Question on your medications

[Guest guest]

How many on here actually have been able to go from a higher dose to a lower

dose, or cut out meds without adding something else?

I have been reading through the posts on this list, and over and over I see

people saying that they've increased their dosage of med, or added new

medications - all to just maintain. This seems like auch a dead-end to me.

This is one of the things that I looked into when I researched treatment options

after being diagnosed with RA. Which treatments actually seemed to increase the

possibility of LESS medications, instead of more? Every single accounting I saw

using methotrexate and the other " typical " RA drugs showed an increase in drug

use as time progressed. The only protocol I saw that showed a decrease was the

use of antibiotics. People often started out on several drugs and eventually

became able to be on only the antibiotic. This is why I chose this treatment,

although I will fully admit it's not as quick to work as some of the others. In

addition, the risk of side effects is less.

I know I sound like I'm pushing this protocol, but I just see so many people

going down a difficult path with medications that require other medications to

deal with the side effects - and it just seems to get worse instead of better.

I'm just seven months into this, but I'm already starting to cut back on some of

the meds - now I'm just on prednisone (every other day) and antibiotics as I've

just dropped the plaquenil. We'll see how it goes. My next step is to try to

back off of the prednisone. I went from being almost completely bedridden this

winter and on constant pain meds to being relatively active. I still hurt at

times. I use advil every couple of days and on rare occasion something

stronger. But I'm determined to give the antibiotics a good try before I resort

to the more dangerous drugs. I really encourage everyone to look into this

treatment, and to find a doctor willing to at least look into it with you. Any

rheumatologist or doctor who immediately shrugs off a treatment that has worked

successfully for a large number of people, is a doctor who either is

close-minded or sadly behind the times (or paid by the manufacturers of the

drugs they promote).

Okay, off my soapbox .. *L* .. whatever you're all on, I wish you all the best

and many pain-free days ahead!

in Alaska