Transitioning from herbals to abx...nervous...what to expect?

Hello, fellow Lyme heroes! That's how I think of you all, at least.

Long story short, after starting all natural (herbal and homeopathic) treatment last September (after likely 20 years of undiagnosed/mistreated infection including Lyme, Bartonella and Babesia), I hit a wall pretty hard in February after several months of steady improvement. Since then, have just been cycling through swollen joints and much horrible nerve pain and suffocating fatigue, with a peppering of night sweats, fevers, uncontrollable shaking, and nausea just to spice things up. We tried many modifications to the herbal approach to no avail...and I just hit 4 months with knees and ankles so swollen I can barely walk.

My LLND recommended I look at taking the abx route, at least for a bit, and luckily she had an 'in' with a fantastic LLMD who just moved into the area...so instead of waiting a year for an appointment with him I was in within two weeks. Met with him yesterday and will be starting the following protocol, in addition to the herbs I'm already on (A-Bab and MC-BAR-1, plus homeopathics for detox from Pekana: Renelex, Itires and Toxex):

- Nystatin 2x/day (I think this must be standard/generic treatment intro as I don't seem to have yeast/fungus problems nor have they shown up on any test)
- Plaquenil 200 2x/day
- Biaxin (standard dose, I'm not looking at bottle) 2x/day starting with half dose then moving to full.
- Bactrim (" ") 2x/day starting with half dose then moving to full.

I'm anxious to hear anyone else's experience with this kind of protocol, and what differences I might expect with abx over herbals (I was on Byron White's A-Bart for 6 months before either massive herx or flare up of Lyme and/or Babesia, and now am just on small doses as mentioned of A-Bab and MC-BAR-1).

For example, in your experience, how soon might I notice a difference? Did supplementing with probiotics make a big difference, or just slow down the effectiveness of the abx? I know everyone's different, but it so helps to hear what others went through.

I feel like a bit of a failure not doing better on a natural/herbal approach, especially since it jives so completely with my overall lifestyle. But I know I have to take it easy on myself and trust the experts who are overseeing my care. Everyone reacts differently to different protocols, and I've been sick a very, very long time.

Thanks for your feedback!

Hi lymesinger, I love the title of Lyme hero!

I have been treated with a combination of antibiotics and herbals to good effect. I don't really see that one treatment route is more virtuous than another, it is a matter of finding the right combination for your unique situation.

Keeping a positive outlook and looking on your medicine as the way to healing and helping your body is critical, in my opinion.

It sounds like you are being taken care of very well by the professionals, now it is just a matter of letting the medicine do its work and giving your body time to dump all the toxins and get on with the heroic work of healing.

Keep up the good fight!

Hi lymerising,

I did both antibiotics and herbals and it really worked well for me. I liked the antibiotics because aside from a few herxes, I was able to work again which is very important. Not all have the same reaction to antibiotics but for me they genuinely helped.

I also liked doing the herbs because I believe they complemented the antibiotics and made the transition off of antibiotic easier on me. I definitely had some hiccups when I went completely off of antibiotics but knowing that I had a good herbalist and ND to support me made it much easier when I got scared if a new symptom or issue popped up.

I haven't been on antibiotics for almost a year now and still doing well. Not on herbs either. Just clean diet, some vitamins and good living. Let us know how it goes and if it works for you - it is all a bit of a scary unknown road.

~beth

OH AND PROBIOTICS ARE A MUST MUST MUST IF ON ANTIBIOTICS