i didnt ask my dr about the ap angle today mainly bc i was so tired i was dragging but my question to you all is when in the process of your disease do you guys advocate it? from the very beginning? bc if so i will ask him about me and ap next time i go, or maybe see the UVA rheumy and ask his opinion about it...
Antibiotic Protocol therapy doesn't work for everybody (although it
does seem to work for a large percentage), but I think in general the
earlier you start it in the progression of your disease the faster
and better it works. That said, AP can be started and be
successful during any point or degree of severity of your disease
process.
I decided to try AP because it's the only RA therapy where you take
less drugs over time rather than more, and there are people who have
been on it now for decades, with their RA well controlled. Also, the
drugs used have less harsh side effects than many conventional RA drugs.
Although it is clinically proven, most doctors do not prescribe or are
not very knowledgable about AP. People report better success in
following this course of treatment if they go in to their doctors well
researched on the therapy, or seek out a doctor who specialises in AP
(this is easy to do by posting a question on www.rodback.org bulletin board).
People who do AP often get worse before they get better, due to something called the Jarisch-Herxheimer Reaction.
If you want to learn more about AP, a good (and easy) book to read is The New Arthritis Breakthrough by Henry Scammell (check out the reviews!).
And a good website to visit is www.roadback.org.
If you decide to do this therapy there are people here who can help you
by answering questions and lending emotional support. Also, the Road
Back and www.rheumaticsupport.net are both great resources.
Good luck with whatever therapy you decide on.
When I was first diagnosed, besides FREAKING out, one of the first things I noticed about being Palindromic is we are the only Autoimmune disease with an up to 50% remission rate without meds (depending on the researcher). Since I was convinced my abcessed tooth was my 'inciting incident' I was focused on 'infection' and then infection theory. Finding the Roacback was a fortuitious accident in my search.
Of the Palindromic people that do go on to 'all the time', 50% of them do not develop erosions.
If you are Palindromic - I'd seriously research the infection connection. It was 18 months between 'attacks' for me including 3 months of straight 'what the Frack' before I got a diagnosis. Then there was the 5 months I waited to see an AP doc because I wanted 'proof'. That totals, start to finish, of 21 months of wasted time.
If I had to do it all over again I'd skip the testing and start AP as soon as a doc would have written a scrip - the HELL with monitoring. (The aforementioned is strictly my OPINION for MY diagnosis).
There is something in our bodies that fights like hell to beat off this disease. I'd give it all the help it could need.
Pip
I gotta agree with Pip. If I knew then what I know now I would have gone on Minocycline 200mg a day immediately. Because my RA has a foothold my road back is now going to be a lot longer, plus I am pulse dosing instead of daily dosing. I highly advocate AP from the very beginning of your disease process. The sooner the better. Check out all of the links that Gogo posted. Also check out rheumatic.org. Hapy healing! ~Karin