Thinking of a change

[Sierra]

I've had great success using minocycline for the past two years. However: I've got a few bluish/gray areas on my legs that look a bit like bruises–hyperpigmentation from the drug. I saw the eye doctor last week, and he noted two black spots on my inner eyelid. It's been a challenge to stay ahead of the tooth staining. At the moment my teeth are an embarrassment–gray and brown deposits. (I'll have to spend some time with baking soda and the electric toothbrush tonight to get me through til my next cleaning.) I'm considering a break from minocycline. I've read some accounts of folks here who've switched to doxycycline for a while…

Thoughts?

Sierra

[orchid]

A lot of people here rotate abx so you could give it a shot.  Are you taking vitamin c to help with the pigmentation?  I thought the tooth discoloration was only a worry for kids but I guess that's not entirely true.

What dose of mino are you on – and how often? 

I wonder if pulsing helps with the pigment problems as well or if it doesn't matter.  Does anyone know what Dr Brown said about pigmentation.  I'm sure he was more concerned about just getting people feeling better but appearance does matter to some extent!!

Good luck with the new meds if you decide to give them a shot.  Someone here (Lynne) rotates the abx with good success.

[mom]

Sierra,

I've been on doxy for more than 2 years now. My symptoms improved as well as my labs though I still notice joint damage.
I read and heard that doxy is just as good as mino when used for RA if not better.
I do experience nausea if I take it on empty stomach. I also wear sunscreen on my face every day.

How are you feeling otherwise? I haven't visited this site for few weeks.

[Jo]

[mom]

Jo,

I'm on doxy every other day 200mg.
For inflammation, I'm on diclofenac 75mg twice a day. I have some fish oil, glucosamine which I don't take regularly.

what are your lab #s?

[A Friend]

[user=128]Sierra[/user] wrote:

I've had great success using minocycline for the past two years. However: I've got a few bluish/gray areas on my legs that look a bit like bruises–hyperpigmentation from the drug. I saw the eye doctor last week, and he noted two black spots on my inner eyelid. It's been a challenge to stay ahead of the tooth staining. At the moment my teeth are an embarrassment–gray and brown deposits. (I'll have to spend some time with baking soda and the electric toothbrush tonight to get me through til my next cleaning.) I'm considering a break from minocycline. I've read some accounts of folks here who've switched to doxycycline for a while… Thoughts?

Sierra,

You asked for thoughts, so will contribute thoughts from my own experience, as well as some I've read.  Though we may not be able to readily find information about this brown stain/plaque being caused by our  abx killing organisms, and their being deposited around our teeth, I'm positive this happened in my own case (and continues to happen, but not as pronounced).  I have dental cleaning every 4 months, which keeps it under control. 

I first noticed the tooth staining, literally overnight, after I had been ill for about two years with an infection that started in my jaw and spread to my head/sinuses.  Even my prior being on abx did not cause a noticeable die-off.  But later when I took abx that are effective agains L-forms, these apparently were effective against other type organisms that the first abx did not address.  I took a CoQ10 (NOW brand, 30 mg capsule…which is a very low dose) one afternoon.  (This product has had amazing amount of testing by Univ. of Tx scientists and doctors, including being found effective for periodontal disease, along with even more serious diagnoses).  The next morning, my coffee tasted funny.  When I went to brush my teeth, my tongue was brown, and there was brown staining that had formed around my teeth (also overnight).  I almost panicked, until I read in a Prevention encyclopedia under “black tongue” that this brownness appearing could be caused by die-off from certain medications.  I was relieved, and realized that the CoQ10 was the only change I'd made; so it had to be the answer.   The take-away thought I had on this is that I had a lot of some kind of organisms in my mouth that were addressed by CoQ10… and later by Minocin. 

Another thought… wondering if you have used the whole lemon/olive oil drink regularly for a period of time.  Since you've been on abx for two years, this might help your liver detox some of the built-up toxins from acidic wastes.  The liver and bile are very important for this. 

Vitamin C is regularly recommended for those on AP, to help prevent teeth staining problems. 

I've very recently read that brushing our teeth with coconut oil (the kind from the health store) can be very helpful for teeth and addressing plaque.  I'm pasting a link and an excerpt from it on down below.  Actually, I found the whole article very interesting. 

I hope some of these thoughts/brainstorming with you may be helpful. 

Best to you,

AF

 http://www.earthincommon.com/bev_journey.php

 [Excerpt below is from this web site above.  It would be interesting for several of us to get coconut oil from the health store and give this at least a 3-month trial.]
 
Understanding the Health Benefits of Fat

Vegetable oils are stored in the body as fat and create free radicals. Virgin Coconut oil, butter and other medium chain fatty acids (fats) are used by the body as energy, not stored as fat, and help the body absorb vitamins and minerals. They help make the chemicals in the brain that prevent depression, ease muscle and joint pain, kill off bad bacteria and protect the heart from disease. They aid in the production of hormones (some of which, relieve allergy symptoms), help protect the intestine from leaky gut syndrome (which causes allergies) and kill candida and parasites. If you brush your teeth with coconut oil, you will protect yourself from cavities and plaque!

When I had a cold, I increased my coconut oil intake to 6 tablespoons a day and recovered amazingly fast. Coconut cream mixed with a tiny bit of dried coconut is incredible fiber and great for Irritable Bowel Syndrome and other bowel disorders. No more diarrhea.

[end of excerpt]

[Sierra]

[user=515]orchid[/user] wrote:

  I thought the tooth discoloration was only a worry for kids but I guess that's not entirely true.

Most of the staining I've experienced has been removable with professional cleaning.

S

[Sierra]

[user=260]mom[/user] wrote:

Sierra,

How are you feeling otherwise? I haven't visited this site for few weeks.

Other than a recent battle with an infected root canal (done in 2002, never felt right, retreated in August and extracted 6 weeks later) I've been feeling very well on minocyclince. It works great for me.

S

[Sierra]

[user=28]A Friend[/user] wrote:

[user=128]Sierra[/user] wrote:

I've had great success using minocycline for the past two years. However: I've got a few bluish/gray areas on my legs that look a bit like bruises–hyperpigmentation from the drug. I saw the eye doctor last week, and he noted two black spots on my inner eyelid. It's been a challenge to stay ahead of the tooth staining. At the moment my teeth are an embarrassment–gray and brown deposits. (I'll have to spend some time with baking soda and the electric toothbrush tonight to get me through til my next cleaning.) I'm considering a break from minocycline. I've read some accounts of folks here who've switched to doxycycline for a while… Thoughts?

Sierra,

You asked for thoughts, so will contribute thoughts from my own experience, as well as some I've read. 

Thanks!

S.

[A Friend]

[user=515]orchid[/user] wrote:

A lot of people here rotate abx so you could give it a shot.  Are you taking vitamin c to help with the pigmentation?  I thought the tooth discoloration was only a worry for kids but I guess that's not entirely true.

What dose of mino are you on – and how often? 

I wonder if pulsing helps with the pigment problems as well or if it doesn't matter.  Does anyone know what Dr Brown said about pigmentation.  I'm sure he was more concerned about just getting people feeling better but appearance does matter to some extent!!

This is pretty close:

The Legacy of Thomas McPherson Brown, MD
MIRA Therapy for Connective Tissue Disease
by Henry Scammell


https://www.roadback.org/index.cfm/fuseaction/aboutrbf.display/display_id/397.html

[excerpt from above; see “hyperpigmentation” mention]

What are those 'minimal adverse events' sometimes associated with minocycline? The best known is sun sensitivity, which is easily avoided by a good blocker and the proper clothing. While none of the MIRA patients showed serious toxicity, seven dropped out of the study, most commonly for dizziness. This is a known problem with minocycline, but apparently not with doxycycline, which Tom Brown would often use as an alternative. Another adverse reaction, so infrequent that it was not reported in the MIRA study, can be hyperpigmentation, a darkening of the skin in patches, usually on the hands and forearms, which disappears when the therapy is stopped. It also can discolor teeth of small children. The most serious-sounding objection to minocycline is that it is an antibiotic, a class of pharmaceuticals under considerable – and legitimate – criticism for wide scale overuse, particularly in diseases where it encourages resis tant forms of the organisms it attacks. But that argument ignores the benign profile of antibiotics in the tetracycline family, proven least prone to this disadvantage in literally billions of doses for conditions no more serious than teenage acne. And it also overlooks the special nature of mycoplasmas. When most bacteria are attacked by an antibiotic, they immediately put up a defense in the form of mutation, based on a decision formed at the point of impact in the cell wall. But be cause mycoplasmas are cell-wall-deficient organisms (toroidal in shape, they look like partially nibbled donuts), the antibiotic action takes place primarily in the cell's core, where no such response occurs. I have met several of Tom Brown's patients who have controlled their connective tissue disease with minocycline for decades, and the only other effect they ever noticed was that they almost never were bothered by the common cold……MORE

[end of excerpt]

[Author]

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