Re: Antibiotics for Arthritis Pain
- From: "Don" <dondunlap13@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Wed, 3 Sep 2008 12:44:53 -0500
Kate,
I hope that what you experienced will lead to some method of keeping it under control, but you are going to have a hard time convincing doctors that what happened wasn't a coincidence.
I have reached to point again where I am going to ask the doctor for an antibiotic but I hate to keep experimenting. What works one time might not work the next and I don't want to build up a resistance to all antibiotics. I don't want the pain either, so I don't know what to do.
Don
"d'huit" <threecedars1@xxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message news:AJqdnTKHGNebXiPVnZ2dnUVZ_g-dnZ2d@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx
aha! now i understand what happened to me in the nursing center! while
hospitalized and also while in the recovery center, i had wondered why my
spine and other joints didn't bother me for extended periods of time and
that i only felt the leg pain from the injuries and surgeries.
because of the dormant infection in my leg (from the 1970s), they put me on
a course of a strong abx for the first two weeks and i only felt leg pain (i
thought the leg pain must be so severe that i couldn't notice my arthritis).
then they took me off the abx when the two week course expired (i was in the
center by then) and all hell broke loose in all my joints and i could barely
do any of my pt or even walk with a walker (when it hadn't been hard to use
the walker). then, a few days later, my thigh and incisions inflammed and
they put me on it again for another two weeks. same thing happened again;
my joints all settled down. i didn't make that connection to the abx, until
now. w0w.
kate
(another puzzle piece falls into place.)
"Adelle" <adNOstavis@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:dsCdnStvHbAOISPVnZ2dnUVZ_sidnZ2d@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx
"Don" <dondunlap13@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:v%wvk.74402$C65.29768@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
I'm new to the group and have a question for all. I am 75 and have a
history of arthritis. About 7-8 years ago, I had a very bad episode of
arthritis pain in my knees and hips. There was also pain in my fingers
and wrists. About this time, I also had a urinary problem and was having
vision problems. I had to stop driving at night because my eyes would
glaze over with what appeared to be an oily substance.
I saw a Urologist and he prescribed an antibiotic, whose name escapes me
at the moment. It was the one that was used after the WTC disaster to
treat Anthrax. After taking the antibiotic for a few days, my joint pain
disappeared, my urinary problems improved and my vision improved. I
didn't really associate the joint pain and vision problems to the
antibiotic because there seemed to be no relation.
About two years later, I developed similar problems and again was given an
antibiotic by another Urologist. Again, the problems improved, the most
dramatic being complete freedom from joint pain. I noticed this time that
there was a relationship and began to search the web for something that
would associate the three problems. I found references to Reiters
Syndrome, which I mentioned to my primary care physician, an Internist.
He had never heard of it and said the there was no way that an antibiotic
could correct arthritis pain.
I kept mentioning it to doctors but got nowhere. One doctor, a
Rheumatologist, said that he tested me for Reiters and I didn't have it.
I moved to Texas last summer and was having severe pain in knees, hips,
shoulders and hands. Same problems with doctors here. I had a sinus
infection and a doctor prescribed Cefprozil, an antibiotic, for the
infection. All joint pain disappeared after 3 days. After all this, I
still can't get any doctor to take me seriously. The seem to believe in
coincidence only.
I am again at the point where I am almost totally debilitated with joint
pain and am just writing this to ask if anyone else has ever noticed
relief from their arthritis after taking antibiotics?
Don,
Some antibiotics are also very good anti-inflammatories and can
significantly improve symptoms by reducing inflammation. I took doxycycline
for over two years to treat both Lyme disease and my Rheumatoid arthritis.
But there are hundreds of different forms of arthritis. Most require
something called a DMARD (damage mitigating anti-rheumatologic medication
which reduce the immune response so the body stops attacking itself) in
addition to anti-inflammatories to reduce permanent damage to joint tissue.
Some arthritis symptoms are reactive - meaning they are brought on by some
sort of bacterial trigger. I looked up Reiter's syndrome and got a decent
description from Wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reactive_arthritis.
As you can see from the link, it is now more commonly referred to as
Reactive Arthritis. Initial treatment is with an antibiotic to get rid of
the underlying infection, then its on to steroids, analgesics, and drugs
which suppress the immune response (DMARDS).
With the smaller joints being affected now, Reiter's/reactive arthritis is a
less obvious choice than before, as it usually just affects larger joints.
You need someone willing to look into the many different forms of arthritis
and see what is really going on. I can say most of us have had to shop
around for a decent rheumatologist before we found one. I went to three
rheumatologists before I found one that took me seriously, and was willing
to treat both the arthritis and the pain it causes (the first one blew me
off saying I didn't have RA because I test negative, the other wanted to
shuffle me into a study, rather than treat with standard care). The one I
have now moved from a suburban hospital closer to me to a university center
in Boston 20 miles further away. I followed after the move because I think
he's worth his weight in gold. Keep looking for someone really good.
If you are in Texas, I recommend the Arthritis Clinic of Houston. My uncle
is a pediatric rheumatologist and has his office there. I am sure there is
at least one group at the clinic which treats adults. If you are not in
Houston, call and perhaps they can make recommendations for your city/area.
Wishing you luck as you pursue care,
Adelle
.
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