The COVID Vaccines and Autoimmune Disease
As the COVID vaccine rolls out, people with arthritis and other autoimmune diseases are wondering what this means for them. Is the COVID vaccine safe if you’re taking immunosuppressants, like methotrexate, Humira, Enbrel, and other biologics? Does it work? We don’t have all the answers to these questions, unfortunately. The vaccines are too new, and they haven’t been fully tested on immunocompromised people. That doesn’t mean we can’t find some guidance, though. So, what do we know so far about the COVID vaccine for people with autoimmune diseases? (I am not a doctor, and more importantly, I and others on the internet are not your doctor. Each person is unique,…
First Biologic Medications Approved for nr-ax Spondyloarthritis
After years of waiting, patients with non-radiographic axial spondyloarthritis (nr-axSpA) can officially be prescribed biologic medications in the US. Since the beginning of the year, three biologic medications have been approved by the FDA for people with nr-axSpA: Cimzia, Taltz, and Cosentyx. As someone who spent years waiting for diagnosis and treatment, I’m excited by the game-changing potential of nr-axSpA treatments being officially recognized. nr-axSpA? Spondyloarthritis (SpA) is a group of autoimmune arthritis conditions that affect the spine, other joints, and entheses. Ankylosing spondylitis (AS) is the most well-known (and easily diagnosed) type, but it requires joint damage to be visible on imaging. This leaves doctors with a conundrum: how…
COVID-19 and immunosuppressants: new data
Since COVID-19 is so new, there’s a shortage of important information on how it affects people with autoimmune disease. Many of us have asked our doctors for guidance with our conditions and medications, but in the end, no one really knows how COVID-19, autoimmune diseases, and immunosuppressants interact. We need data and cases to truly understand how we should proceed. We don’t yet have any large-scale studies, but a small study from New York was released this week in the New England Journal of Medicine. It can give us some much-needed insight into how coronavirus impacts those of us who have autoimmune diseases and take immunosuppressants. Where my last article…
