VA Medical Benefits and Arthritis

VA medical benefits, available through USA-Online-Health-Insurance.com, includes medical care for the treatment of breast cancer for thousands of people in the state of Virginia every year. One of the most common drugs used for treatment of breast cancer, the class of drugs known as aromatase inhibitors, or AI, had, at one time developed a bad reputation as the cause of autoimmune diseases or arthritis.

AI is used extensively for women who are post-menopause who have hormone promoted breast cancer. AIs are responsible for making a serious impact on the recurrence of cancer, if the women taking the drugs take them for 5 years. However, about 35% of the women taking the drugs have to stop the medications because they develop joint pain. Once the AIs were approved by the FDA, they were placed on VA medical benefits' drug formularies.

Studies were conducted at Georgetown University Medical Center to see if there was a connection between AIs and joint pain. The leader of the study, Dr. Victoria K Shanmugam, said that according to their studies, there is no correlation between the use of AIs and autoimmune disorders or inflammatory arthritis. In their studies, 25 women who were breast cancer survivors, postmenopausal, and with no autoimmune disease were evaluated. All 25 women had pain in their hands, and were being treated at Georgetown Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center. The control group was 23 women with the same circumstances who were not taking AIs.

All subjects were asked to abstain from NSAIDS, or non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs such as Advil and Aleve, for 48 hours. Prescription strength NSAIDS are usually covered by your VA medical benefits. This would give any arthritis inflammation a chance to reappear before the studies were conducted. At this point, each participant finished a health questionnaire. Then, a rheumatologist filled out a history on the subjects, and conducted a physical exam. He would also determine the activity score of the subjects' disease. The next step in the study was to take blood tests, X-rays, and to do ultrasounds of all of the subjectsý hands.

The results of the study showed that four of the women did have an autoimmune disease. Two women from each test group had an autoimmune disorder, and had not been previously diagnosed. This leads to the conclusion that the AIs are not the cause of autoimmune disorders, since an equal number of women in the test groups were afflicted.

Concerning inflammatory arthritis, there was no evidence that this disease is caused by the AIs, either. While the AIs may not be causing inflammatory arthritis, women who take them are still more likely to experience joint pain than women who are not taking them. Since the problem is not caused by AIs, women are encouraged to stay on their medication. Doctors are encouraged to test patients in these circumstances to see if they actually do have an autoimmune disorder. The testing will be covered by VA medical benefits, just as any other treatments associated with your cancer treatments.