Mycoplasma?
November 11, 2011 4:13 pm Rheumatoid ArthritisThe last two years have been particularly hard. It was October 2009 when I had a sudden onset of some sort of infection. I thought it was the swine flu and I would have continued to think so unless our oldest son hadn’t brought home what was tested and verified as swine flu which then spread to his younger brother, his mother and finally to me. So, I had something that wasn’t the swine flu early in October and lingering achiness and stiffness in the joints.
By Thanksgiving I felt like a very old man… every move was painful, standing or sitting was uncomfortable.
By December I managed to get some testing which didn’t really turn up much and then a referral to a Rheumatologist. I was throwing down tylenol and advil daily.
The tests that they did all were inconclusive, but they called it seronegatoive Rheumatoid Arthritis (meaning that the testing does not yet show it, but everything else does.) They put me on prednisone and meloxicam and sent me on my. Came back in a few months not much better and plaquenil was added to the mix with instructions to get my eyes checked. (Plaquenil can damage the eyes ability to see red over time.)
So by September of 2010 I was doing a bit better. Enough to occasionally kick the ball outside with my kids. October set in and the window of opportunity closed. I was back into the bad aches and pains. By midwinter they wanted to add methotrexate to my medication list. I remember that first dose of methotrexate I felt like I had an appointment with the gallows. I didn’t know what it would do to me. I researched and read a lot of users experiences with it and decided to take it in the evening on Saturday so I could sleep through most of the side effects.
It leaves me feeling clobbered on Sunday though.
At first it seemed to be helping some and then over time not as much and they had to raise the dosage.
Then late this spring (2011) I had some sort of upper respiratory infection and went to get an antibiotic prescription. (Zpac). For the several days I was on that my aches and pains eased to a point where I felt like the sun had come out and I was able to do things again. Unfortunately it was a short window. Because when I went off the antibiotic things returned to “normal.”
I had been researching antibiotics for RA for quite some time. Dr. Browns research seems promising and I must admit that I had ulterior motives when I went to the Dr.’s office to see if I could get antibiotics for my upper respiratory infection.
So… I logged everything over the course of the ZPac and on my next RA appointment presented the details and asked my Rheumatologist if I could try low dose antibiotics. He agreed and took a couple days to review the dosages.
Doxycycline was prescribed (from what I read – it’s not as effective at permeating the cells as minocin, but it is cheaper.) I have had a constant improvement with it. It’s now past October again and I must admit this last cold spell has had more aches and pains than 1-2 months ago, but I’m doing much better than 3-5 months ago!
The theory behind the antibiotic therapy is that a small bacteria family known as mycoplasma may be to blame for a great number of autoimmune diseases. There are lots of different varieties of the bug and it is unique in that it is the smallest known form of bacteria. They lack a cell wall which enables them to infiltrate the cells of a host better. In many ways then it would make sense if a species of mycoplasma preferred synovial fluid, or connective tissues to live in, that it would migrate there after initial infection and the immune system would keep hammering at the cells trying to get the invaders out.
I’ll check back in over time and let you know if this continues helping!
