AP Doctor list

[Qunhua]

I emailed to apdoctorlists@roadback.org for requesting AP Doctor list today and yesterday, and have not received the reply. Usually, how long does it take to get the response?

[Maz]

Usually, within 24-48 hours. The volunteers who send out the doctor lists are providing a free service in their spare time, so it just depends on when they get to the doc requests. I checked my emails (I get ccs) and saw we had only one request from you today at 12.46pm EST. you should hear back sometime tomorrow, Qunhua. Unfortunately, though, there aren’t any AP docs in your country, so you might need to travel or print off the materials from the main site and ask a doc if they are willing to help you. The RBF doc lists are maintained by volunteers but we add new docs based on patient feedback (when someone finds a doc who is open to helping) or if a new doc requests us to list them. Unfortunately, no one in your country has provided any doc feedback, but you could try running a search for your country name in the search box at the top of the main page of this forum and then private message any fellow countrymen to see if they will answer and share who they are seeing. In some countries, antibiotics are over the counter and so people in these countries sometimes self-manage their treatment and just ask a doc to monitor them. Not the ideal, of course.

Hope you will feel welcome to join in the discussion here and share your story and progress with us. There are experienced APers here who are very happy to share what they know to newcomers.

Good luck in your search and hope it’s not long till you are on your road back to good health.

[Qunhua]

Hi, Maz,

Thank you so much for the explanation. I really appreciate for your time and help! Actually, I moved to USA from China, and now I live in New Jersey state. I hope there is some AP doctors close to my area.

[Maz]

I should have read your email fully, Qunhua. I was on the road yesterday so a bit tired when I got home. Yes, you should be good for AP docs, but you may still need to travel a bit. I’m out again today, but if I don’t see an email reply later today, I’m very happy to send you a private message with a list tonight. Hang in there….list forthcoming!

[Qunhua]

Hi Maz,

I received AP doctor list, and sent you a private message about other experienced AP doctors questions. Thank you so much for your time.

[Maz]

Hi Qunhua,

A pleasure! I just replied to your PM.

[Qunhua]

Hi Maz,

I received your private message. It is very helpful! I don’t remember I have any tick bite. But I did have very severer bee stings by many bees from honeycomb when I was around 5 or 6 years old. I am not sure if this is related to my palindromic rheumatism or not. From my case, do you think I should go with LLMDs? In addition, from the link you sent me, I learnt some bacterials such as T. Whipplei and mycoplasma fermentness may cause palindromic rheumatism. Do you know if the AP doctor will usually do bacterial test for their patient before they start AP therapy?

[Maz]

Hi Qunhua,

I’m not aware of any infections that may be passed by bee stings, but I suppose it’s possible for secondary infections occur to occur if the sting site gets infected (e.g. staph).

I can’t really advise you which type of doc to choose, because I don’t have the medical expertise to provide that kind of advice. I can really only explain the differences between LLMDs and AP docs to help with making a decision for yourself.

LLMDs don’t just treat Lyme, because (a) ticks may pass numerous infections and because Lyme is so immune-suppressive and parasitizes the very cells that help to identify and clean up infections, this means that old infections bear the potential for reactivation, too (e.g. strep, C. pneumoniae, mycoplasmas, etc.). So, this type of doc will normally attempt to treat in a broad spectrum way for infections that a person tests positive for or that are suspected, based upon clinical presentation (e.g. past history of strep or supportive labs and symptoms caused by other tick-borne infections).

AP docs, on the other hand take a simpler approach and either just use an oral monotherapy as a DMARD (disease-modifying anti-rheumatic drug) and some may also use IV clindamycin or add a second abx, if very conversant in the protocols and are on board with infectious causes for rheumatic diseases. Whether one of the listed AP docs tests for infections is a very individual thing, so when calling around, you’d need to (a) ask if the doc is still using antibiotic therapy for rheumatic diseases (don’t say “AP” because that is patient lingo that a receptionist may not understand) and (b) if the doc commonly tests for infectious causes. Apart from the very experienced AP docs, we don’t keep notes on things like whether or not they take insurance, use IVs, or test for infections (unless a patient provides this feedback to us). So, you’d need to research any doc of interest to make a decision with this, I’m sorry to say.

Does that help any?

[Qunhua]

Hi Maz,

Thank you so much for your detailed explanation. This is really helpful.

[Author]

Posts