go back on abx or wait?

I've gone off abx a few times - I feel like sometimes you kind of just know if you need more or not, based on how you react to being off them. I definitely think there's a lot to say for taking a break, and making the most out of that break - with lyme, our bodies go through A LOT and we have to repair the damage of being sick for so long - any extra healthy things you can do - detoxing strategies, incorporating raw or organic foods into your diet, yoga, chi gong, etc. - all the little things really do add up, and personally I feel like that's been my own missing link to getting better.

Just try to think of it this way: whichever option you choose will be beneficial in its own way - my advice in these situations is always non-advice - go with your gut feeling, even though it's usually tough to figure out what that even is. My opinion has always been that the better you feel about your treatment, the better it'll work, and vice versa - for myself, at least, I feel like I'd have a better chance at getting better by eating dirt every day if I really believed in it than doing something else that didn't feel right.

Hi Kern,

I was on antibiotics for a year before I came off the first time. Within a week my symptoms got worse, and by the third week I was having really bad migraine-like headaches, bad nerve pain, confusion and panic attacks again - it got worse really fast.

I went back on the antibiotics for another three months and came off again. I was really worried that I would get sick again, and I think this made me ill at first with all the worry - I would feel flu-ish and tired, slept badly and felt quite down. But, I gave it another few weeks and things stabalised again rather than continuing to get worse. I started sleeping better and generally felt better overall. It has now been a good two months, and I feel so much better. My remaining nerve pain is slowly healing, and I seem to be feeling progressively less tired (apart from the cold I have developed this week!!!). I hope all the lyme has gone, and do agree it takes a while for the body to heal properly afterwards - nerves in particular take an awful long time to improve... On antibiotics problems like bacterial imbalances (e.g. candida) can also make you feel worse too.


It might be worth trying for a month or two to see how you go - you are likely to either get progressively better or worse.
Hope this helps,

Kirsty

No one should take abx for a year. If you get a staph infection you would die. You feeling awful is not because you have lyme bacteria dying off. It is not malaria. Two months max of abx is all. Probiotocs need to be taken because you are killing all sorts of good bacteria in your body.
Taking abx non stop will make you lose your mind and your health.
I went to Germany and was treated for Lyme there also. For the record they follow for the most part the New England Journal of medicine. But I found a Dr. outside of Munich who treated me. And it was a 3 month protocol. And after that he had me to it again. It was the same treatment that they give to people with malaria. Let me just say that after two treatments, I didn't recognize people anymore and couldn't finish a sentence.
I was rushed into Envita Clinic after that.

Sorry Martha, I have to entirely disagree with you there. If I hadn't had antibiotics for over a year I would still be ill now. It has made me 99% better, and back to a fully functioning 'normal' person. All I have left is some bearable nerve pain, which seems to be getting slowly better. There are many illnesses which require long-term antibiotics. My dad was on antibiotics for two years for spinal TB several decades ago, and there are many other conditions as diverse as Whipples disease and acne which are regularly treated with several years of antibiotics. Antiobiotics can have bad side effects, but there are ways to reduce the liklihood of experiencing these e.g. probiotics. Indeed, any herbal supplement which kills bacteria can have the same effect - I never understand this idea that antibiotics are always bad and herbals are always good. Both are equally dangerous unless used very carefully! I have neither lost my health nor my mind from antibiotic use, but have actually regained them both...

Kern - I really hope you stay well off the antibiotics. I won't tell you not to worry, because it is natural to be scared. However, try to remember that by worrying you will be affecting sleep patterns, pain etc so you are likely to feel worse for a while. Do whatever you can to keep your mind and body active, and I will keep my fingers crossed you will do well off the tablets. Stay in touch and let us know how you get on. And, if you do need a bit more treatment you'll get through it too - sounds like you're nearly there!

 

thanks guys for your replies. I am with you, springjean and worrypot-have already been on ABX for 13 months and haven't lost my mind either. Marthas post is highly inappropriate especially if individuals new to the topic read it. IMHO, it is extremely bad to make people fearful about treatment, especially with expressions such as "you will loose your mind if you stay on abx for longer than 8 weeks". That's complete nonsense (I normally avoid this kind of expression but if one is that determined as martha is (and obviously wrong) one should be determined about his point of view as well.