Antibiotic Protocol works and I have the labs to prove it

January 9, 2011

First let me apologize to everyone who is going to read this same message ad

nauseam on all the different scleroderma boards but when you have good news you

kinda want to take out a billboard ad.

Never did I expect results like this so quickly. Everything I have heard is that

AP is a long slow process, yet I am amazed at what I learned this week. First, a

bit of background.

Since the mid 1990s I have been told that I had or was likely to develop an

autoimmune disease, most likely the CREST variant of scleroderma waiting in the

wings ready to pounce. This was told to me after it was discovered that I had a

positive ANA of 1:160. Aside from a mild case of Raynauds, I had no other

symptoms, but the doctor who advised me of this was rather ominous about the

future. Over the years I watched steadily as my ANA has gone up and up. First to

1:320, then 1:640. But again, in the absence of troubling symptoms, there really

was nothing to be done, or so I thought.

In 2007, after a bout of iritis, my ophthalmologist inquired as to whether I had

any autoimmune diseases. I responded that I knew I had an elevated ANA with the

anti-Centromere pattern. He asked what the number was and I told him that it was

1:640. " That's off the charts, " he said. " You better see a rheumatologist. " I

did, and my ANA was retested. This time it was 1:1280. The rheumy told me, yes,

I most likely have CREST scleroderma, and that there was nothing I could do to

get rid of it. Around this time I started getting tested for pulmonary

hypertension, which the doctor said was the main thing to be concerned about,

and sure enough, my pressures were going up. Despite the fact that I have no

trouble breathing, my most recent number was squarely in the range of moderate

pulmonary hypertension, and had gone up quite significantly from the last

reading. This scared me enough to do some research which led me to AP.

With an ANA still situated at 1:1280, I started AP on August 3, 2010.. My dosage

was 100 mg of brand-name Minocin, twice a day, every other day. Last week I had

my labs re-tested. My level is now 1:160. My level has not been 1:160 for

FIFTEEN YEARS. My doctor has reduced my Minocin dosage to once daily now. Could

this just be a lab glitch? I suppose. But then why has my Rheumatoid factor,

once mildly elevated at 14.9, also dropped to 12.8 and now within the normal

range?

Has AP reversed my condition? I feel it has. The true test in my opinion will

be with my upcoming echocardiogram in March. If my echo shows that my pulmonary

pressures are normal, I will consider AP to be a complete victory over my

scleroderma and its accompanying manifestations. If not, I will still consider

myself to be well on my way.

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