Arthritis patients can live healthy, normal lives

MANILA, Philippines - Anna was always very active. When she was younger, she was heavily into kickboxing, scuba diving, and several other high-impact sports and exercises. She was career-driven as well. Then, at 27, she began to feel pain in her hands and fingers and it spread to her wrists and elbows. Her physician prescribed an anti-inflammatory medicine.

She noticed, however, that the moment she stopped taking the medicine, the pain would flare up again. She was diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and prescribed with prednisone (steroid medication), and eventually methotrexate.

She went to see Dr. Rosario Marie E. Sarmiento, a rheumatologist at the Asian Hospital and Medical Center. “Anna’s rheumatoid arthritis had already progressed when I first saw her,” relates Dr. Sarmiento. “Her hand had ankylosed and her joints were very stiff. I wanted to keep her treatment as aggressive as possible to stop further and faster progression. But I did not want to keep her on the steroids for too long.”

When the medicines were working well for Anna, she did not see Dr. Sarmiento for some time. As with the prednisone, the methotrexate Anna was taking began showing visible side effects. It was when she noticed that she was losing her hair that she began to panic. She decided to try a new form of treatment, biologics, to see if she could benefit from it.

In 2011, Dr. Sarmiento began her on the humanized biologic drug Tocilizumab, an intravenous therapy developed by pharmaceutical company Roche that specifically targets unique cellular protein responsible for the inflammation and damage of joints in RA.

Anna quickly responded to tocilizumab, and she completed her six-month introduction to the drug with ease. Her RA was under control and she was living life normally without any side effects. In fact, the treatment with tocilizumab was so successful that Dr. Sarmiento was able to take her off from all her other medications including steroids and painkillers. 

“Tocilizumab has been effective for Anna and we plan to continue her treatment consistently. Since RA cannot be cured, the goal is really to control disease progression, save joints, and prevent as much pain as possible so patients can have better quality of life. The right medication, coupled with physical therapy as needed, truly helps RA patients achieve their treatment goals and live normal, happy, and healthy lives,” Dr. Sarmiento concludes.

Tocilizumab is a prescription drug and should only be taken in accordance with the advice of a physician.