IV antibiotics anyone?

[ekrueger]

Hi all

It's me again. Sorry for all the questions 🙂
This one is about IV antibiotics.  How many of you have taken IV antibiotics for your RA? At what point in your treatment process did you take it? Do you HAVE TO take it for antibiotic therapy to be successful or can you just do oral antibiotics on a pulsed dosing schedule? How often do you have to or should you take IV antibiotics? What type is best (clindamycin from the book or is there a better one these days)? Did any of your docs refuse to do the IV antibiotics because I can see how a primary doc would oblige to the oral minocycline but balk at the IV b/c it's more invasive.  Please let me know your experiences.

thanks so much,

ekrueger

[Kim]

Hi ekreuger,

Many people have done just fine on oral abx only, some with just Minocin.  Others have done well on oral combination abx.  The standard IV protocol is Clindamycin and you're right, not all AP doctors are comfortable prescribing the IVs so that narrows the list.  The IVs are a wonderful tool and may be worth pursuing, and for sure, it is an aggressive jump start to the protocol.  A reasonable schedule for RA patients would be a series every 6 months, but each doctor has their own preference.

Personally, I was on oral abx for a year before I had the IVs.  Everything I've done has helped, but it is an exercise in patience because nothing happens quickly enough.

If you'd like a list of AP docs we'd be happy to send it to you in a PM, just let us know your state.

Take care…..kim

[Author]

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