Are you better yet?

Some of my story is in my signature, but after being treated with Rocephin for 3 weeks two years after becoming ill, I continued to become symptomatic every several months. So I would ask my primary care for Doxycycline which is all I knew back then. He did not know about Lyme but accepted the ID's diagnosis and the fact that he told me it was probably too little, too late. I may have improved more but the ID was too pricey to use after my insurance cancelled me for actually using it on our small group policy.

I did become stronger and less symptomatic over the years. I took various herbals and supplements to strengthen the immune system, nothing like we know now or have available to us. I was doing so much better that I only needed Doxycycline a couple of times a year, and I could mostly forget about Lyme. My exacerbation's were usually started with tachycardia, irregular heart beats and low grade fevers, so that is when I would ask for an antibiotic.

I may have done better with a major treatment like many here have available, I don't know. However Lyme has been with me since 1988. I feel that I have done well, actually. And I was really, really sick the first 6 months.

I have become more continuously ill the last 1 1/2 years after having bilateral radiation for breast cancer.... The last 2 weeks of radiation my hip joint felt like ground glass when walking, I thought I was destined for a wheelchair and I was also back to work at the time. I did not think the pain was Lyme since it had not hurt my hips in the past. I waited until the day after radiation, had some Doxy at home and started it. Within a few days the pain was gone. So I knew that that was Lyme also.

I am now trying to recover from the radiation and kick Lyme to the ground with a combination of Chronic Tonic, other supplements, and antibiotics of my own. I am looking into an MD nearby who is not an LLMD but does treat Lyme, but so far have not had a doctor that would treat it except for the first 10 years when I had a pcp who was willing to give me an antibiotic when I asked for it. However if I had suggested the amount of antibiotics that most lymies need, he would probably have cut me off.

I just order what I want from out of the country and pattern after what I see others are taking together, but have not taken cyst busters except GFE. I also take Nattokinase.

So I think that some years when I was most healthy I was 90% healed, and after taking a brief 3 week course of Doxy my symptoms went back down to just background noise, except some arthritis. I am older now (61) and after radiation having to work much harder to heal, but I am really thankful for the good years I have lived with chronic Lyme. You will probably do fine, just keep your immune system healthy.

I keep hearing and reading "when caught early" and "when treated correctly". I'm both. But guess what? Ain't getting better. I'm getting exhausted and fed up.

My signature tells my story.

To expand on that - I, too, am blown away that I am still treating....especially since I never really had any troublesome symptoms until *after* I started ABX.

I was down to two, super-mild symptoms (that developed *after* starting ABX) when my LLMD had me switch to an herbal protocol.

It's been a two steps forward, one step back type of deal the whole time. Currently, I'm down to one symptom that comes and goes.....and others might stop by for a quick visit as part of a post-dose super-mild herx.

I bet that many "healthy" people deal with more than I've been dealing with these past few months. However, I didn't have these symptoms before Lyme so I know it's Lyme (and possibly co's my LLMD doesn't think I have).

I'll just keep on keeping on.....I am getting better....it's so freakin' slow but it *is* happening.

Sooooo many things can make the healing journey longer and I fully appreciate the peeling back a layer concept that's often shared on here.

Detoxing and a decent diet make a big difference for me. I don't think I'm unique in that regard.