Dosing Change, Going to Brand, etc

[DianeTX]

I have not posted in quite a while as things were going well.  But I decided I wanted to try and lower my mino to MWF and had been working slowly changing my dosing to accomplish this change.  Had a minor set back when my generic got changed to Phara(?).  Well now that we are still trying to recover from the Hurricane all my dosing and scheduling has gotten off wack.  I am into day 11 of no power but have been luckily staying with friends but spending a fortune on keeping my dogs in the kennel.

 

I was to have received my brand prescription in the mail but Caremark lost it (my great dr. had no problem with giving me brand) then the pharmacy was backed up on filling prescriptions and now they have to order it in.  So still waiting to get on brand but it should be tomorrow.  Thankfully cause I am out of everything right now.

 

My question for the very experience John McDonald and Maz is should I continue to lower my dosage to a comfortable level of herx and continue with celebrex for discomfort or should I get on an even keel and start all over on dropping my dosage?  FYI, I take zith once every 10 days 250mg and really feel it for about four days.

 

On a completely different note, I have a co-worker who takes Tylenol twice daily for her aches in addition to taking a hot bath every morning to make her feel better but she just thinks of it as old age (she is only 50.)  However, she has bad acne and her dr. just recently put her on mino.  I have seen her go through classic herxing, flu and such symptoms.  I bet she is killing bugs and doesn?t realize it.  She knows I take mino for my joints but I just don?t feel comfortable trying to educate someone at the office who does not think they have a problem.  It has just been interesting observing her.

[Cheryl F]

[user=280]DianeTX[/user] wrote:
On a completely different note, I have a co-worker who takes Tylenol twice daily for her aches in addition to taking a hot bath every morning to make her feel better but she just thinks of it as old age (she is only 50.)  However, she has bad acne and her dr. just recently put her on mino.  I have seen her go through classic herxing, flu and such symptoms.  I bet she is killing bugs and doesn?t realize it.  She knows I take mino for my joints but I just don?t feel comfortable trying to educate someone at the office who does not think they have a problem.  It has just been interesting observing her.

 

Funny!  Thanks for sharing!  I agree it is difficult to say too much at work!  Just put it out there, then, if she askes you will have an open door.  Hopefully, she will get some relief from the acne and the aches and pains!

[Maz]

[user=280]DianeTX[/user] wrote:

should I continue to lower my dosage to a comfortable level of herx and continue with celebrex for discomfort or should I get on an even keel and start all over on dropping my dosage?  FYI, I take zith once every 10 days 250mg and really feel it for about four days.

 

Hi Diane,

Really glad to hear you made it through the hurricane in one piece. I've been wondering about all the RBF Texas folk and hoping everyone is okay. Thanks for checking in!

Must be honest and reveal that, as a fellow patient, I secretly cringe the dosing questions. The main reason being that we are all so different and what may work for one person may be totally wrong for another. It's very much a “feeling your way” kind of thing.

In general, though, some people switch from generic to brand and notice the difference right away…some notice no difference at all. I think in your shoes, I'd agree with my doc to start the brand at a lower dose for a few weeks, like 100mg MWF and then work up to what I was taking before on the generic to test the waters. You'll know within a week or two if you're herxing any with the generic to brand switch. I think I'd try to get back on what was working prior to all the disruption (hurricane and messed up dosing schedule), just because it makes no sense to change what was working before.

John or others may have a different perspective on this, but I think it's what I do – to go low and slow – just to be on the safe side. With the stress of the hurricane, being without power and living out of your home, I think I'd be wary of backlash flaring and herxing simulataneously from taking too high a dose right away. So, my vote is for starting low and slow and building up to the maintenance dose that worked before.

Btw, we're on pretty much the same protocol! Seems to be working very well for me, too, and I am experiencing much the same as you right after my zith dose. 🙂

Hope you're back home with your lovely dogs soon and everything gets back to normal for you.

Peace, Maz  

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