my sister has crippling rheumatiod arthritis. she won't listen to anything about lyme.
she is taking embrel and some other medications for her ra.
but my question is: since i believe it is lyme, if she was treating lyme would the ra go away?
and since not treating lyme, will the ra continually get worse?
has anyone had ra and gotten better with lyme treatment?
how will the embrel and other ra medications effect her lyme?
Posted by nspiker (Member # 22824) on :
randibear,
Have her access the www.roadback.org website. It's specifically for infection induced RA and other autoimmune diseases.
There are many who have benefited by antibiotic treatment for RA, and many others who have lyme induced RA, Scleroderma, or other insidious autoimmune diseases.
The number of lyme induced disease on this forum is mounting. It was through their coaxing, that I was Igenex tested. The result was negative, but they pushed me to persevere until I got a diagnosis and positive 31 epitope.
Posted by Lymetoo (Member # 743) on :
Definitely go read over at roadback!!
Yes, her "RA" could get better... since it's most likely lyme and NOT RA.
The lyme will get worse and worse without proper treatment and enbrel will suppress the immune system making the lyme go deeper.
It will also make her very vulnerable to ANY kind of infection. Very dangerous stuff in my humble opinion.
Posted by Sammy07 (Member # 17627) on :
Same thing happened to me. Enbrel is not good for lyme. It will suppress the immune system so the body cannot fight back. Thats why you cant take it when you have a cold or are sick. I was treated for RA for 15 years. Once I started treating lyme Im so much better. She needs to get tested by a good LLMD. Make her do it or it will only get worse. At least convince her to rule it out.
Posted by randibear (Member # 11290) on :
sammy, hon, she's adamant about "just quit the ____ing lyme stuff, ok? nobody up here has ever heard of it. you're just getting old, ok? accept it."
but she's my sister and i hate to see her already beginning to cripple up.
Posted by nspiker (Member # 22824) on :
Randi,
Has your sister ever taken antibiotics, and experienced a decrease in pain? It may not be lyme, but it could be an infectious process.
I remember, before being diagnosed with anything, going to a rheumatologist and telling her that antibiotics helped my knee pain. Sarcastically, she said to me, I have fybromyalgia patients that come to me with a UTI, and after treating the UTI, the pain in their shoulder resolves. No kidding...think there's some correlation?
It doesn't have to be lyme. Print out some stuff from roadback, and hopefully you'll get her thinking.
Posted by Carol in PA (Member # 5338) on :
Rheumatoid arthritis is an accepted disease. You have a choice of treatments, the respect of friends and family, and the insurance companies don't try to crucify those who treat you.
Hah. Why would she want to "switch" to Lyme?
Carol
Posted by nspiker (Member # 22824) on :
Carol wrote:
quote: Rheumatoid arthritis is an accepted disease. You have a choice of treatments, the respect of friends and family, and the insurance companies don't try to crucify those who treat you.Hah. Why would she want to "switch" to Lyme?
No kidding....you have a point!
Posted by LymeXtu (Member # 24590) on :
Randibear - How old is "old" I am 48 and my sister belittle's me for pursuing my Lyme problems telling me it could just be age related!
And for some strange reason it has all just "happened" in the last 3 months.
It astounds me the way people rationalize things sometimes.
And Carol you might be onto something as well, a disease people and doctor's "know about and respect" sounds pretty good sometimes!!
And of course that is why I like talking to all of you about Lyme!!