[Clare.T]

Yes this is a perennial and very dubious. Minocycline can cause clinical lupus or drug induced lupus like disease. The theory is that RA is caused by microplasmic infection and if you can get rid of that you will be 'cured'.

As far as lupus is concerned there are many possible triggers from what is already known not only viral infections. Also regardless of what caused the lupus, the disease process can't be simply reversed except maybe by stem cell transplant

RA is not the same as lupus either so a person whose lupus doesn't have a major arthritis component could be taking a serious risk by neglecting to get the right treatment at the right time.

There's very vocal group advocating it fervently but I'd be surprised if you find any reputable lupologists thinking it has any merit.

I read somewhere that it might seem to work because antibiotics reduce inflammation , but relief is only temporary and of course there are all the risks of taking long term antibiotics.

There are several threads about this - one is
http://www.thelupussite.com/forum/index.ph...ibiotic+therapy

You will find others by using the site's search function

Take care !
Clare

 

[Clare.T]

Welcome to the forum f5kansas

I am glad to hear you have recovered from the minocycline induced lupus.

The general recommendation for people with lupus is to avoid minocycline because it can provoke flares. The other tetracyclines seem better tolerated but they increase photosensitivity, like many other drugs, so for people predisposed that could be the last straw. I am pretty sure that the information leaflet warns against taking it if you have lupus already.
We do have to keep our eyes out when doctors are prescribing. A GP recently was just about to prescribe me a 'sulfa' antibiotic. I'd probably have forgotten about it except I could see the PX options on the PC screen.


Unfortunately there is no way to tell beforehand who is going to react to Minocycline by developing lupus. It is supposed to be useful therapy for RA and is used in individual cases. Sometimes there isn't much choice but to take a medicine that can aggravate lupus such as the TB medicines
I had IV doxycycline for Lyme disease without any lupus problems.

Keep well

Clare

 

[Clare.T]

Hello Jesse

There has to be some good reason why a medicine or therapy isn't used by lupus specialists for treating lupus.
Lupus is not the same as RA. Some drugs are used in lupus when there is a very strong RA component.
When people with a lupus diagnosis say AB therapy has helped them we have no way of telling exactly what their lupus is like. As you know it is very variable in its effects & each person is affected a bit differently.

The sulfonamide antibiotics are best avoided as they often cause disease flares. Others may cause skin reactions. Amoxycillin is often used in lupus patients.

Cheers
Clare

 

[Clare.T]

I contracted Lyme disease, which is of course infectious unlike lupus, and took doxycycline without any ill effects, it just did its job & got rid of the Bb antibodies and stopped full blown Lyme developing.
If you believe that lupus as well as RA is due to these infectious thingies whose name I forget, then it makes sense to use an antibiotic. None of the well known lupus specialists accepts the Road Back theory. I think it's only available privately in the USA and not at all in the UK. Some of the statements made in some Road Back literature about lupus treatment are in my opinion very misleading and unnecessarily scare mongering. I can't imagine why they need to promote antibiotic therapy in these terms.

Anyway, to get back to the topic. In one study of 250 drug reactions in SLE patients ranging from worsening lupus to skin reactions, 30 were to sulfa drugs, 25 to penicillin, 20 to cephalosporins 19 to tetracyclines 18 to erythromycin. This was 57% of 340 SLE patients compared with 14% of 303 chronic arthritis patients in that clinic. ( Dubois' SLE Ed Dr Wallace )
It seems to me that Minocin is the tetracycline the most often implicated, but there are times when we have to take drugs that risk worsening our lupus or run the risk of even worse still on top of the lupus
Quite a few people take doxycycline regularly on doctor's orders, like Raglet, but it isn't for treating the lupus per se.

Cheers
Clare