Minocycline attenuates (LPS)-induced neuroinflammation, sickness behavior, and anhedonia

This is an interesting paper showing how an antibiotic might ameliorate some of the common Chronic Fatigue Syndrome symptoms.

Minocycline attenuates lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-induced neuroinflammation, sickness behavior, and anhedonia

Great find Nanonug!

One of my symptoms is anhedoina, and in my over 3000 days of ME, the only time I have got a real and some-day-lasting relief from the anhedonia was some days following the initiation of a high dose minocycline treatment. My medical diary has it all in detail, and I have given it much thought what might be the reason. The immunomodulatory effects described here sounds very much like it could be it.

I am among the (1/3) non-responders to Rituximab, so this really revived my somewhat falling belief in immune modulation (in general) as an answer to relieving my symptoms.

O wow - I did not know you were taking Ritux. Is that experience posted somewhere on this site? Sorry it didn't help.

Thanks for that Christopher. No I haven't posted about it. I kept it for myself for a long time since no-one wants attention to it, in general. But it's a long time ago, and it didn't help me, but I think it was a good decision to do it.

Personally I think that autoimmunity is at the core of the ME symptoms, and that it's caused by an ERV plus the «modern» microbiota in the gut. I made a thread about that some time ago, but I didn't really express why I think things are so and so, rather just that I think they are so and so. When my health allows for it, I'll fill in that (central) part for the discussion.

From the get-go of my illness I've found the symptoms so unbearable (and everything associated with it) that I'd rather try a treatment and fail (and fail hard), rather than do nothing and being destined to live with ME for many more years. I'm turning all the stones where I think it could lead to a breakthrough.

I also gave ARVs a try after the Mikovits publication. The (horrible) worsening both I, randalbond and others have got from the antiretrovirals is really the major reason why I still think a retrovirus is central in the disease. We've used different ARVs, in a short period, none known to cause particularly what we've got from it, and it all really seems likely to me that we've «poked» at something (perhaps like the paper showing how ARVs actually can make retroviruses exacerbate autoimmune reactions).

I really don't want to publicly write so much more about the RTX other than what's done, but if you wonder something feel free to ask (although replying might take some time given my health).

Mino and, even more so Azithro, completely take away all inflammation I have in my joints and tendons. Some drs say they can even help joints to heal. In my case the effect goes away a week to ten days later but I have never taken tose abx for longer than three weeks at any one time. I prefer herbals to control inflammation and they do a reasonable good job.

Minocycline is the antibiotic which produced dramatic improvements in patients with recent onset schizophrenia. This has been followed up with studies in other countries.

Even stranger, it has been used to treat cases of methamphetamine abuse.

Finally, to make confusion complete, this antibiotic has antiviral and antiretroviral activity.

Since this is a common antibiotic related to perhaps the most widespread, tetracycline, one has to wonder what else doctors are doing with drugs whose effects they claim to understand.

I was on minocycline for 6 months or so - no change in anything.

Jenny

I caught a Cpn infection (Chlamydia Pneumoniae) 6 years ago which took me from CFS to full-blown ME. As well as worsening all my existing symptoms I got a whole heap of new symptoms, one of the main ones of which was anhedonia. Its a horrible symptom. It's like a grinch just came along and sucked all the joy out of life. It's the simple things which give us pleasure, but when you have anhedonia you lose even that.

When I started taking antibiotics for Cpn (in particular azithromycin) it was like someone put the pleasure back into my life. I can't describe the feeling I got. It was like night and day. Up until that point I had never taken any drugs for my CFS (then to become ME), only natural substances, but after aizthromycin I realized how powerful the right drug at the right time can be. Unfortunately the effects started wearing off after about 6 months.