RA and Hormones

[domgro]

I’m taking Minocycline twice a day and it helped me to get off prednisone within 4 months.
Its a great milestone ,but I still have a lot ahead of me.
I still have swellings and obviously the deformities wont go away that fast ,if ever (probably have to have surgery)
but another thing that bugs me just as much as my swollen and/or deformed joints is my underweight/skinny appearance.
recently I have been reading again about the effects of RA on hormones.
I was already interested in that topic few years ago,but after I got my testosterone and DHEA tested and the Endocrinologist said,that my hormones (testosterone) were normal and despite the DHEA was quite low,I accepted his statement and didnt do any more research.I’m pretty sure now,that despite his statement,I have a significant imbalance in some hormones.
Now I’m reading,that often (or always) the estrogen and androgen ratios are messed up in RA patients and too much estrongens are more likely to enhance an autoimmune response and androgens are more likely to supress that response.
that might be a reason,why women are suffering more often from arthritis than men.

I know,if Mino works as an antibiotic,my hormones will (hopefully) normalize and I will gain weight again.
but what if the current effect of minocycline is only due to its anti inflammatory effect,enough to keep me off prednisone ,but not enough to achieve remission or to normalize my hormones?

I know that some might think,that I just have to wait and see if minocycline works,but I have this disease more than half of my life and I lost basically all of my teenage years due to that disease.
No need to mention,that I want to try anything that will speed up or help me even more to recover.

Is here anybody who knows about that topic?
Does anybody know what hormones should be checked, to prove that my hormones are imbalanced?
I cant rely on my doctors at all.My family doc is nice and helpful,but she doesnt know that much about these topics.
my rehumatologist doesnt even want to prescribe minocycline and from all the doctors I have consulted in the past,not one has mentioned anything about hormones or even my underweight.they just noted it as a symptom of my severe form of RA and that some patients lose weight.

sorry if the text is sometimes hard to understand.I have always problems to express myself the way I would express myself in german

[Lizz]

Hi Domgro, In answering you I can only speak from my own experience. When you go to a conventional rheumatologist, you will be prescribed the standard drugs, which, depending on you preference and tolerance, is always something to consider. For me, getting better was a combination of a standard drug (plaquenil), mino or doxy, both which I get from the rheumy. I also sought out and found a naturalpathic (sic) doctor who has balanced my adrenals and hormones. I have been taking bio-identical estradiol and progesterone for over 4 years now and will never be without it. My Adrenals were shot from years of fight or flight stress and this is addressed with Cortef.
Seven years after diagnosis, I feel I am finally over the worst of it. I still have aways to go, but now I am a lot more optimistic I can live my life more fully. I want that for everybody on this board, those who helped me so much.
See out ND and get your estrogen and progesterone levels check and how to balance them. Also get your adrenals checked. I hope you find the answers so specific to your situation. Continue to feel better!

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