Showing posts with label the road back. Show all posts
Showing posts with label the road back. Show all posts

Thursday, May 17, 2012

Cannot tolerate 200mg minocin, reduce again

Since my stomach has been having issues, I have reduced the minocin again to 100mg once a day. I continue to take a probiotic supplement, Jarrow Formulas AF with 10 billion strains.

Had bloodwork drawn yesterday, and now I am going to start Zithromax Tues./Thursday 250mg once per day.

Bloodwork didn't show any major changes, though sed rate and CRP are still low, which is great. Neutrophil count is way up. Usually it's around 53% for me, and this bloodwork showed neutrophils at 69%. I've read that an increase in neutrophils can indicate a bacterial infection. So maybe it is the strep that is just taking up residence? I suppose we'll see after starting the zithromax. MCV and MCH are still elevated slightly. Platelets still at low end of normal at 206.

Sed rate = 2, CRP <0.3 mg/L.

RBC count still low at 3.8.

TSH at 1.44, Free T3 at 2.4 pg/ml (range:2.0-4.4), Free T4 at 1.04 ng/dL (range: 0.82-1.77).

RA elevated slightly at 15.4. ANA is still positive, no big surprise there only wish I could have afforded to get the titer for the ANA.

Saturday, May 12, 2012

Ended medrol pack - increased Minocin

Well the Medrol pack is now finished and I'm on 2.5mg prednisone, hopefully tapering to none by the end of next week. The rash on my shin is now gone, but I still have some small spots on my upper back.

Yesterday I increased my minocin dosage from 100mg to my normal 200mg per day. I was taking 200mg of the generic stuff from December 2011 until the beginning of April, then switched over to brand name and it seems to be stronger so I lowered the dose to 100mg. Not sure if I'm ready to handle the 200mg yet, especially since I'm still on a small amount of prednisone, but we'll see. I'm a bit anxious to try out the Zithromax to see if it has any effect, but I think it would be best to wait a little bit and give the brand name minocin a chance to do its thang.

As far as today goes, I've noticed a significant increase in muscle pain and sacroiliac joint soreness along with that damn left knee pain that is almost a constant nowadays (as it was in pre-plaquenil days). 200mg ibuprofen earlier in the day didn't do a whole lot for the pain.