Early Diagnosis Matters: Part 1, Physical Reasons
While the average time for diagnosis may be six years, I feel very strongly that physicians should be encouraged to be more aggressive in their approach to diagnosis, and that conservatism in the approach to Lupus does nothing but risk the future health of patients.
In 2013, an article published in the Journal of Rheumatology discussed the early use of hydroxychloroquine and its protective effects against possible organ damage in the future. (That’s the anti-malarial drug I talked about in Day 5.) It compared numbers three years after diagnosis– and other studies have found the same to be true even farther down the road.
However, if a physician is hesitating to diagnose Lupus, taking a more conservative approach could mean waiting even longer to start a patient on hydroxychloroquine. Surely, considering the lack of aggressive side-effects, and the high success of early treatment, it is better to get patients on hydroxychloroquine as quickly as possible. Why gamble with a patient’s future?
I wonder if I would be facing lung involvement and possible lung damage this year, if I had been placed on hydroxychloroquine before May 2012. (I was also on it briefly in my late teens, but was later taken off it.) In my view, it’s worse to delay starting such an effective yet unobtrusive treatment than it is to later tell someone that they don’t, in fact, have Lupus. On the way to getting the Lupus diagnosis, I was given many diagnoses that were later redacted when it all came together as Lupus– so don’t tell me that doctors are cautious about about all diagnoses this way.
Tomorrow: the psychological importance of early diagnosis.
The research cited in this post is yet another reason why Trump’s announcement about using hydroxychloroquine, and the subsequent stockpiling of the drug for COVID-19 use, has been so dangerous for people with autoimmune disorders. This drug is so fundamental to slowing disease progress, and many Americans are reporting shortages, or complete lack of access, to hydroxychloroquine today.
Wondering what’s going on with these posts? Check out my explanation HERE!
This Isolation Life 