Why are the doctors just pushing pills

Hi , thank you for reaching out to the community with this question. I'm curious to hear others' thoughts and experiences on this. We'd be interested to hear more about your personal experiences with this too. Are you wondering why doctors are just recommending medications and not looking at the person/disease more holistically (i.e. suggesting dietary or lifestyle changes)? Or perhaps you feel that your doctor isn't listening to you and instead just prescribes your treatment? Either way, I do appreciate your frustrations. Do you mind sharing which treatments you have been offered?

I think, just based on my personal experience, there has been a shift in how doctors treat this disease over the years. When I was first diagnosed back in 2012 (and could hardly walk, was spending 23 hours a day in bed, and couldn't bend one of my knees), I was told that my symptoms weren't bad enough to be put on medication. I think back then, PsA seemed to be treated in a more reactive (rather than proactive) way. I was then re-diagnosed in 2017, and despite my life being much less impacted than it was the previous time, that rheumatologist wanted to get me on treatment straight away, to prevent joint damage and try to control the disease in a proactive way, rather than waiting for it to get worse. That's just my personal experience though. I thought you may be interested in reading about the evidence-based treatment guidelines that doctors are following: https://psoriatic-arthritis.com/treatment/guidelines-options . As I mentioned at the start of my comment, I'm very interested to hear others' thoughts on this. Thanks for starting this discussion! Warmly, -Catherine, Community Moderator