroenterological Association have met and a publication is due April 20 in the Journal of Gastroenterology regarding this topic. I feel fortunate to have a professional connection to the lead author Dr. David Rubin of the University of Chicago who let me have a copy of the pre-published paper.

The take home point is: DON’T STOP YOUR MEDS!

Some of these same biologics are being tested in treating COVID-19. Attenuating the inflammatory cascade may in fact be a benefit. Also, the risk of the disease flaring if biologics are stopped are increased. The way we treat a flare is with steroids. Steroids are not nearly as specific as to which part of the inflammatory cascade they shut down. They shut it all down. Sound familiar?

So walking around the pandemic on steroids ought to be more scary than walking around on a biologic.

Of course, IF you are infected with COVID, then it’s time to stop all immune suppressing medication until research shows the benefits outweigh the risks.

 

 

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ABOUT DR. KUMAR

Dr. Kumar’s mission is to educate the public about their health. To that end, he had a call in radio show, The Dr. Kumar Show on TALK Radio 1370 from 2003 to 2009. It received the Anson Jones MD Award for Physician Excellence in Reporting from the Texas Medical Association. Dr. Kumar has also been doing a segment on FOX 7 Austin on Wednesday mornings since 2005. That, too, won an Anson Jones MD Award. He is dedicated to the proposition that people can understand science if it is explained without scientific jargon.

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Dr. Pradeep Kumar shares his valuable medical insights through his Blog and Health & Wellness in Austin podcast. 

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