Here is a link for those who are considering AP.
LINK
Ron
Thanks for the article Ron. Hugs and good vibes.Thanks for the article, but I didn't really understand it. It's almost
like you have to become your own doctor if you want to try AP therapy.
AP therapy is not embraced by most RA docs and therefore we do sometimes need to watch our own doses and adjust them as necessary. The site roadback.org has a ton of info to help in self-dosing and the board will give you the info on an AP doc in your area. Some of us find a doc willing to learn along with us how to use the AP. That is what mine is doing.
Go-go!
Translation:
Preview: more patients are requesting AP but rheumys are unconvinced that it works even tho it is the proper choice for reactive arthritis or arthritis that starts after an infection.
How does it work: they don't know - it can act as a DMARD but state of the art studies are going on now to see if it really is mycoplasmic infection. There are a bunch of things they know it does now including interfere with prostaglandins and leukotrienes, scavenges oxygen radicals and has a net result of decreased matrix metalloproteinase activity and tissue destruction. So, it does a lot of good things besides kill stuff. :-)
They compared 3 studies and found it has low side effects. People with the rheumatoid epitope (usually severe RA) had less damage than placebos.
As more people get on Mino, their docs need to watch for the more rare side effects like drug-induced lupus. (This makes no sense in the middle of the paper - shouldn't a doc be looking for this with all patients)?
Mino is a reasonable alternative for benign RA. It probably should not be tried in severe RA and docs should familiarize themselves with the side effect profile. (again, this makes no sense because they said earlier in the paper that people with the RA epitope had less damage).
Sorry, I probably got carried away, didn't I? I was trying to joke around with you and show you we can learn this stuff - heck - who cares more about our health besides us? And I learned all this stuff. I was an artist before the last medical screw up in my life. :-) I think I'l go to bed now before I get somebody angry.
Pip