Hi Z's Mom! Welcome to our community! I'm so glad you found us.
I agree with Girlie - Z is a very fortunate son to have you helping him so much!!
If you haven't yet, it would be helpful for you to start with reading through the thread at the top of the forum titled,"New to Lyme?...Start here!!", as it is packed full of important information, symptom lists, helpful links and pdf's, how to detox when one has these infections, information on probiotics and much more. And this is another good list of possible detoxing routines:
www.tiredoflyme.com/detox-methods.html Detoxing for us is an incredibly important part of our healing.
These infections, particularly Lyme, can and do cause all sorts of gastro issues. I've had some very serious intestinal pseudo-blockages that not only couldn't be explained, but no one could seem to help me either - until I started using herbs. I was introduced to a mix of 3 herbs that have stopped my pseudo-blockages completely - Licorice, white peony root and peppermint. I now buy the herbs in bulk, grind them and fill my own gel caps so that I don't have to live with that any more. 47 years of that is enough!
I would so very much encourage you to not just assume that the doctor is a LLMD that knows what they are doing. Too many Lyme patients find out the hard way that it's not true. It's much better to go in knowing that they know what they are talking about
.
I would encourage you to call each doctor, or look them up online, and ask or find out as much information about
them and the protocols they use as you can. I would ask them if they take patients even if they aren't CDC positive, how many Lyme patients they have healed - without them relapsing? What protocols they use? Do they use any herbal preparations? What do they do when the patient plateaus, and more.
We have a really great list of suggested questions on page 2 of the "New to Lyme? Start here!" thread on the forum if you would like some more ideas. We are finding more and more doctors, even LLMD's that are giving in to the demands of their peers or the medical boards. You should kind of know where they stand before spending all kinds of money with them.
For information on finding an ILADS (International Lyme and Associated Diseases Society) trained Lyme Literate Medical Doctor(LLMD) in your area, you will need to enable your email option in your profile in order to receive any recommendations, as we don't allow doctor's names and contact info to be posted on the forum for several reasons. You can enable your email option in your profile, under 'edit profile'. Be sure to click the submit button to actually save your preference.
You can send me an email by clicking on my screen name or the small blue envelope under my screen name. I may have contact information for some LLMD's in your area as well. Please include your state (or province) and area that you would like to find a LLMD in and I will be happy to share the names I have.
You can email the Tick-Borne Disease Alliance at
[email protected] for LLMD referrals and you can go to
tbdalliance.org to learn more about
these infections.
You can go to The Lyme Disease Association and search for LLMD's 3 times in a month. You have to register first. Here is the link:
www.lymediseaseassociation.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=277&Itemid=74ILADS has their own referral system as well:
ilads.org/ilads_media/physician-referral/And a new resource
www.LymeDoc.org You will want to find a well trained doctor, not one that has self proclaimed themselves as a LLMD or an ID Doc (Infectious Disease Doctor), as ID docs believe Lyme is hard to catch and easy to treat, and don't believe in the reality of chronic Lyme. Go to the ILADS site to read the new (2014) Treatment guidelines to get you started on your healing journey:
www.lymenet.org/BurrGuide200810.pdf Most importantly, keep asking questions!! Please do encourage your son to join us as well, as we can help him deal with what he's going through and help him get educated.