ARKANSAS connection…….

[Jan Lucinda1]

I sent you a private message. Click on new messages to retrieve.

[marypart]

Tracy,

From my experience dealing with Lyme, other diseases transmitted by ticks, as well as the myriad of triggers that can cause arthritis, I would say that “doctor-recommended” doctors are not necessarily the best.

The best doctors for this kind of problem are outside-the-box thinkers who read up on the research and use treatments that are looking promising but have not yet become “evidence-based medicine” in mainstream circles. These doctors are not recommended by other doctors. Even if a doctor recommends one, he will likely do so in a whisper.

In the case of Lyme disease there is an organization of doctors that treat chronic lyme with longterm antibiotics.

In the case of RA, you could look at the recent work out of NYU on gut bacteria and RA. I think the doctor’s name is Sher.

The best recommendations come from other arthritis patients who are doing an AP protocol.

Good luck.

[Maz]

@garstt1 wrote:

I would much prefer someone who has direct experience with an MD recommend to me. Is there anyone out there from Arkansas Or surround ding states that can recommend a great AP physician?????

Hi Tracy,

Nice to meet you and just adding a warm welcome to the RBF forum. 🙂

Can you let us know the states to which you are willing to travel? On our most experienced AP physician list, we have 3 rheumies…one in Riverside, CA, one in Summitt Heights, NJ, and one in Boston, MA. Probably the best one is the one in CA for treating RA. However, there is also Dr. S in Iowa, who is a DO and trained under Dr. Brown. Although semi-retired, he is still caring for rheumatic patients and many travel cross-country to stay in Ida Grove to get the 5 day IV clindamycin series, to get started on AP and just to be under this amazingly compassionate doctor. Dr. S. is also great about consulting with local physicians wanting to learn the therapy and to patients who would like questions answered directly by email and phone. There is also another great doctor in Dalton, GA, but he is pretty difficult to get into…quite holistic in approach, but treated his own RA successfully with combination abx therapy and is absolutely commited to treating other rheumatic patients. Each AP physician will have their own mode of approach based upon their past experience of treating rheumatic patients with the therapy.

However, when all is said and done, it really doesn’t require a top flight doc to prescribe a simple abx, just a physician with a medical license who is willing to write the script for minocycline. It’s prescribed every day to teens for acne and is an approved American College of Rheumatology DMARD, so there is really no reason for any rheumy to refuse writing a script for it.

You’ve received the list of 2 potential providers for Arkansas, one of whom (Dr. B) is offering IVs according to the notes. This is a positive indicator that this doc believes in infectious causes, but you’d need to call ahead to ensure he is still using the therapy. The list is entirely dependent on patient feedback, so if we don’t hear back about patient experiences of these docs, then we can’t update the list…unfortunately, that is the case for Arkansas.

Let me know if you’d like the most experienced AP doc list, if travel is an option. I’d be happy to send this to you, Tracy.

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