Women vs. Men & Minocin (Updated)

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Hello everyone,

Men and women differ in one important respect, their body weight.

Most men are taller and heavier than most women, especially women who

have suffered from Rheumatoid Arthritis for a number of years.

And body weight matters when you consider the dispersion and

concentration of any medication throughout the body.

Minocin tends to produce adverse side effects when you take it for the

first time. But any side effect should be mild, occasional and not last

beyond the first 4 weeks, as suggested by the Kloppenburg study.

The O'Dell study and the Kloppenburg study both report the use of

Minocycline at a dosage of 100 mg, twice a day, every day, although the

Kloppenburg study reports that:

72.5% of the patients completed the trial at a dose of 100 mg of

Minocin, twice a day, while

15% reduced their dose of Minocin to 100 mg a day because of adverse

effects, and

12.5% withdrew during the first 4 weeks of the trial due to adverse

effects.

Members of the Support Group have contacted me, both privately and

publicly, to report mild to severe adverse reactions when using Minocin.

All of them were women.

I went back to my photocopies of the published studies in the hope of

finding more information on the body weight of the patients who

participated in the O'Dell and Kloppenburg studies. I didn't find any.

I noticed that the Kloppenburg studies of 1994 and 1995 are one and the

same study, although the 1994 publication covers different issues,

including the mechanisms by which Minocycline acts and the adverse side

effects reported by women. I will post a summary of all of these studies

for the Support Group.

The best medication is the one that you can take. A reduced amount of

medication with side effects that you can tolerate is far better than no

medication at all. In the absence of more info from the studies, I used

common knowledge and my own experience to devise the following body

weight chart, to be followed in the first 6 to 8 weeks of taking

Minocin, Minocin being used in combination with either oral Clindamycin

or Zithromax, 2 separate days per week, as on Mondays and Fridays.

150-170 pounds or more: 100 mg, twice a day, 5-7 days a week

130-150 pounds: 150 mg per day, 5-7 days a week

100-130 pounds: 100 mg, 5-7 days a week

Patients with Rheumatoid Arthritis may want to take the full amount of

Minocin, 100 mg, twice a day, 7 days a week, if only after the first 6

to 8 weeks, because of the severity of Rheumatoid Arthritis. Any final

decision as to the proper amount of medication that you require is best

made by you and your doctor.

Here's the common knowledge:

Pharmaceutical companies test new drugs on Men aged 20 to 45 years only,

unless the medication is designed specifically for women or some other

age group. Children and teenagers are excluded because of age of consent

and concerns that it might impair their growth. Women are excluded

because of the risk of pregnancy, birth defects and, also, the

difficulty of distinguishing between the side effects of new medications

and the consequences of their menstrual cycle. Men and women over the

age of 45 are excluded because of the normal risks of cancer and heart

conditions, both of which could be attributed to the new medication

being tested.

Because of their testing policy, pharmaceutical companies will determine

a dosage that fits best a North American or European man of average

height and weight. Such a man measures 5 feet and 10 inches and weighs

168-172 pounds, if my memory serves me right, as it has been some 20

years than I didn't have a look at the charts of " ideal " weight for men

and women. Such charts have been revised upward recently.

From what I see among the students attending the University of Ottawa,

in Canada, the average height of young men would be closer to 6 feet and

2 inches, nowadays, and their body weight closer to 185-195-205 pounds.

And the Americans are taller and heavier than Canadians.

Perhaps you understand now why men react well to Minocin, 100 mg, twice

a day, whereby some women report problems when their body weight is only

128 pounds, 118 pounds, 108 pounds or less. For those women, Doctor

Mercola's original protocol, with it's 100-200 mg of Minocin on Mondays,

Wednesdays and Fridays, worked just fine as the average amount of

Minocin in their body was a steady 50-100 mg of Minocin every day. But

that protocol cheats men of their chance for recovery, because it does

not allow for enough medication according to their body weight.

Using my own measurements, 6 feet and 1/2 inch, 172 pounds, and my own

experience of mild side effects, I devised the above body weight chart

to govern the appropriate amount of Minocin to be taken in the first 6

to 8 weeks of daily dosages of Antibiotics. Once the initial side

effects have settled within the first 4 weeks, allow for an extra 3 or 4

weeks before trying to increase the dosage of Minocin to a daily MAXIMUM

of 200 mg, should you want to follow the published studies and should

you feel that it is warranted in your case.

I invite you to read the summary of the 1994 Kloppenburg study for more

info on the side effects reported by women, as well as the mechanism of

action of Minocin.

Pierre

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