To Valarmie: Information on Minocin

[Guest guest]

Hi Valarmie,

From what I understand of the Mayes Minocycline in Scleroderma study, the study

was badly flawed. Apparently, Mayes is a sclero specialist in TX and is pretty

negative about minocycline for sclero, but there is a patient of hers on RBF

(sorry, can't remember her name) who is actually on minocyclie and is doing very

well - go figure! Also, if you connect with _SD on RBF, she is a

statistical analyst and will be able to explain to you how/why the study was

flawed. There may even be a past discussion thread you can search out on the RBF

forum, if memory serves where explained this.

As for DILE (drug-induced lupus erythematosus from minocycline, I have actually

experienced this after 6 months use of minocycline in low, pulsed doses. I had

actually reached remission on pulsed minocycline 100mg twice a day on a Mon,

Wed, Fri (in addition to azithromycin 250mg Tues/Thurs) after 16 months of use.

The symptoms began to creep in slowly with increased migrating pain and swollen

joints. At first, I thought I was plateauing out and I'd have to switch my

protocol, but I did wonder about DILE, so I took a break and, almost as soon as

I stopped the mino, my symptoms resolved. DILE is extremely rare, is very easy

to diagnose and resolves upon discontinuation of the offending drug (many drugs,

other than minocycline can cause it), so it should not be a concern for anyone,

as simple blood tests can be run to confirm whether it is DILE or not. These are

anti-histone ABs, ANA (if previously negative) and SS Anti-DNA (single-stranded

anti-DNA is the " fake " lupus test, whereas DS Anti-DNA, aka double-stranded

anti-DNA, is used to diagnose real SLE). As mentioned DILE is very rare and they

don't know why some people suffer from this disorder, though one theory is that

these folk are " slow-acetylators. " That is, they are unable to break down

certain drugs fast enough in the liver. However, my Lyme doctor also mentioned

the same possibility in the study you posted...that normal apoptosis (cell

death) is prevented and these zombie cells are then left to wreak havoc in the

body. In either case, DILE is very easy to monitor while on minocycline with

simple blood labs if anyone is concerned and is easy to resolve by switching out

of minocycline to another tetracycline, like doxycycline. Also, very

interestingly, some of the biologic drugs, like Enbrel and Humira, used for

rheumatic diseases, carry a risk of DILE (see package insert) and may also

induce MS in some folk, so the argument used by rheumies that minocycline is bad

because of this is a little ironic, considering it takes a person a lot longer

to get rid of one of those injectible drugs from the system than just stopping

oral minocycline, if it should become a problem.

Hope that helps, Valarmie? DILE from mino is really rare and, if you are

worried, it can easily be monitored monthly with simple blood labs.

Maz

RA/Lyme

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