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Posted 10/1/2010 2:38 PM (GMT 0)
My 15 year old daughter was diagnosed with Lyme on Monday.  I am so overwhelmed with all of the info regarding this, I was wondering if some of you could help me with the possible drug interactions. Since her list is quite lengthy, I wanted to make sure someone could help with it before I post it all.

Also, she has started just collapsing out of the blue.  Her legs just give out.  It happened twice in Wal-Mart yesterday, once at the Dr. office on Wednesday, and then on three occasions at home.  Has anyone else had this happen?

This website is awesome and has been so helpful.  God bless all of you for taking the time to contribute.   

Posted 10/1/2010 4:50 PM (GMT 0)
So very sorry to hear about your daughter!  I am glad that you found this board.  It really is full of information, which can be overwhelming.  There are many here that have studied Lyme from every angle, but they aren't doctors.  They might be able to give you info from their experiences though.

I am kind of new here myself, but just wanted to welcome you, and say hi.

I think you should go ahead and post your med interaction questions here and see if anyone has had experience with that - but also check with your doctor who prescribed the medicine for her.  That would be your safest bet.

As for the collapsing symptom - I can definitely relate to that.  It is a Lyme thing, and it got better for me since I've been on antibiotics.  I still have days where the weakness in my legs comes back, but the days like that are getting fewer.

Study all you can about detox and the diet that will help your daughter get better faster.  And it is okay to let us here know what  medicines and supplements she is taking, and we'll let you know if we have any tips for you!

Posted 10/1/2010 9:37 PM (GMT 0)
I have been reading so much on the internet and books on Lymes, and I can't seem to process it all.  It seems I read not to take some of the supplements with the abx, and to be careful about drug interactions, but now I can't remember where I read it and what it said .  I did get me a notebook, so I am going to start taking better notes & not depend on my feeble mind to remember it all!   Here is the list of my daughter's medications & supplements:   (I apologize for the font - I cut and pasted from my list in Word.)   ·          Nexium – 40 mg (1 tablet per day) 9.29.10 (acid reflux) ·          Flagyl   250 mg (currently 1/2 tablet   per day to increase gradually until 1 tablet three times per day) 9.27.10 (borreliosis - Lymes disease) ·          Sulfacetamide SOD 10% (one drop every three hrs while awake) 9.20.10 (borreliosis - Lymes disease) ·          Zenpep 20,000 USP Units (1 tablet per day) 9.20.10 (borreliosis - Lymes disease) ·          Vitamin D3 2000 I.U. (1 tablet three times per day) 9.20.10 (borreliosis - Lymes disease) ·          Vitamin C 1000 mg (1 tablet per day) 9.20.10 (borreliosis - Lymes disease) ·          Pro-Biotics Acidophilius (1 tablet three times per day) 9.27.10 (borreliosis - Lymes disease) ·          Magnesium 250 mg (1 tablet per day) 9.20.10 (borreliosis - Lymes disease) ·          B-12 1000 mg (1 tablet per day) 9.20.10 (borreliosis - Lymes disease) ·          Klonopin .5 mg (1 tablet every 8 hours) 9.6.10 (added in addition to 5.18.10 dosage) ·          Lyrica 150 mg (1 tablet twice per day) 9.6.10 – Fibromyalgia (dosage increased from 7.30.10) ·          Hydrocodone APAP 7.5 mg/325 mg (1 tablet every 4-6 hours as needed) 8.13.10 - indeterminate autoimmune disease ·          Darvocet   APAP 100 mg/650 (every 6 hours as needed for pain) – indeterminate autoimmune disease ·          Xanax   1 mg (1 tablet) 9.6.10 as needed for fibromyalgia pain ·          Maxalt 10 mg (1 tablet) as needed for migraine headache ·          Atenolol 25 mg (1 tablet once per day) 7.6.10 – Hemiplegic migraine disorder ·          Neurontin 300 mg (1 tablet twice per day) 6.27.10 – Hemiplegic migraine disorder ·          Klonopin 1mg (1 tablet at bedtime) 5.18.10 – leg pain ·          Maxair Autohaler (as needed) 3.15.10 - asthma ·          Plaquenil 200 mg (1 tablet twice per day) 3.15.10 – indeterminate autoimmune disease ·          Relafen 750 mg (1 tablet twice per day) 3.15.10 – indeterminate autoimmune disease ·          Advair   3.15.10 - asthma ·          Nasonex 50 MCG/AC Spray   (2 sprays in each nostril each morning & each evening) 3.15.10 – sinus inflammation ·          Trazodone 100 mg (1 to 3 tablets daily as needed) 4.2.10 – insomnia ·          Abilify   2 mg ( 1 tablet per day) 2.6.10 – depression/anxiety ·          Xanax   2 mg (< ¼   to ¼ as needed for acute anxiety) 12.15.09 – panic attacks ·          Sertraline 100 mg (2 tablet per day) 11.24.09 – depression/anxiety ·          Medroxyprogesterone acetate injectable suspension (one injection every 3 months) 150 mg per mL   2.10.09 – severe menstrual pain ·          Melatonin 3 mg (3 tablets per day) 2.6.10 – insomnia ·          Multi Vitamin She is currently seeing a specialist for autoimmune disease, a psychiatrist, and since Sept 20th Dr. C in Columbia MO for the Lymes. They are all aware of the meds she takes and we have asked several times if we can take her off some of them.  So far, none have been willing to do it. Which detox methods do you recommend for her?  I am so thankful for any help you can give me.  I am so overwhelmed with info overload!  God Bless Thumpersmom
Posted 10/1/2010 10:01 PM (GMT 0)
I forgot we just added:

Cogimax 3X 1 tablet per day

Thank you all so much....again! :-)

Posted 10/2/2010 12:09 AM (GMT 0)
Hi Thumpersmom!!
Welcome to our forum! I as very sorry that your daughter has these insidious infections. I'm sure that you will find us to be a helpful, caring & understanding bunch!! All of the reading you are doing is just what you need to be doing. As someone is needs to be your daughter's health advocate. Please be sure to get copies of all of the test results - it'll better help us to help you if you have the results in your hand.

As far as the drug interactions, here are two sites that I like to use. The first one is to check herbals & western meds. The next one seems to be pretty comprehensive on drug to drug interactions.


www.holisticonline.com/herbal-med/hol_herb_med_reac.htm


www.drugdigest.org/wps/portal/!ut/p/c1/fY1RCoJAFEXX4gLivTLNPichNTTDNB1_REhiUt-YmlKrTxdg9_5dOPdAClMpH8Qj74WkvIIEUj1T0UK0TCfCo6OiY9ie4bJgWtcQz4Se4UIYwtmWdQEc0t3ij7GBG8m2nn2DKEYIIcFtdn1i47kded-9fwlNcpHdPwLfITdPVZ1TRVQ2ryA6iKJuVm0Za1wyv8tkzxRlMvK_xqakcUw09gNYbWGr/dl2/d1/L0lJZ3BwaWdwUkEhIS9JRGpBQUFSQUNNS2dBTVFNcUNDbTV1RWdBTVJnL1lCcDQxeXQwc2p5cndBISEvNl8zMEcwMEdDSVUwRkkzMEk4SE04TEFSMzBHMS83XzMwRzAwR0NJVTBGSTMwSThITThMQVIzMDgyL2NoZWNrSW50ZXJhY3Rpb25zL3N0ZXAvaW5kZXg!/

As far as detoxing - I use the dry-skin brushing & the epsom salt & peroxide soaks & the foot baths that are described in the thread at the top of the forum titled, "New To Lyme?... Start here.". They are fairly gentle in my opinion. she may need to start very slowly - depends on how ill she is. I would suggest that if you want to try these methods that she should plan on only staying in the bath for about 10 or 15 minutes only at first. If she does okay with the short baths, then start adding minutes to it, slowly building up to 30 minutes. That is just how I am detoxing - there are a lot of different ways to detox & I'm sure that someone who does some other thing to detox will be along shortly to explain what & how they detox.

Is your daughter seeing a Lyme-Literate MD?

I hope this helps some! We are all here to help you through a lot of this! wink

May you find peace along your journey to health with your daughter.
Trav.
Posted 10/2/2010 2:19 AM (GMT 0)
Sooo Sorry your daughter is dealing with all this! You know her situation best, and your daughter as well, and I am sure all this meds are scaring you, it would scare me! I have no idea how much pain and anxiety she is in, so I can only give you some suggestions with what I would try to do if I was in your situation. I can not offer you medical advice, of course!

Sertraline: I took it for 5 mo. After I found out I have lyme, I stopped taking it. For me, since I knew the cause of my depression, there was no reason to continue, I concentrated on the Lyme only and tried to have a more + attittude. I hope you don't get this the wrong way, It did help, but I was having nightmares and was not getting a good night sleep--I was sleeping, but not resting. So, if it would be me, I would drop it in a few months. The nightmares persisted for a few days after I stopped, but after that they went away. Make sure you check with your doc to see if you should lower the dose before dropping it--I just stopped cold: my decission

Atenolol 25 mg (1 tablet once per day) 7.6.10 – Hemiplegic migraine disorder and Neurontin 300 mg (1 tablet twice per day) 6.27.10 – Hemiplegic migraine disorder
Can she drop one of them, if they are for the same thing? I was almost pushed by my orthopedic doc to take Neurontin (I was in a car accident and he actually wrote all kinds of things about me in my records bec I refused to stop nursing to get on this drug; He must have been getting a bonus or something, from the sales. I am glad I didn't take it because I may have not realized the pain was from lyme, if it would have went away with the neurontin. AND what's great about it is that once I started abx I have pain free days, over half of them or more and keep getting more and more pain free days. If I would have been on Neurontin, I may have given it some credit, when in fact, the abx are making my pain go away--completelly

Also, I started to have excruciating pain not just at my cycles, but in between, bleading between cycles, and also having 2 cycles a month--like one was not enough! LOL
Once I had my thyroid meds adjusted, and started abx for lyme, that also went away.

Insomnia: I would try anything before trying pills for this: Hot baths, reading a book, maybe you can give her a massage?

Fibromyalgia: I have heard a pediatrician that is an LLMD in an interview say there is not such thing, that those symptoms are caused by lyme. I would consider dropping those med soon after starting the abx. He said this is a made up diagnosis by docs that can't find out what is wrong with you and in most cases it is caused by lyme. Meds for this won't help her bec they don't cure lyme.

So sorry you and your daughter are in this situation! YOU must decide what's best for her! I would not trust docs blindly! I have had 2 horrible experiences with docs! Also, with all these meds, if she starts feeling better from the abx, how would you know she still needs them?

I hope she will recover quickly--she is so young!

Please do your own research and decide if she really needs all this. It can't possibly good for her, and once she starts abx and herxing from dying bacteria+all these other toxins from all this meds, she will probably feel worse :(
I am glad that she was diagnosed with lyme, and once the treatement will help her feel better, she won't need all these drugs.

I have to run, I hope you won't take the wrong way my suggestions, they are well intended, I have kids too. My mom was a nurse and she would not take a pill for anything unless absolutelly needed. I grew up in Europe and we always had something to make us feel better, teas and all kinds of non drug meds. Unfortunatelly, I can't find it here
Now that I have lyme, I have to take abx. It messed up my thyroid and have to take meds for that too


Best of luck and please stay strong and make sure your daughter will detox from all these meds and from the dying bacteria, once the abx are working!
Posted 10/2/2010 4:46 AM (GMT 0)
Yes, my legs give out constantly, some days worst than others, some days I support myself on furniture to get around the house. Some days it only lasts for a few seconds and I stop, and when I start walking again, I can manage; not a perfect walk, sort of clumsy and uncoordinating, but I manage. It is getting much better now that I am getting treatement. When I started abx, my hands were in unbearable pain, for days, it felt like someone was stabbing them over and over again.
Posted 10/2/2010 2:16 PM (GMT 0)
Wow!  You were right - that is quite a list of meds! 

The only 2 that I'm familiar with are the Flagyl and Trazadone.

Flagyl makes me very nauseous and weak.  And you know not to ever EVER let her have anything with alcohol in it - right?  Not even mouthwash!  Or any supplements that might be made with alcohol!  Will cause very serious vomitting - this I found out by accident as I put 10 drops of a tincture under my tongue (didn't realize it had alcohol it in) and was vomitting violently for hours!  And just in case she ever gets prescribed Doxycycline (which is a common abx for Lyme), apparently the Doxy will cause the Flagyl to not work at its full power.  I am on both anyway, as my doc says that 80% power for Flagyl is worth taking both.

The Trazadone is for depression/stress/and suposedly for insomnia - well, I was sleeping wonderfully before Trazadone, and was given it for depression.  After Trazadone, my sleep was fitful and full of nightmares most nights.  I took it for 4 weeks, and then weaned myself off of it 1/2 pill at a time over a period of 2 weeks to get off it.  My sleep has improved dramatically and no more nightmares.  The nightmares caused me more depression and stress than anything!  Good riddens to the Trazadone!

Oh, and I did use Melatonin for a while just because I wanted to fall asleep right away - and that worked for me, but it made me dizzy and groggy the next day.  And since I didn't need help sleeping, I quit using it.  Instead I read my Bible and pray before falling asleep, and that works better for me.

It doesn't surprise me at all that she is weak and collapsing.  She needs to rest as much as possible, so maybe trips to Wal-mart and other trips out of the house need to be on hold for a while.  I only go out if I absolutely have to.

Keep in touch - and let her know that we would love to hear from her as well.  Sometimes just venting does wonders!  Give her a big hug from all of us here!

Posted 10/5/2010 10:20 AM (GMT 0)
I'm confused - why do you need a doctor's permission to take your child off medication??? If I had taken every prescription every doctor suggested, I'd be in a similar situation (which I actually came close to and realized how completely insane it was that I was taking all of this stuff and still felt terrible!). Many of the drugs on your list are sister-drugs (very similar or identical in makeup) and I'm not quite sure why someone would take them together (e.g. Lyrica and Neurontin; or Klonopin and Xanax). Honestly - I was shocked when I opened this post and saw this list, and I'm no stranger to a long history of medications, but this seems ridiculous! And quite possibly could be dangerous, which it sounds like is the reason you landed here (to check for drug interactions). It really makes me sad to see a 15 year-old girl, with chronic illness, medicated to this extent. Does your daughter have an LLMD? I'm sure, as her mother, you are doing everything possible for your daughter - don't be afraid to question medical opinions (they are only human, too) - I think too many people place doctors on a high pedestal and end up listening to "doctor's orders" rather than having a conversation... Lyme has definitely opened my eyes to the number of incompetent doctors out there...I had no idea.

I truly wish your daughter the best - I hope this reply doesn't come off as too harsh...I rewrote it three times... I was just floored when I saw this list!

Be well,

Rachel
Posted 10/5/2010 12:42 PM (GMT 0)
Thank you, madrivergirl, I was afraid to say anything about the length of the drug list and the fact the child is only 15. My husband listened to me rant and I read it to a few of my friends who were amazed (actually horrified). This combination, including the supplements, has got to be creating a not-so-good chemical soup mix in her poor system. Do you think you should find yourself another doctor?????

I pray you find answers that give you peace and healing.
Posted 10/5/2010 10:17 PM (GMT 0)
Good, I'm glad you agree! I was horrified, too, but I didn't want to offend you! And I'm actually very pro-drugs when people are in pain, but this list is ridiculous - it just makes me think of doctors who throw a whole bunch of medication at you instead of really diagnosing and treating the problems...and next thing you know you're a zombie and it doesn't really matter... I'm sure you know that some of the meds are highly addictive, too, so you probably won't want to take her off them cold-turkey. Any doctor would be able to advise you on how to wean her off slowly to prevent withdrawal symptoms. I would get your daughter to an LLMD as fast as you can.
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