Why Doctors Prescribe Antibiotics for Fibromyalgia and CFS

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When a germs or viruses gets entrance in your body, your body produces proteins in response to those foreign bodies(Germs). They are known as antibodies. They get attached to the foreign body and kill that foreign body. Sometimes a reverse phenomenon takes place, your immune system instead of attacking to the foreign body, start attacking your own body cells. If it attacks your joints then it is called arthritis, and if attacks your colon it leads to Ulcerative colitis.

But I don’t think so your immune system is that stupid. So after many researches the fact came out that most of the diseases which were thought to b caused by auto immune system were in fact caused by infections. Stomach ulcers are caused by bacterium, Helicobacter pylori, and other, Multiple Sclerosis may be caused by HHS-6 virus.

 

Fibromyalgia, Chronic Fatigue Syndrome and Multiple Chemical Sensitivities

Fibromyalgia means a suspicious disease where a previously well person suddenly suffer from fatigue, muscle ache, pain, exhaustion that last for more than 6 months and blood tests are apparently normal and the doctor is unable to find the cause. Many infections can cause muscle pain and fatigue so the diagnosis of fibromyalgia must b made after all other diseases have been ruled out.

Recent studies show that some people who thought to have fibromyalgia were actually suffering from polymyalgia rheumatic that does have abnormal blood tests. Studies show that they have low spinal fluid levels of vitamin B12 that can b treated by 1000mcg of vitamin B12 each day.

In chronic fatigue the primary symptom is exhaustion, but patients may also present with diarrhea and constipation. In fibromyalgia the prime symptom is muscle pain but ultrasound and muscle biopsies are normal. While multiple chemical sensitivities means that patients are sensitive to most of the chemicals in the environment.

Some doctors prescribe doxycycline 100mg twice a day for several months and sometimes azithromycin 500mg twice a week. Many of patients get better however this treatment is not accepted by most of the doctors.

Stomach problems

If you have bad taste in your mouth and burning sensation that gets worse when you are empty stomach and gets better when you eat something, then you are surely suffering from some serious stomach problems that may b caused by too much stomach acid. The doctors may diagnose that you are suffering from gastritis, epiglottis, achalasia, hiatal hernia, duodenitis, or reflux. These all terms are linked to excessive production of acid that is burning your gastrointestinal tract. The people suffering from these conditions are suffering from infection caused by helicobacter pylori.

If you have these symptoms that you must go for blood tests and chest X-ray known as upper GI series. A negative blood test does not rule out an infection, as many there are several bacteria that cause stomach cancer. Some doctors usually prescribe people with gastritis a one week course of antibiotics, metronidazole 4 times a day, clarithromycin 500mg twice a day and omeperazole 20mg once a day for one week. At least 12 weeks later, you need a follow up test for helicobacter.

You are probably cured if your symptoms are gone and your titer drops. But if your helicobacter titer is still high then there is possibility that your helicobacter is resistant to metronidazole and you need to be treated with amoxicillin 500mg 4 times a day, tetracycline 500mg three times s day and omeperazole 20mg once a day. If you have regurgitation of acid into your esophagus you may need to take 20mg omeperazole once a day and 10 mg cisapride 4 times a day.

Doxycycline, Minocycline and tetracycline

Doxycycline is a really safe drug, doctors prefer this drug over minocycline which is probably more effective, that’s y many doctors ask me why I prescribe doxycycline for chronic fatigue syndrome, asthma, acne, arthritis, although minocycline is more effective in all these cases. On the other hand doxycycline may cause sore throat, sunlight sensitivity, pigmentation and abnormal liver tests.

When it get stuck in your esophagus it can cause sore throat and a lot of water will b needed to wash it down into the stomach. Avoid excessive exposure to sun to prevent sunburn. Minocycline can cause serious serum sickness like reaction, hypersensitivity syndrome reaction and drug induced lupus, manifested by fever, joint pain, hives itching, a sense of not feeling well, and may induce liver damage.

Minocycline is more effective than doxycycline because of its higher tissues concentration and helpful in reducing swelling, stopping pain and killing germs. Although tetracycline belong to the same class as minocycline and doxycycline have but we mostly avoid using tetracycline because it does not achieve high tissue concentration. Minocycline penetrates tissues much better than doxycycline and tetracycline.

Resistant Bacteria

It is believed that taking antibiotics lead to bacterial resistance to those antibiotics. It is true somehow but that doesn’t mean we should refrain from taking antibiotics. Some doctors prefer tetracycline and erythromycin derivative that do not require frequent blood tests. On the other hand if you’re suffering from some serious acute diseases your doctor won’t prescribe tetracycline because do not kill bacteria, only prevent them from multiplying.

Many doctors criticize prescribing antibiotics, but some doctors think that they are far better than conventional dreadful treatment. They can b administered by general practitioner, cost much less and may even treat the disease rather than just suppressing the symptoms. Conventional treatment with Prednisone, Azathioprine is toxic while treatment with antibiotic is far safer. Ref

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