Any ideas

[SandiS]

I was diagnoised with RA in Jan 2008 and began minocin in Sept 2008 100 mg MWF.  I had a very small herx. About 6 months later switched to brand minocin and had a much stronger herx fo about 2 weeks. I did very well , with only a few minor bumps along the way.  My labs have all improved- sed rate – normal, ra factor- normal, anti ccp and crp still elevated though down considerably. Most important  I was feeling great.  In early may, I started having severe pain again. Herx or flair I am not sure but it moves fairly rapidly from joint to joint- hands/fingers, toes/feet , knees. I feel better for a couple of days and then it starts again.  I have tried to figure out if I was doing anything different and realized I was taking zyrtec ( hadn't taken any in about a yr) so I stopped taking it but that hasn't made a difference. I read in The new Arthritis Breakthrough that Sept, Feb, and may were key months for flairs because of the barametric pressure.  Any ideas?

SandiS

[Kim]

Hi Sandi,

Many people on this board have Lyme-Arthritis and from your comment on the migratory nature of your pain, it makes me wonder if that could be part of your problem too.  Lyme can trigger any rheumatic disease, but the treatment is vastly different from typical AP treatment so it's important to know.

For now, Lyme testing with Igenex Labs in California is what Lyme docs use (other tests are a waste of time and money) because Igenex tests for more strains and have more sensitive testing, and even there so many cases are missed because Lyme is so immuno-suppressive that often your body can't even make the antibodies to show up in blood, so more often it's a clinical diagnosis.

Docs in the south, like in the midwest, are pretty clueless about Lyme so chances are you'd have to initiate everything on your own, but it can be done.  You can search previous posts on the board about Lyme testing and it will walk you through the process if you decide to pursue this angle.

Take care……Kim

[Author]

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