Arthrotec

[SandiS]

My doctor wants to add arthrotec to my minocin and zith. I have a lot of inflammation in my sinuses and he thinks this will help. However, I have blood pressure issues and I understand this medicine could raise blood pressure. Does anyone have any experience with arthrotec? Also , I had been doing great with joint pain but had to stop minocin for 7 days for treatment for h. pylori. I was fine during treatment but since restarting the minocin I have had one flare after another. They are short lived but very painful and skip from spot to another ( not even neccessarily joints)- mostly shoulders, elbows, and feet. I wasn’t expecting this after only a 7 day break. Any thoughts?

Sandi

[PhilC]

Hi Sandi,

So, you basically have sinusitis; is that correct? Do you know whether it’s due to allergies or infection?

Phil

"Unthinking respect for authority is the greatest enemy of truth."
- Albert Einstein

[Maz]

@SandiS wrote:

Also , I had been doing great with joint pain but had to stop minocin for 7 days for treatment for h. pylori. I was fine during treatment but since restarting the minocin I have had one flare after another. They are short lived but very painful and skip from spot to another ( not even neccessarily joints)- mostly shoulders, elbows, and feet. I wasn’t expecting this after only a 7 day break. Any thoughts?

Sandi

Thanks to Phil for bumping your post up. It’s that time of year, so it’s a bit quieter around here than usual…sorry it got missed before, Sandi.

So sorry, but I have no knowledge of Arthrotec. However, what stood out from your post is your recent treatment of H. Pylori. H. Pylori is a known cause of RA and there have been studies run for its treatment in RA patients that have run for 6 months or more that you can look up by using key words, “Rheumatoid Athritis, H. Pylori, Clarithromycin.” Here are just a couple of studies:

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17355733
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/12144579

H. Pylori is a stomach infection and the cause of 95% of all ulcers. This infection is like Lyme disease, because it is also a spirochetal infection, and is highly pleomorphic (shape-shifting). Due to that, I have my personal doubts that one week of treatment is likely to do much of any good except to push the spirochetes into cystic form. Nevertheless, a short-course of treating H. Pylori may well have stirred up a hornett’s nest and caused you some pretty good herxing.

Knowing you have H. Pylori (an important clue as to an underlying infectious cause of your RA?), it might be a good idea to consider researching a combination protocol, keeping minocycline as your base, and adding in a macrolide (like biaxin) and a cyst-buster/anti-protozoal, like flagyl or tinidazole. You’ll find some recommendations on Barry Marshall’s (Australian researcher/discoverer of the cause of stomach ulcer by H Pylori) site for the treatment of H Pylori, bearing in mind this is shorter-term treatment for those with RA and more disseminated problems. 😉

http://www.helico.com/

[SandiS]

Phil,
My doctor is calling it inflammation not infection. Sinus x-ray is black which he said was air. All allergy testing has been negative.

Maz,
Thanks for info. There is so much to learn. Dr B in NC put me on Alinia, clarithromycin, and flagyl for one week for the h. pylori. Now I am adding 500mg of zith on sat. and sun. to the 100mg of minocin on mon,wed,fri.

Sandi

[PhilC]

@SandiS wrote:

Now I am adding 500mg of zith on sat. and sun. to the 100mg of minocin on mon,wed,fri.

Hi Sandi,

Have you started on the zith yet? I just thought I should warn you that zith packs a wallop for some people (i.e., severe herxing). Because of that, I’m kind of surprised that Dr. B is having you start out at 500 mg.

Phil

"Unthinking respect for authority is the greatest enemy of truth."
- Albert Einstein

[SandiS]

Phil,

I was taking 250mg of zith every 2 weeks. Dr B wants to increase to 500mg. twice a week. I have only restarted the minocin at this point. Decided to wait until things have calmed down some before adding the zith back in. I think it is too much of an increase all at once and will probably start with less. Dr B will probably be ok with that, I think his ultimate goal for me is 500mg on Sat and Sun.

Sandi

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