...or has anyone else noticed that the infection theory has gained a
lot of ground and/or credibility lately? Twice this week I read that
arthritis either is or may be the bodiy's response to an unidentified
pathogen. GrammaKathy posted a link to John Hopkins which stated:
"There are two popular theories regarding the pathogenesis of rheumatoid
arthritis (RA). The first holds that the T cell, through interaction
with an - as yet unidentified - antigen, is the primary cell
responsible for initiating the disease as well as for driving the
chronic inflammatory process. This theory is based upon the known
association of RA with class II major histocompatability antigens, the
large number of CD4+ T cells and skewed T cell receptor gene usage in
the RA synovium."
An article about World Arthritis Day stated:
"Researchers and experts worldwide are still unclear about the causes of Rheumatoid Arthritis.What is known is that Rheumatoid arthritis is the body’s response to an obscure antigen."
Is the long institutionally rejected
infection connection finally becoming so obvious it can no longer be
denied? Could the research "dark ages" of auto-immune theory be
officially waning? Has this been happening the whole time but I just
wasn't connecting the dots? Am I feeling very dramatic this morning?
Will Amber have Brett's baby or will she go back to Dirk, never knwing
she is actually Dirk's half sister because she was a long ago changling?
The suspense is killing me. Literally!
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No...I don't think it is just you. I believe that the infection theory and the over active immune system theory go hand in hand. It is a combo of both. I just posted about that in bro's post. Liz, are you also on AP? If yes, how's it working for you?I by that it is both. I was told by an allergist that i was a human intena, that i was reacting to things that maybe harmful to the rest of society. They wanted to use me for studies i declined. I was really sick from a new chemical at work. Later a couple of others got sick also. That was a 8 years ago. I am sure more have gotten sick as it was more cost productive to get rid of the people than the chemical that made them sick. Just saying I have always had an over reactive immune systym. I have always thought i would be a prim canadate for an auto immune sytem diesease.
A fine mystery indeed...
A couple of comments: one, an antigen is any substance that stimulates an immune system response, doesn't have to be an "infection such as a bacteria or virus"...could be an environmental factor that causes an allergic response, or even what are called auto-antigens produced by your own body; second, there's still the distinction between a trigger that starts RA, which could be an infection, stress, environmental factor, etc. , and the mechanism that continues to drive the disease, "hidden" infection and an out-of-control immune response being two examples. I think there's still a lot to learn about this disease and the answer may turn out to be quite complex. I'm all for a simple answer, however, it it comes with a cure!
Alan
< =text/>_popupControl(); No, I am not on AP and I did a lot of research (thanks Pip!) on it and would really like to use it in combination with traditional therapy. However, I can not find a doctor that will do that with me. My doctors feel that if I had been put on AP therapy from the get go I probably would have done very well on it. They docs feel (and my husband and I agree) that AP therapy ALONE would not be a wise choice for me right now in my RA journey. Who knows...that may change in the future. We all know what a fickle brat RA is. They also do not feel that right now would be a good time to try the combo of the 2. They want the ra to settle a little bit first. I do wish that I would have had the AP option all those years ago when I was first diagnosed because that is most likely what I would have gone with. Not many docs do it and back then...I had no clue it even existed. I didn't even know about AP until I found AI last year. Amazing what the internet has done for the world!
I really just urge everyone to research and explore all the options that are out there for treatment for RA. I also urge everyone to have clear and concise debates on the treatment options and theories that are out there and to respect the choices that people make for their treatment. We all need to work together in this to find treatments and to hopefully one day find a cure.
We all need to work together in this to find treatments and to hopefully one day find a cure.
(Hey, how do you guys get that little box thing around other peoples posts?)
That's what I want!!! Research that says 'cure' instead of therapies!
And I think we can all get better with a bit of knowledge!
Hugs,
Pip
< =text/>_popupControl(); You get the little box thing when you click on quote in the person's post. You can delete what you don't want in the quote. The box thing then shows up when you hit post reply after posting what you want to say.
I think we are all on the same page when it comes to wanting to find a cure for this. I really like reading and seeing how the different research and different opinions can lead to a cure one day.