[KAOheim]

During November I got sick and went through two rounds of ab's. The first was the 5 pack azithro I think? The second, after the crud came back with a vengence, was amoxicillin (sp) for ten days. That worked very well and strangely when I was finally better I felt really good. I mean really, really good as in energy all day, happy and just feel all around sharper. Better than I've felt in the two years since this ride started.

Has anybody else experienced something like this? I know you can't take ab's all the time but I'm thinking if it really was something related to an infection then maybe a couple times a year is in order. I also think back the thread about the chlamidia bacteria (NOT the nasty kind for those who missed that thread) and that maybe there's some relationship. I'm enjoing the heck out of it but I'm a little worried my old tired, slow self will be back. I don't want him!

[Erin524]

Antibiotics almost always make my sypmtoms flare. I'll get numbness in my feet or hands, or I'll have vision problems like photosensitivity.

[SallyC]

You may just have something there, Keith, for your type of MS! I do believe that different MSs have diffrent causes or triggers.

I know a few PwMS, who respond well to ABs and AntiVirals. Research it for yourself and let us know what you find out.

[AZjanie]

I have been on antibiotics since Friday and am really feeling the side effects. Each time I am on them I am a mess.

I feel like my legs are on backwards, I am dizzy (more than usual) and I am "grounded" till Monday when I take the last ones and see my GP.

Will be glad to get done with it but still not as bad as steroids.

[lady_express_44]

There are PwMS who take antibiotics all the time, and swear by them. My neuro was going to put me on minocycline full time as infections are KILLER for me, but I am allergic to that family of drugs.

The U of Calgary, in Alberta, Canada, is doing a trial on minocycline and MS, and I know there has already been one with Copaxone that proved it was more effective then Copaxone alone:

http://www.google.com/search?sourcei...ity+of+Calgary

http://www.abstracts2view.com/aan200...l/S02.003.html

There are other antibiotic regimes that are also being used for PwMS. . . but they are much more complex to follow.

Are your troublesome lesions mostly spinal by chance, Keith?

Cherie

[SallyC]

The pro and con AB responses to this thread, just goes to show, how one therapy can be good for one MSer and bad for another.

[KAOheim]

Originally Posted by lady_express_44

Are your troublesome lesions mostly spinal by chance, Keith?

Cherie

No, none in the spinal chord (at least that the MRI showed) all brain. I'm still fully mobile though my right leg gets numb and feels weird.

Thanks everyone for the replies. To clarify it wasn't necessarily while I was on the ab's that I felt great but afterward when they'd done their job. I already approached my pcp about the monociline (sp) and gave him an article about their use in MS treatment. I go to my neuro on the 19th and I'm going to see what he thinks.

I understand that it could be completely unrelated but it seemed worthy looking into.

[NurseNancy]

i tend to feel that you felt much better because the infection was knocked out.
it was probably the infectious process in your body that was pulling you down.
MS doesn't like infections.

however, overuse of antibx's when there is no infection can be dangerous, especially in our society. it allows viruses and bugs to overgrow because now the antibx don't work. that can lead to really serious infections and the use of very powerful antibx's used as a last defense.

an example of that would be the MRSA infection.

[RedPenguins]

I have read that there are antibiotic treatments for MS...long term use of them. I know there is a message board completely dedicated to this topic on www. thisisms . com.

On a side note, I have been on an anti-b since July 6th (bactrim)...and I don't notice any difference in my MS - that is attributable to that med.

~Keri

[KAOheim]

Originally Posted by NurseNancy

i tend to feel that you felt much better because the infection was knocked out.
it was probably the infectious process in your body that was pulling you down.
MS doesn't like infections.

however, overuse of antibx's when there is no infection can be dangerous, especially in our society. it allows viruses and bugs to overgrow because now the antibx don't work. that can lead to really serious infections and the use of very powerful antibx's used as a last defense.

an example of that would be the MRSA infection.

Understood about MRSA and the implications of overusing ab's. Seems that using most of the meds they'd prescribe for us is bad for us in one way or another but the risk sometimes is outweighed by the reward. Not saying that this is the case with ab's but it's a possibility that would make that risk acceptable to someone very ill but not to a healthy person. And I'm just teasing, because as a nurse I know you know this, but ab's have no affect on allowing viruses to overgrow.

The first part of your post would imply that I've had the infection for two years because I just now am feeling better. I don't think that's the case with the infection I took them for. I would've been really sick the whole time. I suspect (mind you as a neophyte) that there was some other bug that wasn't making me sick but was low grade in the background and making me really tired and slow and the ab's to fight the crud I had knocked it out too.