It is our responsibility as rheumatologists to make sure our patients benefit from them. 2 Among those advances are the seven minocycline studies, all of which showed the antibiotic to be safe and effective, making minocycline an increasingly popular and effective treatment for both recent onset, and surprisingly, also for long-term disease. Mycoplasma have a great affinity for joint tissue and are the primary sensitizers in the rheumatoid complex. Minocycline has proved effective in every study since 1990, and it is, among other things, antimicrobial. Antibiotic - Tetracyclines have been found to be the most effective and have the fewest side effects, with minocycline or doxycycline being the antibiotic of choice.
Low doses are more effective than higher dose due to the highly reactive state of the patient.
If too much is given, the body can begin to react against the medication, defeating the purpose of the treatment. All bacterial hypersensitivity states require intermittent antigen suppressing treatment. Treatment needs to be pursued long enough to suppress antigen formation. The treatment can be carried on virtually indefinitely without ill effects as evidenced in the long-term safe treatment used by dermatologists for acne with minocycline. The antihistamine serves to potentiate the action of the antibiotic.