Another newbie with questions

[Guest guest]

Hi everybody! I'm a, age 44, diagnosed with dermatomyositis in

Aug. 2008. I have been taking prednisone and Humira since then. As I

tapered prednisone my symptoms returned and muscle enzymes became

elevated so rheumy determined that Humira is not working. Next week I

begin IVIG treatments.

I have also begun AP. Because I am breastfeeding, I am taking

erythromycin (tetracyclines will permanently discolor baby's teeth)

250mg twice daily.

My rheumy ran the mycloplasma pneumoniae, which was negative, although

several of my kids had mycoplasma pneumoniae in Jan. 208 so I thought

it might be a likely possibility. He also ran the anti-streptolysin O

test which came back high and the streptozyme screen which also came

back positive. The rheumy said that the positive strep tests could be

a false positive and an indicator of general inflammation, but that he

still thinks they are a good reason to do AP. I don't really

understand how a positive strep test could be false?

My rheumy is very good. He is pro AP and often uses it as his first

treatment for " less serious " illnesses like RA, but he feels that for

DM patients, the risk of getting very weak while waiting to see if the

treatment is going to work is too great.

So what do you all think of the erythromycin daily? Has anyone had

success with that? I was having a flare when I began it a week ago,

and truthfully I already doing much better. Could I be seeing a

benefit this quickly? I am also taking prednisone, 30mg daily at the

moment, but I was doing that before starting the erythromycin and I am

feeling much better now than when on just the prednisone.

Aside from doing the tests for the other types of mycoplasma, is there

anything else i need to do?

Thanks,

a