@A myRAteam Member I will certainly check that out! I have had RA and other forms of arthritis for about 30 years so I don't really remember if it had an infection or anything like that when it started.

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A myRAtea...

@A myRAteam Member
Check out: The Road Back Foundation
https://www.roadback.org/

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A myRAtea...

Thanks Stashka. Certainly worth a try!

EveWilliams: I too have super aggressive RA that only steroids would work on. I am much earlier in my disease so do not have the extensive history of drugs that you do but I wanted to share with you two things I discovered that I personally think are worth a try.

1) Have you looked into the tetracycline route? This is based on the theory that bacteria could trigger and continues to aggravate your immune system. Taking tetracycline has had an impact in a lot of people that were struggling with treatments. Here is the article I read that lead me down this path: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/14528503/. This one I haven't tried yet but was next on my list. However, I believe the next option is what kicked my immune system into gear to finally get the drugs to work.

2) Naltrexone is the other suggestion, You use it as an addition to whatever drug protocol you are on. This is a drug used to counter opioid overdose/addiction which they found has incredible impact on RA patients by reducing the amount of medication they need to control their RA symptoms. This one I heard from my naturopath whose husband has a host of autoimmune and after a few months on naltrexone he was able to significantly reduce the amount of meds he was taking and his symptoms dramatically improved. I started taking it via rx from my naturopath, my rh (rheumatologist) didn't argue- he thought it was worth a try. I cannot tell you if the addition of this is what FINALLY pushed my disease into near remission (I went on a steroid taper so I could take a vacation and my disease never fired up after I went off a month ago. still mostly in remission with only minor moments of activity). I want to believe that after 2 months of Naltrexone that my immune system calmed down enough that the MX could actually start doing it's thing. Naltrexone is super cheap, can be prescribed by a MD or a ND and has almost no side effects. AND it helps with depression. 100% recommend giving it a try no matter what drugs they put you on next. It can take a few months to start working but I don't ever intend on stopping. Here is the article I found on that one: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC63...

Best of luck - my heart goes out to you!!! Fight on my fellow RA warrior!