Why is my immine system attacking my body? It can't be for no reason. I had asked myself that many times. RA is an autoimmune disease. Why? What sets it off? On the Support Boards people would say they had been ill with mono or strep and had gotten RA shortly after. Some had had surgery and picked up infections in the hospital, later to only develop RA. There were even health care workers asking is there a connection to being exposed to bacteria and RA? Now all the research I read said genetics had a lot to do with who got RA. My maternal uncle has RA. But I wasn't satified that genetics was why my immune system decided to just go bezerk one day.
The Roadback site had the answer. At least as any logical one as I could see. Bacteria! The introduction of bacteria into the body causes the immune system to go into high gear to kill it off. Little buggers called mycoplasmas, something between bacteria and virus, getting into the body causing inflammation. I'm not going to get technical here. I'll leave that to people like my friend Leslie. She is a nurse and can tell you better than I how the mycoplasmas work. Her blog is www.southerngalra.blogspot.com. The Roadback site is very thorough in it's articles of how the buggers are introduced, and their realtionship to RA. I understand how it works, I just don't have the talent for sharing it in technical terms. It's a bug. My immune system hates it. The bug wants to thrive and infiltrate the cells of my body and destroy my joints and organs. How's that?
Alright, we have a cause. There really is something the immune system is fighting. Now what? I spent weeks researching everything there was on Antibiotic Protocol. I read the pros and cons. The more I read, the more the pros were outweighing the cons. I read of testimonies of people who are or have been on AP and what it has done for them. Dare I say some have had remission? Yes, they have!
It all started to make sense. I had e coli introduced through tainted food. This set off the chain of events that looked to be Reiters Sydrome. Then bloodwork showed positive for RA. Well let's just blast those little buggers with a little minocycline and see if there is improvement. Easier said than done. If you go to just about any discussion board on a support site, you will find many people who adamantly insist this AP is on the "fringes" for treatment of RA. Why? Because their doctor doesn't do it and doesn't recommend it. They won't read about all the tests and studies done on this therapy. I don't quite understand this reaction, but I think it's based mostly in fear and I understand that. I just wish they'd be a little kinder in expressing their views.
Like I said, most doctors won't consider AP. I called my Rheumy's office to ask if he did AP and never got an answer. I took that to mean he didn't and the fact that he never offered it to me as an option. No problemo, I'll contact Roadback and pray there is at least one doctor somewhere within a days drive. God in His goodness not only had one doctor but four, and all within 1 1/2 hrs from my house. So I chose Dr K who had an article posted on an arthritis site about how she had treated her mother with antibiotics. I called and got an appointment right away. Now I was excited because I had hope for the first time in a long time. Maybe I could get off these toxic drugs and go for the less harmful antibiotics and maybe put this bad boy RA into remission.
Monday morning and in the doctor's office, feeling good. By Wednesday, I'd be singing a different tune.
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