Managing my condition is much easier thanks to biologics, highlights Natasha

I can’t tell you how I felt after my diagnosis. I can’t tell you if I felt sad, angry, or worried. All I can tell you from that time is that it started after I had hit my knee on a stone fireplace, because I was only one year old when I was diagnosed.

During primary school my arthritis was relatively under control using methotrexate, the odd steroid injections every few years or so, and frequent hospital appointments. I had hoped it would go away as I got older. One doctor suggested that if it hadn’t gone by the time I was 14 years old, I would likely have it forever.

In fact, that was the age where it got worse than it ever had, and ever has, been. It affected almost every joint, from my jaw to every limb. I couldn’t stand straight, could barely walk, and I knew then that I would have this for life.

I had become one of the patients that Anne describes; methotrexate no longer worked, and sulfasalazine hadn’t either. For two years all attempts at getting the condition under control failed. It spread to my eyes as uveitis and required more specialised care than my local hospital could provide.

Biologics

Eventually I was introduced to biologics… more specifically, etanercept. The weekly injections, although painful, ended the two-year nightmare. After some months I was moved off etanercept due to side effects relating to my white blood cells. I was relieved to be rid of it, despite the slowing of joint deterioration it had provided, but was apprehensive about future treatment.

Another biologic drug, infliximab, was tried next. This was given as a monthly intravenous infusion, and it worked fantastically for me. I used numbing cream so it was painless to administer, had no side effects, and it meant a day off school! I was happy on this for several years before my misfortune with medications struck again. I had a rare allergic reaction, and was truly gutted to be taken off it.

Since then I have been on a monthly tocilizumab drip, and it works as well as infliximab did for me.

Happy ending

Managing my condition is much easier thanks to biologics. All three contributed to keeping my condition under control, and I feel lucky to have been born in a time when they are available. If not, the two-year flare may have been permanent.

I’m now 25 years old. I’ve completed two university degrees, and am able to live life almost as fully as my peers. I volunteer for Versus Arthritis to support children and young people with arthritis. Thanks to biologics I don’t think arthritis is the life sentence it once was, even if you’re diagnosed at the start of your life like I was.

Natasha also wrote a blog about her experience during the NIHR Manchester Biomedical Research Centre’s #MyMSKStory engagement project.

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