{"id":31769,"date":"2024-11-19T00:54:06","date_gmt":"2024-11-19T06:54:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wholehealthchicago.com\/blog\/?p=31769"},"modified":"2024-11-19T00:54:09","modified_gmt":"2024-11-19T06:54:09","slug":"rheumatoid-arthritis-antibiotics-and-your-gut-microbiome","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wholehealthchicago.com\/blog\/2024\/11\/19\/rheumatoid-arthritis-antibiotics-and-your-gut-microbiome","title":{"rendered":"RHEUMATOID ARTHRITIS: ANTIBIOTICS AND YOUR GUT MICROBIOME"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

An astonishing 1% of the U.S, population suffers the joint pain and swelling of rheumatoid arthritis (RA), women far outnumbering men, usually starting midlife 30\u2019s to 40\u2019s. RA is one of the 100 or so autoimmune diseases in which your immune system, generally a \u201cgood guy\u201d meant to fight \u201cbad guys\u201d like infections and cancer cells turns against you. In RA, it\u2019s your joints. In multiple sclerosis, your central nervous system. With psoriasis, your skin. Get the drift?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Decades ago, when I was in medical school, and we did surgery by candlelight many doctors treated RA using antibiotics like doxycycline and minocycline and patients did get better. Understand this was before anti-inflammatories like NSAIDS (like Motrin, Advil), steroids (like prednisone). No one had even thought of modulating the immune system with the likes of a \u201cdisease modifier\u2019 like plaquenil, methotrexate, or the specific \u2018immune\/inflammatory modifiers,\u2019 namely a \u2018biologics\u2019 like Humera.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

With a worldwide prevalence of 18 million RA victims, scientists around the world have been diligent in their seeking options to Humera which now stands at a rather pricey $96,000 a year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n