reactive arthiritis (ReA) due to chlamydia infection

Hi, Has anyone experience reactive arthiritis (ReA) due to chlamydia infection? My doc started me with rocephin IV for 7 days once a day with doxycycline. Now he wants to stop rocephin and start sulfasalazine 500 mg. I want to know if anyone has gone through this treatment and share their experiences. thanks,

I have Reiter's/ReA, but it was non-STD and took years to fully develop after my series of Staph (strain not identified; it was antibiotic-resistant but may or may not have been MRSA) infections in the knee/leg and male reproductive system.

It seems that the type and severity of triggering infection, as well as any complicating factors (for me, I had a severe allergic reaction with anaphylaxis to the first dose of Sulfa antibiotic in my second month of treatment for the final triggering infection, so that may have helped piss off my immune system and set this whole mess in motion), influences how the Reiter's develops and what your prognosis is.

Be very, VERY careful with Sulfa antibiotics. If you have taken them before without any allergic reaction, you are probably OK, but if it's your first time have antihistamines handy (as well as possibly an Epi-Pen for full blown anaphylaxis, and a phone handy to call 911 if it gets out of hand) just in case. Sulfa allergies are very common, particularly in people who have any other sort of allergies--and people who develop Reiter's often have hair-trigger immune systems that go along with allergies, many of whom have ancestors who survived historical plagues such as the Black Death etc. when it was better to have the genes that produce some allergies and a risk of auto-immune disease when you get older than to die young from the plague of the month.

Your developing ReA as part of acute STD symptoms actually puts the odds in your favor that once the infection has been treated, your Reiter's may resolve -- maybe not at the same time, but relatively quickly if you're lucky. Particularly if you don't throw an allergic reaction to Sulfa into the mix (my primary doc at the time also made the huge mistake of giving me a corticosteroid injection to treat what turned out to be a staph infection, hoping my second case of Epididymitis was inflammatory and not infectious).

However, docs love to say "this will probably 'burn out' eventually" to give Reiter's patients hope. To be brutally frank, this happens far less often than they think/say it does. Many cases of Reiter's are long-term chronic if not permanent.

I say this not to scare you, because I fervently hope you are one of the lucky ones. There are no good statistics on how many cases (particularly broken down by type of triggering infections: STD, non-STD, digestive infections like salmonella and e.coli, etc) fall into the "eventually burns out/resolves" category and how many will have to live with it progressively worsening for decades.

In closing, don't assume your doctor knows much about the full reality of Reiter's, particularly the long term chronic form if you do develop that. Most think it is purely an arthritic condition and that is FAR from true; long term cases often develop many other symptoms, from neuropathy (my right arm radial nerve was paralyzed for 3 months once, causing "wrist drop" and making the arm basically useless during that time....now I have burning neuropathy episodes much like relapsing/remitting MS) to spinal degeneration similar to Ankylosing Spondylitis as both conditions are Spondyloarthropathies, to eye issues that can be serious or even lead to blindness in some cases, and a whole host of other things that even many rheumatologists aren't aware long term Reiter's can cause.

Also, you probably have classical arthritis markers in your blood work right now since you are acute; if it becomes chronic, those may disappear and doctors may start doubting that you even still have ReA. Sometimes the only objective "proof" in blood work after the acute stage is consistently very high white blood cell counts (WBC in your blood work records if you look at them), and few docs recognize that as proof of anything.

Again, I hope very much that you are successful in beating both your infection and the ReA, that all of the above warnings won't apply to you. But please, please take this VERY seriously and keep all of this in mind. Reiter's is a massively under-diagnosed, poorly understood condition that few docs are current on the science of; most only know what they were taught in med school, often many decades ago which is WAY out of date now.

I got ReA from salmonella and I've been fighting it for a year I was just able to get off prednisone recently. What helped me kick it was the humira I had already been on methotrexate for 9 months but mixed with the humira within a week I had zero inflammation and pain. Also all my lower joints were affected it started in my right knee went over to my left knee then left ankle and toe. Sulfasalazine did nothing for me and I was on 2000mg. Talk to your Rheumy humira and mtx changed my life...

Hi, At this moment, my doctor is treating me with antibiotics, and I see they are helping. ReA is caused by a bacterial infection, and the treatment is usually longer than regular cases. You should ask your doctor about this approach, maybe, it can help. Please keep us posted.

Hi Chartreux, The sulfasalazine is working for me, and no side effects. Thanks God! The antibiotic treatment is really working for me. I have seen some improvements. Right now I am taking sulfa three a day, doxycyline two a day, an 1 indomethacin. I just need to be patient. I have read and learned that this is a long route. I am hopeful that I am going to keep improving, and the tendons on my feet will come down. I know that eventually I will have to get a surgery on my right foot since i have a tear on one of my foot ankle. I am wearing an air cast- boot. I really hope to leave this behind soon.