overuse of antibiotics?

[lyndsaylee]

Is anyone familiar with Dr. Martin Blaser (NYU) and his work on the overuse of antibiotics? He is not against the use of antibiotics when they are needed, but is extremely concerned with the long term use of them. After listening to the first few minutes of the video (Click on the link) http://martinblaser.com/?utm_source=googleleadwordssearch&utm_medium=textad&utm_term=martinblaser-startlinglook&utm_content=-na_learn_landingpage&utm_campaign=9780805098105 my heart sank. He gave some startling facts about the body’s need for certain kinds of bacteria and the possibility of of doing irreplaceable damage by destroying them (by using/overusing antibiotics). I know many of you spend of lot of time studying all this – anyone have any input on this?

[PhilC]

Hi Laura,

I wouldn’t worry about it. My approach for dealing with this issue is to take a few different, good probiotic products on a regular basis. I take three — two every day, and one of them I take twice a week. You may want to consider doing something similar.

Are you still taking 100 mg of mino every day?

Phil

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

[Woods1977]

Hi lyndsaylee,

Your overall concern is valid; it

[lyndsaylee]

There’s a lot here so please read to the end.

Sorry to be just now getting back. Thank to Phil and Woods for your input. Much appreciated. Things have been crazy busy for me as my daughter is graduating high school and getting ready for college. Much inflammation, pain and fatigue is making it a real challenge just to sort of keep up. Actually I’m not keeping up. At any rate, I freaked out and went off the mino when I read that article about the overuse of antibiotics. Turns out, the Dr that wrote the article is past President of the Infectious Diseases Society of America and Founder of the Foundation for Bacteriology and the Virtual Museum of Bacteria. He has studied the role of bacteria in human disease for over 30 years and is the director of the Human Microbiome Program at NYU. He has and is still doing research on psoriatic arthritis which of course made me sit up. So, while digging around I found this – also from NYU: http://communications.med.nyu.edu/media-relations/news/study-links-intestinal-bacteria-rheumatoid-arthritis. Wowie, wow, wow!

Here’s another interesting article: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1479565/

So I think you’re spot on Woods and Phil about the extreme importance of being diligent to replace the good bacteria, while also being diligent about getting rid of the bad bugs.

Another problem I also encountered before which made is easy to stop mino is that I have osteoporosis and need calcium, magnesium, etc. Taking mino made it difficult to get the minerals I needed. Maybe I was just plain lazy and a bit rebellious. I just didn’t want to bother with it and it ticked me off to feel like I was chained to a clock that dictated what I could eat when (including probiotics and bone building stuff (gag).) I just kept hoping that someday I would wake up and this freaking disease would be *poof* gone. Well, that didn’t work.

So feeling plenty sorry for myself, I went back to trying to find some answers… and I googled the words “minocycline and osteoporosis” and look what I found 😯 – maybe y’all have already seen it, but it excited the heck out of me:
http://www.nih.gov/news/pr/dec96/nia-09.htm. So presently taking antibiotics is looking convincing. 🙂

Now may I ask your opinion on a few more things:

1) Will going off and on mino (several times over the years) increase my chance of having it become resistant?
2) I guess the thing to do is just have calcium mid day with mino in morning and evening. Is a two hour window enough or should it be 3?
3) I am having a bad flare and it is really attacking my neck and finger. The finger has a swan neck deformity from a forgmer flare and is presently really swollen and red and painful. I’ve been wrapping it (which is helping) and or putting it in an oval 8 finger splint if it’s not too swollen. Is it advisable to get a steroid shot? Anybody have any other suggestions?

My road back has been pretty bumpy and twisty – curving this way and that. Maybe when daughter is off to college there will be more time to study these things and focus on getting well. Thanks, all, for taking time to look at this. Hope it makes at least some sense.

Laura

[PhilC]

Hi Laura,
@lyndsaylee wrote:

1) Will going off and on mino (several times over the years) increase my chance of having it become resistant?

Unfortunately, yes. Is minocycline the only antibiotic you have taken for your PsA?

@lyndsaylee wrote:

2) I guess the thing to do is just have calcium mid day with mino in morning and evening. Is a two hour window enough or should it be 3?

Two hours should be enough. Some people solve this problem by taking mino only once a day. Doing this may make it harder to tolerate the mino, though, especially if one is taking 200 mg per day.

@lyndsaylee wrote:

3) I am having a bad flare and it is really attacking my neck and finger. The finger has a swan neck deformity from a forgmer flare and is presently really swollen and red and painful. I’ve been wrapping it (which is helping) and or putting it in an oval 8 finger splint if it’s not too swollen. Is it advisable to get a steroid shot? Anybody have any other suggestions?

Getting a corticosteroid injection is probably not a bad idea. Are you still taking etodolac or another NSAID?

Phil

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

[lyndsaylee]

1) yes, it’s the only antibiotic I’ve taken for the PsA. I was given Clindamycin twice for dental work, which I thought was probably a good thing. I’ve never had an AP physician. My rheumatologist prescribed the mino for me but didn’t agree with why it worked. (I have no insurance and go to a University teaching hospital) About 6-8 months ago I saw my rheumy for the last time. They did not make a follow up appointment. I guess they kind of booted me out of the clinic – I’m guessing because I wouldn’t take the medicines they wanted me to take. (Methotrexate and Embrel, primarily) They told me I could get the prescriptions from my primary care doctor.
2) Yes, I think I would need to take the mino twice a day. I tried mino once a day and it didn’t see to do much.
3) Yes, still taking the etodolac. I’m afraid to say I wasn’t doing right with that either. I had it in my mind to get off as many drugs as I could. I’ve been on etodolac for 8 years and I started thinking that was a long time to be on it. So I cut back the etodolac to once a day and I was fine for a while. It works really well for me. I know I need to take it twice a day while I’m having flares like I am now. And I guess I just have to not worry about it.

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