Fifty years…
It was November 1958 when the last new treatment for Lupus was approved by the FDA. What does this mean? Well, to me I see a few explanations: 1. there hasn’t been adequate funding for research and development, 2. researchers have been working feverishly for the past 50 years and haven’t yet found something that works better, or 3. they haven’t been doing anything at all in the past half century to help Lupus patients. I know that the last statement is unlikely but it is hard to not feel that way when you are living with this disease and you know that there hasn’t been a new way to treat it approved in 50 years. When I found out this information I couldn’t help but think of my mother. She was 6 when the FDA approved that last treatment and now there is nothing else to help not only her but me, her youngest child.
We have both dealt with the symptoms that make living a normal life difficult. We have both dealt with doctors that were either unable or unwilling to find a reason for us feeling so sick. We have both dealt with feeling as if we were crazy because we couldn’t find a reason as to way we were sick. We have both felt the relief and the dread when we finally got a diagnosis. We have both dealt with the side effects of out dated medications that are at times unbearable. We have both had to deal with the doctors that are constantly trying to find that “magic” combination of medications that makes our lives easier. We are both praying for … a miracle.
I was alerted to this information about a week ago and I have been trying to find the words to express how I feel about it. The only problem with that is that I am not completely certain how I feel. Part of me is shocked and angry that the medical community and the pharmaceutical companies have allowed this to happen. Part of me is just very sad, for the exact same reason. So many people in America and around the world can benefit from some sort of “breakthrough” in this area and it just hasn’t happened. I can’t help but ask… why?