Mycoplasma Confirmed

First of all, I am the luckiest woman in the world. I have now had my worst fears come true and I realize that I have the strength to withstand all of them. Today I received bloodwork back showing positive IgM for Mycoplasma Bacteria, plus I found a patch of scaly skin on my back that has just thickened and gone a little numb. With this plus the Raynaud's and Esophageal involvement... it's pretty clear that this is not only rheumatic, it's likely Scleroderma. Should get the antibody tests for that done next week... bloodwork on the way.

I wept a little bit, but then I walked to the beach and dug my hand deep into the sand at the edge of the water. Some day I will be part of that sand, but today is not that day. I looked out at the horizon toward the land where I grew up and I swore that I will never be scared of anything again in my life. Ever. No matter what.

So, it's time to move forward.

I am excited about this blog because it is going to be my vehicle for publicizing to the world the amazing research that has been done relating autoimmune conditions such as the one I am facing (scleroderma) to infection with the mycoplasma bacteria. I don't know why more doctors aren't ardently promoting antibiotics as a method of putting autoimmune diseases into remission, because the evidence is out there (all the way back to the 1940s) and it is very clear.

In this recent study done by the University of Massachusetts Medical School in 2004, it was clearly demonstrated that when infecting mice with the mycoplasma bacteria the scientists were able to create a scleroderma-like condition which can be remediated with antibiotics. As it says in the article, "We previously showed that the major targets of autoantibodies in scleroderma are centrosomes, organelles involved in mitotic spindle organization. Here we show that centrosome autoantibodies are induced in mice by mycoplasma infection... Antibiotic treatment of mice prevents autoantibody development."

I feel so blessed with this information, and saddened for the millions of families who have lost a member to autoimmune illness and were never told once that the use of low dose antibiotics might just have saved them. The rheumatologist that I am going to see in Riverside states directly on his website that he has successfully treated 70% of the patients who have come to him with scleroderma, using the antibiotic protocol.

I will be writing more about the antibiotic protocol soon. I have ordered a few seminal works about this subject off of Amazon.Com and will write an entire post about the books once I have read them.

For now I am sending much love to anyone reading this post - whether a friend, family member or someone like me who is dealing with scleroderma and looking for information. You may be feeling scared, but I have hope for you. There is a real treatment for this thing and I am going to take you along my journey to find it.

I received such an uplifting email from a woman who has had scleroderma for 6 years and is in complete remission. She told me about the vacation she is leaving for today with her husband and sons, and how strong and vital she feels. "You would never know that I have scleroderma unless you closely examined the capillaries of my nail beds" she announced. She says she personally knows 30 other people all on the antibiotic protocol that are ALL improving and many going into complete remission.

This stuff ain't rocket science! It also isn't new-agey or alternative. It's just good medicine, and I think that with the research currently underway, soon autoimmunity is going to be something we deal with just like a UTI.

Much love to you all, wherever you are.