"Set-in" RA pain

[anewday]

My husband was diagnosed with RA about a year ago. Prior to that time, he had been having joint pains off and on for at least 5 years.

He has read Scammell's book The New Arthritis Breakthrough and his rheumy is willing to RX tetracycline (unfortunately she does not believe that mino will be any more effective since she does not see it as a mycoplasma issue, just that the antibiotic will help with the inflammation – possibly :doh:).

Anyhow, he has yet to start the therapy as we are hoping to conceive and his rheumy does not think it's a good idea if he's on tetracycline.

In the meantime, he's been taking Mannatech products – for several months – no noticible change. :crying:

I know I'm rambling…

My question is regarding set in joint pain. His one wrist has had constant pain and inflammation for about a year. Can this be reversed? Has anyone been on antibiotic protocol with long term joint pain and seen it improve? And if it does, can he regain the use of the muscles he cannot use again?

Thank you!

[John McDonald]

Has anyone been on antibiotic protocol with long term joint pain and seen it improve? And if it does, can he regain the use of the muscles he cannot use again?

I think we have all had long term joint problems that reverse nicely on antibiotics. It all depends on whether there is any permanent damage. If the joints erode then your husband may never recover full function. But many if not most of us find that we recover far more than we expected from this therapy. This AP works, really, really well. Only time will tell how complete your husband's recovery will be, but for my money I think his recovery will be more complete on antibiotics than it could ever be on the classic immune-suppressing meds.

Good luck.                             -john

[anewday]

I appreciate your response! Thank you!

[Maz]

Hi Anewday,

I second John's comments! I'm improving all the time on AP (antibiotic protocol)…in a very gradual, three step forward, two step back kind of way. This is pretty typical of AP…not an overnight sensation, but definitely worth the wait. It's been painfully slow, but this therapy really does work. In the past year, I've gone from bedridden agony in every joint to regaining pretty much full funtion of my upper body (just need to regain some lost muscle mass now) and currently working on my knees and ankles, which have been a bit persistant. They're larger joints, so I kind of expected that.

I have found physical therapy and ultrasound to be really helpful. Last year, I went for my upper body joints and also saw a hand therapist at the local rehabilitation center. She gave me some gentle hand exercises to do to maintain hand strength and heating pads, massage and paraffin baths were wonderful! If your hubby can get a referral to a physical therapist, this may also help him. If not, you can buy the small electric heating pads from the pharmacy  and some theraputty from any physical therapy place and have him knead that with his fingers several times a day. It's a start, anyway. 😉

The one thing about RA is that you do lose muscle strength, as the joints hurt so badly, but it becomes a bit of a vicious cycle, as the more muscle strength you lose, the more stress there is on the joints involved. Since regaining a bit of thigh strength and range of motion this past month, I've noticed a lot less pain my knees, so it really does help. The trick is doing it gently enough so as not to injure the joint….so guidance from a physical therapist helps…though simple, low impact exercises can also be done at home, too. Like holding a small water bottle and just turning the wrist front to back (as pain will allow) or resting the arm on a chair arm and lifting the bottle up and down. The rule of thumb is only to do what can be done without forcing it….and applying heat to the joint beforehand also helps to loosen things up to aid the exercises and range of motion.

Tetracycline is what Dr Brown used in many instances and before mino was developed. My doctor had me on it for my first year during which I improved by about 80% (although I was on a combo of abx). You just need to use slightly higher doses than mino.

If you'd like to locate an AP doctor, then you can make a request here on the board. Just go to the second thread from the top on the main discussion board and click there to find out how to do this.

Wishing your husband a speedy turnaround of his RA!

Peace, Maz

 

 

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