This makes me think of the controversy about keeping Weggies on maintenance drugs "just in case." Staying on an antibiotic long-term also has risks-- creating antibiotic-resistant bacteria, developing an allergy to it, chronic disruption of normal gut flora, etc....
I'm with you on this one Sangye. And so is my doc too.
Plus I'm not allowed to get pregnant while on it. Since I am a 52 year old male, I find this HIGHLY prejudicial!
By the way my doctor says the combination of MTX and Pred are making me paranoid, but I just think he's just saying that because he's out to get me.
I don't want anyone to get the wrong idea about my last comment. Some Weggies have demonstrated that they need to stay on Bactrim to avoid infections and/or Wegs flares. In that case, the benefit outweighs the risk. My comment was directed at doctors who put Weggies on Bactrim indefinitely, without even seeing how they do without it.
I'd have to dig this up, but there was a study in one of the medical journals that indicated a persistent sinus infection could lead to recurrence and flareup. If so, then Bactrim would be a good idea to prevent or mitigate a sinus infection. This could be one of the reasons why Bactrim may mitigate recurrence. IMHO.
Trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole (co-trimoxazole) for... [N Engl J Med. 1996] - PubMed result
MMS: Error
Some other interesting stuff here - co-trimoxazole wegener's - PubMed result
Unfortunately most of these are just abstracts.
Note: in the UK Bactrim is called Co-Trimoxazole.
Last edited by Jack; 12-16-2010 at 10:16 PM.
Bactrim is also called Septra in the US. Apparently we can't handle drug names over 2 syllables.
It's always so hard to say, right, because the samples are always so tiny (only 36 patients in one of the abstracts I opened).
Again, I think it's up to every patient to evaluate their individual case with their docs, but, I met many people who went on pred and immediately went on fosamex (with no evidence of bone loss) at the Symposium, I also met many patients who went on were on imuran or mtx and still on bactrim left over from the ctx days (when it shows a clearly clinically significant benefit in preventing a certain type of pneumonia). Doctors sometimes think that more is better as it is keeping away this dreaded disease; I don't think that true WG docs are nearly as nervous about treating the flare as it arises.
I don't think that "let's never have her flare again in her whole life" factors strongly into my doctor's treatment decisions about my case.
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