Griseofulvin is not only still on the market, but it’s also on the WHO’s list of 200 essential medications.
Recurrent fungal infections, anywhere in the body, are a sign of possible immune deficiency, so what your doctor said makes sense.
Went back to check my country – and it is available here. It went off the market in Australia (lost approval) after it went out of patent, but the local division of Aspen (South Africa) has sponsored a formulation.
But this was before I started methotrexate and about three years before I was diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis.
Autoimmune and immune mediated diseases are tricky. I have Polymyalgia Rheumatica, which is an immune mediated disease. Looking back on my previous medical history, I have evidence for IBD, which may be immune mediated (indeed mine improves when my PR is being treated) as well as vitiligo, which appears to be an autoimmune disease.
It appears people with autoimmune/immune mediated disease are more likely to have other similar diseases.
Agreed - and I have asthma, although apparently they’re unconnected. My doctor was saying this as the truth for everyone, though. He wasn’t saying that because I had asthma, I had this, and obviously he wasn’t connecting it to RA because I didn’t have that yet.
So, I have been treating my feet with the cream my Dr. gave me with mixed results for the first few weeks. To cut a long story short, I am now pretty sure I have contact dermatitis caused by the off brand pine sol (Pinalen) I was washing me floors and socks with. (I began using it only after I thought I had athlete’s foot, so this wasn’t the start of it.)
I have since washed my socks twice without the Pinalen, and my floors once without it. I still have a minor tingle from time to time, worse when waring socks sometimes. The thing that really tells me it’s the Pinalen is that my feet will fine until I walk barefoot on my floor for a few minuets. I can feel the burning starting. I guess I need to wash the floors a few more times to get the residue off of them.
I’m still treating for the athlete’s foot, but also using hydrocortisone cream.