www.rheumatic.org
www.roadback.org
www.mercola.com
www.drmirkin.com

Well g'day!! This is my little story about one of the most pleasing things I have accomplished. The fight against Reiter's Syndrome (or Reactive Arthritis). There is a cure for this and similar illnesses such as rheumatoid arthritis and lupus. I believe that the cure is a medically proven fact. My story would back that up but please make your own judgements. Believe it or not I am very grateful that I suffered from this illness. I have learnt a lot about life and the value of it.

It all started I guess a couple of years ago....

One day I had a sore elbow. So I went to my doctor. She gave me anti-inflammatories for it - which 'fixed it' short term obviously. As soon as the anti-inflammatories had worn off - my sore elbow came back. Pretty soon it got worse and eventually I could not straighten it out - and it hurt like hell to try. My Doctor couldn't figure out what was wrong. I had some blood tests but I can't remember what for. The anti-inflammatories would help only short term.

Then my right ankle started to hurt. Bad. I was limping. My doctor couldn't think of anything else to try. Then my right hip. Then one day things hurt too bad to go to work and the pain was waking me up at night. I went to the doctor that day and she said she'll have a thing about it and get back to me in a couple of weeks. That day I went to another doctor and becuase I had just been to Malaysia he thought it prudent to test for various tropical diseases. All back negative. During the next couple of weeks my left ankle and both groins started hurting bad. I was in pain most of the time. I tried another doctor. He said "Hey this looks like Reiters Syndrome". In case you aren't aware Retier's is normally bought on after a viral infection. So he tested me for lots of viruses - AIDS, Hep A/B/C (I think - can't exactly remember), Malaria, and a few others that elude me. All came back negative. So he said "Hey off to a specialist". Said specialist said "Yep I reckon it's Reiter's". Here's some Prednisone (a steroid) and here's some Salazopyrin (that's NOT the correct spelling sorry). Now off for some bone scans and x-rays so we can see what's going on. Results back - yep Reiter's Syndrome - can see the damage it's doing to your joints.

Anyway things don't really improve and it's in my two biggest toes on my right foot - THAT hurts like hell. I am hobbling to work and on 'bad days' going down stairs one at a time - child style. Back to the specialist every now and then. One day he says - how about Methotrexate - a more "effective" treatment. But first we'll have you off to a sperm bank in case you want to have children later. Methotrexate can f*** up your fertility (pardon the French). I don't really like that idea.

So I do some research and stumble across www.rheumatic.org and from there www.mercola.com and www.roadback.org and www.drmirkin.com. I STRONGLY BELIEVE IF YOU ARE SUFFERING ANY KIND OF RHEUMATIC ILLNESS FOR GOD'S SAKE CHECK OUT THESE WEB SITES!!!! I cannot emphasise that enough - here's why:

What I discovered is that the treatments I was undergoing were just that - TREATMENTS - not a CURE. THERE IS A MEDICALLY PROVEN CURE FOR RHEUMATIC ILLNESSES. All the doctors I had been to were unaware. So I drag all this internet stuff in to my doctor and say how about it? Basically the CURE is long-term low dose antibiotics. Ok, the theory as I understand it (and no doubt I am wrong here and there but I hope the gist of it is accurate):

It all starts off as a virus. Somehow "viral germs" (mycoplasma??) get stuck in joints. The immune system says "Hey I better send out some antibodies to whack these germs". So out go these antibodies to kill the germs. Apparently these antibodies can't tell the difference between the germs and the normal healthy cells - so it attacks both. Voila. Arthritis.

The long term antibiotics work at killing the germs - ie THE BLOODY CAUSE FOR ALL THE PROBLEMS!!! This is not a treatment - this is a cure.

By now my knees are hurting quite a bit. My right/lower back hurts too. I am in a bad way. Eleven joints.

Gradually - oh so slowly I started getting better. I have heard some sufferers liken it to a 3 steps forward 2 back cure. I would say it more accurate to say 11 steps forward and 10 back. It really is so slow. But oh so worthwhile.

That was 12-18 months ago. Now I have a sore left knee and that's all. It's getting better month by month too.

As I mentioned I am very happy to have this happen to me!! Crazy?! You are entitled to think that. I am the healthiest I have ever been in my life. Thanks largely to the Dr Mercola diet (www.mercola.com) that he recommends to fight chronic illness. I have learnt to be proactive about my health and that doctors aren't always right - and some doctors are willing to learn even from patients. My doctor is actually using the antibiotics on his other rheumatic patients. Unfortunately he cops flack sometimes by his colleagues for doing so. Now THAT'S crazy.

Of course I can't say FOR SURE that the antibiotics is what has cured me. But I sincerely believe that to be the case.

Thanks for reading this far. You have done well. I am sure that the above is jumbled here and there - it was written rather quickly. Feel free to email me at penno@dodo.com.au if you have some questions or comments or criticism. It would be great to hear from you!

Paul

PS Hey look! Here's a quote taken without permission. (I hope that's ok)