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Hello everyone,
I’m going to try and be as brief as possible… my mother in law (Scleroderma sufferer for over 30 years) recently had what appears to be a mini stroke – a number of small lesions in the brain have appeared in an MRI, along with associated symptoms.
She is making a good recovery from that, however the docs are now suggesting to switch to Rituximab asap given the progression of the disease (she has been tested for all sorts of things since the mini-stroke, such as vasculitis, lupus etc, all negative).They are therefore putting down this event ‘due to the scleroderma’, which doesn’t convince me 100% but then I’m no doctor!
They have cleared her of all infections, so in theory she is ready to go. However, her finger nails and toe nails are heavily infected with what we suspect is Candida (by we I mean the dermatologist). She definitely has fungus, and he suspects that it is Candida, the cultures are still to come back to confirm.
My question is, is having this fungus in her nails a potential issue when on the rituximab? Rheumy didn’t seem worried as it is isolated in the nails (we think – no blood test has been done to check for any other traces anywhere else). And, this is the same rheumy who always said that her nail appearance was ‘part of scleroderma’, for over 10 years now. Of course my wife and I disagreed and got the tests done ourselves, and low and behold!
Also, what are peoples thoughts on rituximab? Reading up about it online just scares me… some people suffer from death after first infusion (rare but possible), and the chance of series infection down the line is high…
Such a shame as we had her visa appointment booked to go see Dr F in LA, but her stroke happened TWO DAYS BEFORE the visa appointment! I feel that AP is a far safer way to go, the issue is things are progressing and we don’t want to wait for her only to get worse…
Any advice or opinions on this would be greatly appreciated. Thank you!
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Here for my Mother In Law.
Scleroderma 30+ years, Lyme/Bartonella (perhaps 30+ years too, diagnosed in October 2019), Hypothyroid, Anemia (of chronic diseases we think?), Neuropathy, Mini-stroke/brain lesions Oct 2019, Candida.
Current Meds:
**Minocin 100mg x2 day, every day. **Rifampin 300mg 1x day MWF. **75mcg Levothyroxine. **5mg Prednisone. **Clopidogrel 75mg. **300mg Fluconazole every Sunday. **300mg Gabapentin. **LDN 4.5mg.Current Supps:
Vitamin B-complex, C, D, E. Potassium GluconaPersonally I think Candida is a big deal. There is a blood test for it systemically which I think would be interesting. I know a lot of people take Diflucon for a month or more to combat this but oh my goodness work with a doctor if you go this route because it can have side effects like instant death or at least that used to be in the package insert. You can google Candida in nails and study how it affects systemically. I am a believer that anything in our bodies affects the entire body. I don’t believe in compartmentalizations.
Flare fall of 2014...muscle aches, joint pains, fatigue, hair loss, rashes, etc.
RA Factor 71 in Jan 2015 down to 25 as of September 2017
DR4/DQ8 HLA...biotoxin illness
IGG food allergy to wheat, egg, and dairy...probably all grains
Vit. C&D, probiotics, milk thistle, turmeric, fish oil, methyl b 12, methyl folate, digestive enzymes, Candisol, Ubiquinol, berberine, chlorella, Moducare, LDN, monolaurin, Triphala, Patriot Greens, Paractin
MTHFR compound heterozygous
Igenex IGM positive Lyme, minoMWFThanks, Spiffy. We are 100% in agreement with you. Everything is connected, so no reason why it couldn’t hop elsewhere. Also some big news, we got her tested for Lyme which came back POSITIVE! She must have had it for over 30 years back when she lived in NY/NJ, and around the same time she got her SD symptoms. As a demonstration of the lack of understanding (and care) her Rheumy has, we presented the results of the Lyme tests to her. She said that she wasn’t going to treat it because although it shows up, it clearly isn’t doing anything to her now, but the SD is… what negligence from this idiot! We feel that the stroke wasn’t a stroke at all, but actually a result of long-standing chronic Lyme infection (along with her neuropathy which began around 7 months ago). Thank you for your input!
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Here for my Mother In Law.
Scleroderma 30+ years, Lyme/Bartonella (perhaps 30+ years too, diagnosed in October 2019), Hypothyroid, Anemia (of chronic diseases we think?), Neuropathy, Mini-stroke/brain lesions Oct 2019, Candida.
Current Meds:
**Minocin 100mg x2 day, every day. **Rifampin 300mg 1x day MWF. **75mcg Levothyroxine. **5mg Prednisone. **Clopidogrel 75mg. **300mg Fluconazole every Sunday. **300mg Gabapentin. **LDN 4.5mg.Current Supps:
Vitamin B-complex, C, D, E. Potassium Glucona
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