In the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis, patients are experts too

[worldbackwards]

http://www.newstatesman.com/2016/10/treatment-rheumatoid-arthritis-patients-are-experts-too

Reading this piece about RA, I was struck by this passage:

Patients need to have the courage to say what they want. This can be hard, but everyone with RA has to remember that the whole point of their treatment is to make them feel better, and nothing else. I understand that clinicians might not always feel comfortable relying on patient input. They might not want to have needy patients impacting their budgets – but we need to have dialogue if we want to treat the whole person.

This seems to be self evident. But it is striking in ME that virtually no one has ever given a shit whether I felt better or not. To get to this point, meagre ambition as it seems, may be the best thing we ever achieve.

 

[Old Bones]

This article is especially timely, considering @Vojta 's post yesterday regarding arthritis and the challenge of obtaining prompt diagnosis and appropriate treatment.