medicalnewstoday.com/articl...
The role of infection in RA has been debated for a long time. Treating RA with antibiotics is not new eather but the identification of a specific bacteria that may play a role in RA and that may bring new treatment options to the disease, is promising.
Thanks Simba interesting article.
Interesting! Oddly I was drinking milky coffee every morning in the winter before my diagnosis. Hmmm, was normally a tea person on wakening but got a latte one day and decided to make my own. I detest cows milk now. Take dreams rice dairy free as an alternative.
Back in the 1990's Minocycline was widely trialled in double blind controlled clinical trials in the US,UK, France, Israel & The Netherlands as a treatment for RA......Thomas McPherson Brown MD & Henry Scammell wrote a well known book called The Road Back -. Rheumatoid Arthritis: it's cause & It's Treatment.
It's an interesting HISTORICAL read.
Yes it is interesting that antibiotics seem to come back. For Chrons MAP there has already been a study and a special antibiotic that has shown very promising results. These Chrons patients had the same gene mutation and the Map bacteria. First time this connection with Chrons and RA revield. What this implies for RA treatment remains still to be seen.
Perhaps what makes these news hopeful is that antibiotic treatment in certain ra cases, those with the cell mutation and MAP bacteria, could give a new less toxic complement to treatment of RA.
Actually I've got Cylindrical Brochectastasis and that is definately genetic (had a test) and take a lot of antibiotics. (the test is just blood, but of interest for research ). Weirdly the RA does seem to get a bit better , my RA is ok mostly anyway but Doxyclycline seems to just ease the stiffness in the morning. Its slight and might be in the mind but I do wonder ????
In fact new studies have shown that treatment with Mtx+low dose doxy in early RA gives better results than Mtx alone. Sounds promising.
I don't take MTX. But my infection which pushed the CB into a cronic condition is not responsive to some antibiotics and I'm allergic to penicllin thus Doxy which is used by me as a rescue pack so its in the cupboard all the time and no need to see GP to use it. I've ben asked to consider phrophalactic antibiotics (Doxy)by Respiritory consultant and am. RA is a disease that has issues but try not being able to breathe, walk and talk at the same time. I was concerned at amount I take, but my GP said ignore the risk as breathing is really important.! Love the guy down to earth, and funny when is all I can do is sit and moan. If this condition had not been discovered actually by the RA nurse probably having a hunch something more was amiss, I'd have died 2 years ago. CB is relativly newly discovered so a lot of doctors interested in it. Its genetic, and that and RA plus measles and pnumonia= deep trouble. And my GP is great too, so it could be worse as he said "you need to breathe". Reason so much interest, is same gene as Cystic Fibrosis and why it does'nt turn on fully thats all I know.
Sorry to hear about your condition that cannot be easy. Can only imagine how it feels not being able to breath properly. Take care, glad that some help of Doxy.
As far as I remember in USA cortisone was very heavily used prior to the mira antibiotic studies & back then was thought to be safe to prescribe forever with no knowledge of the dire effects it could have when over prescribed.
The pharmaceutical,companies were very keen on it - back then they were making millions of $'s from it.
I wonder if there is any research now on using antibiotics before Dmards are introduced?
I want to know why is it more woman who get RA, I know men get it but why more woman?
Same as thyroid issues and breast cancer, men do get it; but woman don't have as many heart attcks so some pluses too. I don't worry too much, as can't change it. I hope one day they'll be able to turn off the gene so it can never turn on, with or without contributing factors. I've just been told kidneys are a bit dodgy 50% only of something or other, so the Auto Immune munchers go chomping on..... lol as thats all I can do. x
So sorry to hear that medway-lady, sending you big hugs, so unfair, this bl---dy condition
There may be a hormonal influence, particularly oestrogen, in RD with women often going into remission when pregnant, often flare after giving birth and become more susceptible again after the menopause. One part of very complicated jigsaw.
Yes in pregnancy progesterone is high and protects the fetus, when the baby is born the estrogen/progesterone ratio changes. In menopaus the we often become estrogen dominant.
Simba1992, yes I trained as midwife many years ago and we would occasionally see pregnant women with RD really well throughout pregnancy, we only followed up for 10 days after birth so I did not witness the 'crash ' that almost comes after giving birth, but knew of it.
Oestrogen is steroid anti inflammatory hormone, produced in massive quantities when women are pregnant, hence the anti inflammatory effect, the crash after the baby is born and increased risk after the menopause (as we don't produce oestrogen to the same extent). Breastfeeding also gives some protection due to the oestrogen levels. But, HRT doesn't seem to help with RD. I think i read somewhere the quantity required is prohibitive, but the complexity of RD also plays a big part.
Here are some science based facts about progesterone and estrogen and how they work in our bodies.
raypeat.com/articles/aging/...
Yes, absolutely all about the balance of hormones. I was always taught oestrogen is one of the steroidal hormones with anti inflammatory effects, hence the pregnancy effect (although the benefits seem more marked in women with sero negative RD, which is probably a different beast to sero positive RD). Although citing one hormone is way too simple...if only... chemicals in the body play many roles...oestrogen with cancers, fluid regulation, laying down of fat, protein synthesis and so on. But it is generally accepted that oestrogen plays a protective role, but is not the full story.
Yes, like you say both hormons have there important role but the situation becomes problematic when there is estrogen dominance and this is something that new research has been targeting for some time, gaining more understanding on how this imbalance in fact plays an important role in inflammatory diseases.
This more specific article on how progesterone and estrogen work together in pregnancy and other life phases.I found this quite informative.😊
raypeat.com/articles/articl...
Cheers , I'm just a wee bit wary of Ray Peat, he challenges ...good...but doesn't seem to carry out the research ...rather he philosophies about what might be happening and cites the work of others to do this. He focuses at microscopic levels ....again it has it benefits.....and is needed. A bit of a maverick who challenges the scientific and medical professions....we need them.....but I prefer peer reviewed scientific documents, even with all inherant flaws.
That doesn't stop me reading the thoughts of others 😉
Please look at other links on this post not Ray Peats. Ray Peat is an internationally known scientist and biochemist. His work has centered around understanding better what happens in our bodies on a hormonal and cellular level. Don't think there is any more doubt about the ill effects of estrogen dominance.
Here is an other overview on the protective effects of natural progesterone.
Thanks guys for explaining to me, its so frustrating waiting for science to come up with a cure
I wish my education was better as a child as if I knew what I know now I would have wanted to be a scientist.
I was a child who always questioned everything and a child who would put pasta in a bag of water outside to see what would happen to it, so I should have been a scientist but sadly I am not clever that way.
Interesting read, thanks.
Whist not an autoimmune disease gastric ulcers were treated with antacids and surgery and then along came evidence that well ...some ulcers occurred as a result of a bacterial infection by helicobacter pylori and could be treated with antibiotics. Many medics refused to believe the evidence at the time but as the evidence grew a gradual acceptance emerged. Testing for H pylori is now easy peasy and many ulcers are now 'cured' with antibiotics.
So ...maybe one day our equivalent of H pylori and antibiotics will come.
That's how it goes, takes time for facts to sink in. You were put in jail in the olden days if you questioned the world being flat like a pancake.
I was diagnosed with h pylori and needed 2 courses of antibiotics. Soon after, I was diagnosed with RA. I have always believed there was a connection between the two.
Hormones all the way. How many of us feel worse around our monthly cycle or menopause. I definitely feel that RA is very much hormone related, hence women being the majority of sufferers.
I am very wary when it comes to supplements as so many people take them without really knowing if they are deficient. Unless a GP is willing to approve a check of hormones and vitamin levels etc. I wouldn't meddle, especially with hormones.
No you should not meddle but it's really an idea to check ones estrogen/progesterone levels since estrogen dominance causes so many problems and talk with your gynecologist about it. We can spare ourselves from many problems by correcting things before problems occur.😊
Here some reading about estrogen dominance that may interest you.
Actually the immunesystem in RA is not strong, infact it's not strong enough and dysfunctional, to get rid of the culprit that causes the inlammation. Immunosuppressants make the immunsystem weaker but also decreases the production of inflammatory mediators.
Summa sumarum of the discussion could be that estrogen dominance with connected thyroid hormon imbalance ( often subclinical hypothyroidism) causes low grade inflammation that is a stress for the immune system, then adding the gene mutation and MAP infection puts some ducks in a row for the risk of getting RA.(?)
Very interesting post to read.
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