Under a month ago I was writing about how I had been a year on mepolizumab. The drug that I thought was going to be my wonder drug and make my asthma easy to control or so I thought. You can read the post here.
Part of me wonders did I know deep down that I would be stopping this treatment? I know in my last clinic I had asked my consultant if he thought I was benefiting from getting the drug. He outlined why he thought it was worth staying on it so we agreed I would stay on.
In just a few short weeks after that clinic and chat the words came out my consultants mouth that I didnt want to hear. He said “we are going to stop the mepolizumab treatment because I was not getting the results he wants and while on it I have had some of my most severe attacks”. He felt he could not justify me staying on it as I was still struggling so much and my attacks were getting worse again. He is also concerned about all the other issues I am having with my body which he cant say are due to the mepolizumab but equally he cant say they are not. He is worried about the unknown side effects from the drug due to it being so new.
To say I am gutted is an under statement. It was meant to be my wonder drug. It wasn’t as much as I try to convince myself it was working I cant be sure. It did reduce my eosinophil count which is the only result we can see conclusively that changed once starting it. Otherwise the things like recovering from attacks and bouncing back from colds quicker I cant say are due to the mepolizumab or if they are due to not working in the hospital. I cant say either way. I wish I could say it was due to the mepolizumab but I cant.
So what now??
This was the first question I asked my consultant as once again I feel like I am in a constant state of limbo, reliant on oral corticosteroids which have the be reduced but any reduction exacerbates my asthma again so I will be searching for that drug which can offer me stability. If only prednisolone did not have such awful side effects and you could stay on them with no worries- that would be magic!!
The good news is that there are new biologic treatments out there. There is Fasenra (benralizumab) which I doubt I will be eligible for. I am excited about the results people have been getting from Dupixent (dupilumab). In the UK dupixent is currently only allowed to be used in patients with skin conditions but over in the States there has been a lot of success for people with aspirin sensitive asthma. I hope that perhaps dupixent might be approved for use in asthma because I think the main issue which makes asthma control so hard to achieve is being anaphylactic to salicylic acid- a compound of aspirin which naturally occurs in just about everything.
Until then I just need to sit tight, do the best I can to keep my body as healthy as possible, minimising the risk of attacks and focus on getting better and have a positive mental attitude.
ANONYMOUS-ASTHMA 