I went to my RD yesterday . I have read DR. brown's book about the AP therapy and how it has helped many people. Well at my appointment yesterday one of the first things I asked my RD was about starting this regime. She said to me that the treatment was popular in the 1970's but since the introduction of biologics doctors just are not using AP anymore. I persisted more and she said she does not know of any RD using this therapy. My RD is in Buffalo NY . Any thoughts about this or does anyone know of a doctor close to me that does believe AP can help? As for me due to more and more joint pain despite being on Enbrel and other meds, she has put me back on prednisone at 5 mg. There goes my hair I just manged to grow back!Chrise, I really don't know too much about it, but I think on "the road back" website their is a page where you can find an AP doc in your area. Hope that helps.Sure, it used to be "that doesn't work" but since biologics it's changed to
"that's old fashioned".
It always did and still works and it's cheaper with a longer safety record
than biologics, though not as convenient. As far as I know it's still the
only therapy where you take less drugs over time rather than more. It's a
viable therapy option.
There are AP doctors in New York and the vicinity. One of the pioneers
practices out of Boston. But it's actually a pretty simple therapy and if you
find a doctor willing to monitor you and you are sufficiently interested in
learning about the therapy you can do it without an AP doc. Of course, it's
always better to have one but not strictly necessary.
Check out www.roadback.org. If you ask for a doctor in your area on the
bulletin board a Road Back Volunteer will email you a list (don't forget to
put your email).Chris, I also started looking into AP therapy, but couldn't find a doctor anywhere near me (which is odd as I'm in a large city). I found 2 doctor's within a 2 hour drive, but after checking out their reputations, several people have told me these doctors are quacks. I'm not sure if they have that reputation because they are into more non-traditional medicine, or if there is another reason, but I'm going to check into it further. I hate the way all of this medication makes me feel. Hope you find some relief soon. Love, JuliaThis protocol is used in California:
http://www.thearthritiscenter.com/
There is more attention being paid to infectious agents, which AP would help with.
Juliah - We traveled and will travel again, because there are some drs. out there who do seem quacky, in my opinion. And the one in our city seems unethical, although there are no public records against him.
Our retiring AP dr. said any dr. can prescribe it and there are plenty of studies to back it up, but he acknowledges there are ripoffs out there taking advantage of people. While we searched for new AP dr., he cracked me up. He said, "Tell your husband to call and say he is John Jones, he is 65 and has RA, and how much does it cost to get antibiotics?" We didn't do that because we had already checked out who we are seeing.
One type of AP is called the Harvard Protocol, because...gasp...they use it at Harvard. You know, a quack med school.
LOL Suzanne!
The truly sad thing about AP is in a lot of ways you must become your own doctor in that you know what you want and you must find a doctor willing to work with you on regaining your health. Yes, there are quacks out there but I figure it's less of a risk with some low dose antibiotics than some of the big guns.
Oddly, I found the 'quack' charges were leveled by my dentist when I decided to see a biologic dentist for autoimmune friendly dental work. It looks to me that anybody that doesn't toe the 'SOP' of whatever medical specialty is out there is automatically labeled a 'quack'.
Pip