Re: doseage of prednisone and minocycline

March 14, 2002

Hi ! Geoff here. How is beautiful Oregon these days?

You wrote:

> I am not ignorant and my doctor is not ignorant.

No insult intended. Ignorance is a fact of life, we are all ignorant about

some things. The physician who never needs make a referal and treats all

forms of all illnesses in all forms of all life many know but few have ever

met in the flesh face-to-face. It's good that your physician is not

ignorant in his use of Prednisone for you; his skills in fluid dynamics and

submarine design, however, may be considerably lacking. :^)

> I would never take 85 mg prednisone per day and my doctor would never

> prescribe it anyway.

Never is a very nebulous and far reaching word encompassing not only the

future but the past as well.

To your credit you have educated yourself over the years about both your

illness and this particular drug. Unfortunately, the overwhelming majority

of people who contract the rheumatic diseases are not as well tutored as

you, they contract the disease(s) coming in blind. They have no information

about the drug(s) used to treat the diseases and symptomatic relief is far

more important to them at that time than getting tutored about rheumatic

illnesses. Blindly they trust their Physician and blindly they follow his

or her advice just as they have been taught to do in school and at home and

by our society, which arguably diefies the possessor of that particular

grade of sheepskin.

This goes on until such time as something forces this reality onto their

radar screen: my Physician is human and thus has areas of ignorance;

sometimes those areas are going to impact me; I need to assume a greater

responsibility for my health than I used to believe. (I confess, I was and

in many ways am still amongst those masses.)

Interestingly from what little we see just on this list, those who are

blind-sided in this way are not strictly those one might expect to be

lacking this area of expertise: health care professionals including nurses

and physicians fall prey as well. Those that purchase the party-line dogma

with their professional lives seem most susceptible as they seem to prefer

to ignore (ignore/ignorance - interesting etymology) antecdotal evidence,

regardless of how overwhelming, in favor of " published studies. " Part of

this may be training, but there is also a very large part that is forced

into play by litigation -- the only way to ensure safety from the hounds of

the Bar is to engage the party line. Variance is a high-risk venture.

I've found the psychology of this fascinating over the years as until

recently (70's?) aspirin was the most widely used drug on the planet and had

been for a very long time. Yet no one knew how it worked and " studies " it

lacked in the extreme. The other fascinating point of the double-blind

studies is that those who tout them the most are also those fastest to turn

a blind-eye to their very origin:

The double-blind study was invented by Homeopaths who

used the method to populate their Materia Medica, the

encyclopaedia of remedies (drugs) used in that practice.

> I have benefitted greatly using 0 to 4 mgs prednisone a day

Benefit and the road(s) to cure are our common bonds. I can only assume you

compensate for Prednisone induced damage as well, to either the credit of

your physician, or your own self-tuteledge, or those by whom you have been

guided.

There are some interesting side-bars in your comment...

Zero daily is, well, zero. Four milligrams daily and zero daily are mutually

exclusive. One is either taking the drug daily or not, if not one is

apparently taking up to that amount on an as-needed basis. Then the

questions begs, how often is " as-needed, " and what are the consequences?

Since it is widely known that continual supplementation of a hormone will

cause the natural production of that hormone to be reduced accordingly in

concert with the administration of the drug, and that " recommended " use of

Prednisone normally is to taper even from as little as one 5 mg oral dose,

just how do these dichotimies resolve?

But wasn't it you who wrote: " My experience with bromelain was that I took

it for several months and it calmed down inflamation. " ?

Interesting that you were, I assume perhaps errantly from this post, taking

Prednisone as well at the time.

> control inflammation while going through a rapid increase of minocycline

> from 100 mg a week to 100 mg twice a day, every day.

>

> We cannot know for certain what amount of minocycline Dr Brown would be

> using now. He may well have read the newer studies and increased his

> recommendations.

Perhaps, but I find that conclusion lacking from my perspective of the man.

His work, his direction of treatment and his treatment by the established

community of his peers who openly decried him a quack as they closed their

eyes to his obvious successes do not lead one there. My take is that he

would more likely by now have " discovered " (Translation: finding something

already there but of which he who finds it was previously ignorant.)

something alternative and less injurious to the body than the tetracyclines,

perhaps a refined herb. I believe Dr. Brown would have been seriously, very

seriously, excited by the resounding success of the herbal compounds RheuMax

and RA Spes we've been able to enjoy the last few years in alleviating pain

and suffering while enhancing the activity of the tetracyclines by

strengthening the immune system and at the very same time modulating the

more agregious responses. This would be like a trail to the Holy Grail:

Enhancing and modulating at the

same time without adverse effects.

Of course, these are merely my wild speculations on the potential future

actions of a man now long dead. His training and expertise having been

limited to Allopathy notwithstanding, his practice itself may have prevented

him from such a pursuit even if he did desire to do so.

> For myself, I am doing much better taking 100 mgs of minocycline twice a

> day, every day, then when I was taking 100 mgs four times a week.

That is good. If recollection serves me, the therapy should be " tailored "

to the individual and for you apparently 100 mg BID is both tolerable and

efficacious, at least with the aid of at least some other substances both Rx

and Non-Rx.

> Your experience might be different but I am doing much better than I was

on

Yes, I experienced nauseau and dizziness on Mino. Doxy, however, I was able

to tolerate with aplomb even up to the levels you mention; Doxy was also on

point with the assesment of my particular flavour of mycoplasma as

graciously located and identified by Dr. Coker-Vann of The Arthritis

Research Institute in Gaithersburg, land.

(http://www.rheumatic.org/myco.htm)

> the lower dose of minocycline. If I run into any problems I'll let you

know

> but so far so good.

I for one hope that the only thing you run into is an increased ability to

do just that, RUN! :-)

Geoff

soli Deo gloria

http://www.healingyou.org/ NonRx herbals, homeopathics & supplements

http://www.800-800-cruise.com/ Cruises, tours, resorts & luxury trains

March 14, 2002

I believe Dr. Brown would have been seriously, very

> seriously, excited by the resounding success of the herbal compounds

RheuMax

> and RA Spes we've been able to enjoy the last few years in alleviating

pain

> and suffering

I can understand your enthusiasm because you say they have helped you so

much, but I'm sorry, I cannot see a basis for this statement, and feel it is

misleading. Dr. Brown was a rheumatologist, a medical doctor, who felt that

RA was caused by latent forms of microbes in the joints. He stated that

antibiotics were the only treatment to address underlying causes. Herbs

certainly were around at the time of his work, predating all other forms of

medicine, and I never saw any mention in the books of his using them. Only

adjunct treatments like antihistamines and occasionally prednisone, or other

antibiotics if latent strep was suspected. Did he, to your knowledge, ever

use herbs? (This is not meant to imply that herbs should not be considered

for use, but only that I cannot buy into your spin in regards to Dr. Brown).

I can appreciate your concerns for others taking medications like

methotrexate, enbrel, and prednisone. These are harsh medications with side

effects. But it is also concering to me that you may not be addressing

underlying causes in yourself (you still are not taking antibiotics, are

you?). Dr. Brown spoke of the danger of treating solely with prednisone,

because it lowered the inflammatory barriers the body sets up against

infections and " let the cat out of the bag " so to speak, with eventual

worsening and spread of the disease. By treating only the pain and

inflammation, is this not a concern also with herbs, even though the side

effects might be milder, or as you state, non-existent? I would like to

hear your thoughts on this subject. Liz G.

March 14, 2002

What is up with all the attacking? I have enough stress in my life from

trying to save my husband from a wheel chair and a feeding tube. I am very

new to this group and am VERY appreciative of the information gained from

most of the emails. I hope I'm not out of line here, but the tone I sense in

some of the recent email exchanges is troubling. Please try and keep your

emails " sensitive " and cordial while expressing your view points and

offering your experience. We all have something to offer that may be of

help to the rest of the group.

Wishing everyone the best of health in the VERY near future,

Kim (husband has dermatomyositis)

Re: rheumatic Re: doseage of prednisone and minocycline