Ear infections while on antibiotics? Lumbar Puncture?

So to cut my long story short; I've been diagnosed for a few months now. Multiple doctors, multiple conflicting courses of treatment or opinions. My primary & Neuro want to do a lumbar puncture ot test for pseudo cerebri tumor [ I believe that's what it's called. ] But they're saying my birth control would have caused it, not my lyme disease.

One doctor wants me on doxy, omnicef and plaquneil. But after researching the latter, I'm against taking it.

My primary wants me only on the omnicef. I've been taking the omnicef and doxy for a two months now. No major improvements. Worsening pain. I've had loss of hearin gin my right ear for the past 3 weeks.. on adn off.. increased buzzing and pressure in my head/ears.

Finally saw my primary today. Told him about the hearing loss. He told me i had "nasty infection" in my right ear.. that my ear drum was bulging/etc. He said the antibiotics should have helped with the infection.. g ave me a topical ear drop for it. Told me if it doesn't die down in a week he will find me an ENT.
He also is referring me out to a local hospital that has a lyme disease "program.". He wants me to see a rheumologist, ID doctor, and get the lumbar puncutre done.. I'm 95% sure that these doctors will NOT help with the lyme, but will probably want to lean more towards autoimmunue since my ANA was positive and high for RF. I've already done my research with all of this, I know that an ID is not the same as a lyme literate doctor.

I guess my questions here are should i be getting ear infections while on the antibiotics... or at least ear infections that are lasting weeks and causing hearing loss? [ there's no pain in my ear. ]

Two; is it worth my time seeing the ID & rheumologist or having the lumbar to rule out the pseudo cerebri tumor in addition to lyme?

Oh man ;[ Yeah my primary said the local ENT just crashed his bike and would be out of work for awhile, so the only other "local" ENT was doublebooking both of their appts to keep up. ;/ I'm assuming that once I get into the hospital treatment, they may or may not help refer me elsewhere. So stressful. The eardrops are not helping. If anything, seems to make it feel worse.

I am not seeing an LLMD. I"ve been waiting to hear back from one for a month now. I never get a call back. My PT has been attempting to help me with the process so I can get in there.

The primary mentioned that if it is the pseudo cerebri, surgery is the best way to relieve it IF there is a lot of pressure. and that my symptoms related would be "fixed immediately."

That seems to be the only "good reason" to have the lumbar.. to test for that.. other than that, there seems to be no other logical reason since the lyme has been confirmed.

I'm stuck at a standstill, because I've seen a few doctors & each dr has different opinions on lyme and the course of treatment.. So I can't wait to get in to see a LLMD. ;l

i'm assuming viral levels show up in blood work? my blood work was fine aside from the lyme titer and ANA/RF. My brain mri showed increased t2 signal in the right frontal lobe and minimal sinus disease.. but that's about it. i also have disc bulges & protrusions through my cervical and lumbar spine.. so the pain in my head/neck/upper back has increased.. everyday from the time i wake up on, everything in my body hurts.. from the tips of my toes to my eyes. it's crazy. one dr i saw tol dme i will be on antibiotics for 2-3 years before i feel better.. .. another told me if 3 months of antibiotics don't help me, then i'm stuck like this. it's kind of sad when i know more about lyme disease than the doctor does! haha.

I am so sorry about your hearing. I get it sometimes. The ringing drives me crazy. Im not a doctor so dont take my advice but I just want to know. Does your doc think its extremly nessessary to lumbar puncture? I had one done 6 months ago and still have pain from it. It was scary and painful to go thru as well. I had such bad headachs I had to craw to get things and craw to use the bathroom for almost a month. It was a bad idea because my lumbar came back normal even after the fact my lymes came back positive a few months before. If I had to make the decision over again it would be no lumbar puncture. I dont want to scare you. Very sorry. Maybe there are others that have had better experiences. Honestly I swear it made me sicker. I had brain spotting and was in a life or death kind of situation before I let them do it to me. But if your doctor suggests there is no other way then of course you have to. Maybe there is somthing there they need to find. I would suggest you ask for stronger antibiotic from the ent first though and see if the works. I would keep the lumbar as an all else fails solution? If you dont mind, what antibiotic have you been on? And did you recieve the intraveniously? I felt a lot better with iv antibiotics only after 3 days in the hospital. Good luck to you.

I am on doxy, omnicef, and then i'm on gabapentin for the numbness/etc with my arms. I have not received iv's. My primary doesn't believe in that.. and the other doctor I saw said that in his opinion the iv's only help if you can be on them longer than a few days, and that he uses it as a last resort for those who cannot function. which i understand.

i don't think the lumbar puncture is necessary, but if the pseudo cerebri tumor is causing me issues, then i'd rather find out asap and get it fixed. ;/ it's a lose - lose either way!

If you are not seeing an llmd, you most definatly should. The drugs your taking may not be enough. I was getting sharp stabbing pains. Those went away with amoxicillin. Have you been to any infectious disease doctors? Good luck. I hope your in good health soon. After lumbar puncture I would suggest staying layed down strait on your back for longer than the doctors suggest.

I'm seeing my primary, a neurologist, and another doctor that claims to specialize in lyme. The neuro & primary are in the same office, so they'v ebeen working together on my "case." I'm sure most of the sympoms are "just" lyme related, but it is possible they aren't. And better safe than sorry, no?

OH no, i fully believe that my symptoms are lyme based. I guess I'm kind of hopeful that something else pops up that is an answer to some of the other issues.. An "easy" fix persay. The pressure in my head is sooo hard to deal with... the increasing pain in my neck/back is horrible.. and now the hearing loss in my ear.. and this crazy head pain i have today.. it jsut gets overwhelming on top of all of the other symptoms. the neuro & cognitive issues are hard enough to deal with , nevermind the rest.. ya know? well i'm sure you know. lol.

The hospital my primary is referring me out to does have a lyme program/clinic which I suppose is a step in a BETTER direction than what I'm doing. ;/

Just wanted to vent. The past few days I've been experiencing some .. intense/new symptoms. including; stabbing pain in the back right side o fmy head every 5 to 10 minutes leaving a dull pain in between; right eye pain almost burning; intermittent numbness & tingling in the right side of my face; bulging ear drum causing hearing loss in my right ear [ longer than just friday ]; swollen glands; unable to move my neck/stiff neck; numbness in the back of my neck/head; pressure so bad in the back of my head it feels like my head is going ot explode.

I called my Neuro/Primary's office yesterday [ they're in the same office ].. It was recommended that I head to the ER. So I did. The ER DR tells me that I'm over-medicated, that i'm "just" having a headache, that i should stop taking my antibiotics and start taking steroids.

CLEARLY he either doesn't agree / believe in lyme or just doesn't care. I'm not going to stop taking my antibiotic. And this also isn't just "a headache."

He told me that there is nothing "alarming" going on with me, and that although I'm showing some tumor symptoms, I'm just fine.

Needless to say, I'm not happy. I hate going to the ER regardless, but having a doctor downplay your symptoms and dismiss you is just plain frustrating & rude.