For Sierra - Re: Minocycline

[Guest guest]

>>>I have been on Minocycline for 4 months and it is the best medicine

I've been on for my RA. It is working beautifully for me and I'm ever

so grateful. I have mild-moderate RA--was diagnosed several years ago

and have been on the following DMARDS: Plaquineil, Methotrexate (2

years), Arava (3 weeks), & Sulfasalazine (3 weeks).<<<

Hi Sierra,

Many thanks for your reply and it's great to hear the minocycline is working so

well for you! Are you taking it as a substitute for the previous meds you

mentioned or in combo with something else?

I'm getting similarly good results with the tetracycline (same family of abx). I

have been on it for several months and improvement has been slow, but definitely

worth waiting it out, in retrospect, and putting up with the pain to get these

results.

I wonder why this treatment seem to be such a well kept secret from RA patients?

If it works - even if for only a % of people - with so few side-effects, then

why isn't it being used more? I don't understand the resistance by docs to at

least try it on patients, even if results aren't immediate. What exactly do docs

mean when they say they have had little success with it? Could they mean

patients give up without giving it time to kick in or that other drugs are just

more measurable in their immediate effects? Also, the dosing seems

variable...better results seem to come with lower doses given every few days

than continuous high dosing. Could there just be a lack of education here? For

all their training and the respect due that we give them, docs can't know

everything, afterall, and belief systems can be a very hard thing to change.

Sadly, my doctor says, the field of rheumatology is sketchy and archaic at best

with a lot of patients doing the " guinea pig " run around with some pretty toxic

drugs. Would pharmaceutical companies really be altruistic enough to forego

profits for researching cheaper, more effective alternatives or a cure? It's

just not in the pharmaceuticals' best interests to do this and far more

profitable to keep people chugging on the big money drug train.

Hate to sound so critical, but I really think we all need to be our own best

advocates and look at all alternatives and even suspend our own disbelief at

times, no matter how ridiculous some alternatives may sound. For instance, there

is a lot of " quack-busting " going on that says liver flushing is all hoo-haw and

hogwash. I was pretty skeptical, myself, until after a series of pretty bad

biliary colic attacks a few years ago, I got up the courage to try a flush from

Curezone.com and it worked like a dream. My attacks stopped immediately and it

was a much safer, healthier alternative to having my gall bladder removed.

Truly, " the proof of the pudding is in the eating " with anything...

Incidentally, for anyone who may be interested, liver flushing has been helpful

for many with allergies, asthma, gall stones, drug toxicity, pms,

arthritis....you name it. Check out Curezone.com for a full list of complaints

that liver flushing helps.

Thanks, Sierra, for your confirmation...I was beginning to wonder if my own

improvement was imagined or solely due to the plaquenil.

Peace, n

[Guest guest]

Hi Sierra

I am all too familiar with the dropping things, the swollen fingers,

fatigue and sore shoulders, and not being able to lift my arms to

brush my hair.....RA just plain hurts. I am now on Enbrel and it is

working so far for me, I have been diagnosed with RA for about 8

years.

Kitt

> >

> > n and Sierra,

> >

> > How long had you had your diagnosis of RA when you started

taking

> anitbiotics? What were your symptoms? And are you seropositive

or

> seronegative RA? I figure the more information I have to share

with

> my rheumatologist next week, the better.

> >

> > Meg in Pennsylvania

> >

> >

> > ---------------------------------

> > Don't be flakey. Get for Mobile and

> > always stay connected to friends.

> >

> >