Arthritis Australia, in partnership with the Australian Rheumatology Association, has launched a new online rheumatoid arthritis patient-support website. 

The free MyRA website provides individually tailored information to help people become active participants in managing their disease. 

MyRA is also an alternative to the many patient support programs linked to specific drugs.  

Mr Andrew Mills, CEO of Arthritis Australia, said a ‘medication agnostic’ source of support and information was important as patients were likely to change medications over time.

“There are also many people with rheumatoid arthritis that don’t have access to a patient support program at all,” he said. 

“Prior to this program, we found many people were either using ‘doctor google’ to make important decisions based on incorrect, irrelevant or alarming information, joining online forums without independent and trusted moderation, or joining programs that may only be suitable at a particular point in time due to the medication they are using.”

The MyRA website links through to the National Arthritis Infoline and State and Territory arthritis organisations to provide a holistic patient-support system. It covers topics such as symptoms, risks, treatment options, COVID-19 updates, diet, exercise, support services and how to build good relationships with healthcare teams .

South Australian rheumatologist Associate Professor Susanna Proudman said clinicians can confidently recommend the MyRA website to their patients. 

“Patients may only have face to face time with their rheumatologist for a few hours each year and GPs can’t be expected to cover everything outside of that.  It will save people a lot of time going down rabbit holes that they don’t need to that may offer unproven or even unsafe advice.”