blood results

[Anna]

My Mom is on Minocin 100/once aday for 8 month,  with 100 SED rate for 4 years, and now her AST 46 (normal is below 36). Should we stop AP? What other opptions do we have.

 

Any knowledge welcomed. thank you

[Maz]

[user=786]Anna[/user] wrote:

My Mom is on Minocin 100/once aday for 8 month,  with 100 SED rate for 4 years, and now her AST 46 (normal is below 36). Should we stop AP? What other opptions do we have.

 

Hi Anna,

That sounds like a lot of inflammation for a very long time before starting AP.

If you don't mind me asking, what is your Mom's diagnosis?

Has your Mom's condition improved at all since starting minocin?

What other drugs and/or supps is she taking?

Has she been tested for Hepatitis?

Any gall bladder or liver issues before?

Is your Mom working with a knowledgable AP physician or doing this alone?

AST is a liver enzyme, but is also found in the heart and other muscles and could be elevated from antibiotic therapy, though there are other causes, too.

The thing about liver enzymes is that when slightly elevated, it can be a moment in time kind of thing and some supps and other meds can also cause elevations. A friend of mine was taking tylenol night-time in order to sleep every night and after some routine bloodwork found her liver enzymes were elevated. Her doc told her to stop the tylenol and within a month they were back in normal range again. The only way to know if it's the minocin would be to take a break from it and get re-tested later. Sometimes a change in antibiotic will do the trick, but it may be time to seek the help of an experienced AP doc. 😉

You might also like to read about “Milk Thistle,” which is very helpful for normalising liver enzymes. Here is just one site I quickly pulled up, but you'll find many others:

 http://www.truestarhealth.com/members/cm_archives14ML3P1A3.html 

Also, the lemon/olive oil detox drink is like a min-liver flush if taken daily. This is just a personal opinion, but elevated liver enzymes can be the result of liver congestion and working on detoxing the liver and eating a liver-friendly diet could help a great deal.

Here is a link to an article on the main site which offers suggestions regarding what may be impeding progress if no progress has been seen after about 8 months or so on AP:

https://www.roadback.org/index.cfm/fuseaction/education.display/display_id/89.html

Hope you find answers for your Mom soon, Anna!

Peace, Maz

 

[Anna]

Thank you Maz for responding.

Dx— they think she has PMR, cause the only markers that are OFF  are anemia and SED rate, most other things was rolled out.

The SED rate dropped when she was on 100mg/once a day, then we raised to 2/100mg a day and it was a killer!!!!! Then she went back on once a day and felt better again and SED dropped to 69 about one month ago.

she also takes Protonix, Lipitor, MSM, Flex oil

all her blood markers was normal before the last one (except for anemia and SED, CRP)   BTW her CRP dropped this time from 11 to 4.  Which is very confusing that SED went up and CRP down.

We are working with DR K—rheumy from Arlington VA (he bought DR Browns practice-Arthritis Clinic and worked with him many years ago) , but he doesn't put much input… 

[Maz]

[user=786]Anna[/user] wrote:

Dx— they think she has PMR, cause the only markers that are OFF  are anemia and SED rate, most other things was rolled out.

The SED rate dropped when she was on 100mg/once a day, then we raised to 2/100mg a day and it was a killer!!!!! Then she went back on once a day and felt better again and SED dropped to 69 about one month ago.

she also takes Protonix, Lipitor, MSM, Flex oil

all her blood markers was normal before the last one (except for anemia and SED, CRP)   BTW her CRP dropped this time from 11 to 4.  Which is very confusing that SED went up and CRP down.

 

Hi Anna,

Thanks for providing more info for your Mom. Were you aware that Lipitor can also cause elevated liver enzymes?

http://cholesterol.emedtv.com/lipitor/lipitor-liver-side-effects.html

I don't know how high your Mom's cholesterol is, but I have personally found a NZ product, called Cholest-Natural, was excellent for normalizing my cholesterol a few years ago, with the active ingredient policosanol. Red Yeast Rice extract is another natural cholesterol reducer, although interestingly it can produce the same side-effects of pharmaceutical cholesterol drugs.

I think you did mention your Mom had PMR a while back to me, so I'm sorry I forgot that. Polymyalgia rheumatica is a strange disease, because they have no clue what causes it, it normally affects women over 50 and is usually treated with prednisone to reduce inflammation. After a period of 2 years or so it it expected to resolve on its own. In the meantime, however, it's a horribly painful, debilitating disease. I have read up on this a bit and found that it has been linked to Lyme disease. Have you pursued anything in this direction at all?

The anemia is pretty common with PMR, too, which always brings to mind the coinfection of Lyme, called babesia, which is a red blood cell protozoan parasite and needs separate treatment. Of course, not saying your Mom has Lyme and coinfections, because I am no doctor, but just wonder if this avenue might be worth investigating. If so, there are some good LLMDs down in Maryland, PA and VA if you were interested. I know Maryland is rather slim on the ground for AP docs. These doctors treat with a variety of antibiotics and tend to be pretty “out of the box” thinkers when problem-solving these conditions, wholly believing in infectious causes.

When you raised your Mom's mino dose from 100mg per day to 200mg per day, was this increase done suddenly or did she work up to that dose? Any changes in dose can elicit herxing, so it could be that the worsening symptoms and bloodmarkers were a result of sudden dose adjustments.

Figuring out this liver enzyme issue is probably of prime import for now…I can only think that working with a doc who can do an elimination-type thing to figure out which drug is the offender here might be the first step. It might even be that both in combination are causing the liver enzyme elevations, but working on detoxing her liver would probably be a very helpful thing to do anyway.

Peace, Maz 

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