natural anti-inflammatories?

May 18, 2002

As of yesturday I have stopped Minocycline and started Zithromax.

I have been informed that there will be a period of time starting

soon and lasting for up to four weeks where my skin might flare

as a result of the minocycline leaving my system before i build

up a zithromax level in my skin. Since antibiotics are theorized

to work due to anti-inflammatory actions, I was wondering if

there were any natural anti-inflammatories that I might be able

to take for the next few weeks to minimize any flareups I might

have. Perhaps an herbal supplement, or maybe a vitamin/nutrient

found in certain foods or something? I realize there are ALOT of

products out there that Claim to be anti-inflammatory, and I

would prefer a product that can support its claim in some way. I

realize I can't expect double-blind well-documented clinical

studies or anything, but if possible would prefer something more

than an unsubstantiated claim on a website. (Perhaps something

people in this group have used effectively?)

Unfortunately I have never had much luck with NSAIDS or Aspirin,

which were the first things I thought of.

Thanks as always

Adam

May 18, 2002

Adam, another alternative is to not micromanage your skin during this

transition period -- accept that your skin may (or may not) get worse

over the next month or two. I assume that changing antibiotics is one

small part of a bigger picture: an overall management plan that you

and your doctor have agreed on, where changes will be measured not by

daily or weekly exacerabations and remissions but by overall skin

health, as assessed over many months and years.

Marjorie

Marjorie Lazoff, MD

> As of yesturday I have stopped Minocycline and started Zithromax.

> I have been informed that there will be a period of time starting

> soon and lasting for up to four weeks where my skin might flare

> as a result of the minocycline leaving my system before i build

> up a zithromax level in my skin. Since antibiotics are theorized

> to work due to anti-inflammatory actions, I was wondering if

> there were any natural anti-inflammatories that I might be able

> to take for the next few weeks to minimize any flareups I might

> have. Perhaps an herbal supplement, or maybe a vitamin/nutrient

> found in certain foods or something? I realize there are ALOT of

> products out there that Claim to be anti-inflammatory, and I

> would prefer a product that can support its claim in some way. I

> realize I can't expect double-blind well-documented clinical

> studies or anything, but if possible would prefer something more

> than an unsubstantiated claim on a website. (Perhaps something

> people in this group have used effectively?)

>

> Unfortunately I have never had much luck with NSAIDS or Aspirin,

> which were the first things I thought of.

>

> Thanks as always

>

> Adam

>

May 19, 2002

You're definitely right about not basing long-term treatment goals on how

the skin will look for a period of a few weeks. Thats something I'm pretty

good at. Obviously no one wants to look bad when they can avoid it, but I

realize this treatment is going to be a long-term process. I'm a little

worried about allowing my skin to get bad at this time though because I

still may be undergoing one more photoderm treatment, and flushing w/in two

weeks after a treatment may have negative results on the treatment's

effectiveness, so I was hoping to minimize the potential flares as much as

possible. Unfortunately there's no way I could've waited another month or

two to get off the minocycline. It was causing daily stomach pain that was

so bad that it was even waking me up probably three nights a week.

(Probiotics were not helping much, but this could be because i was on