New doctor - new treatment for my mom!

So for everyone that has helped me so far with my mom's story, we went to the Stram Center today in Albany and I wanted to let you all know how we made out.

So I was sooo much more impressed with this doctor than I was with her previous LLMD. The doctor sat with us for 2 hours going over everything. She explained Lyme disease and all co infections. She told us her treatment plan. Just so informative. Everything that everyone on here has been saying, she said herself which is such a relief since our precious LLMD said basically the opposite.

She did say that they believe this is Lyme disease, they just can't make any promises that the treatment will help or reverse the problems she has. She told us they have had people come there as severe as my mom and they were able to turn around, so we are hopeful that my mom will be the same. I also asked specifically about the bands that were positive on her western blot, and they agreed that 23 & 18 are lym specific. So that was a great reassurance for me.

As far as treatment...they are starting IV rocephin (so happy to hear that as you guys have suggested it to me. They are also doing other things so I'm just going to list it all:

1.orthobiotic twice daily
2.enterogenic one in pm.
3.saccromyces boulardi one twice daily
Start at same time - stevia liquid 4 drops twice daily
Take above for one day, then next day add following:
1.NAC 600 mg twice daily
2.liposomal glutathione one teaspoon twice daily
Day after starting detoxifies, start meriva one twice daily.
Same day as meriva, start nystatin one twice daily.
Day after that, start Zithromax one twice daily.
Two days after Zithromax start Bactrim one twice daily (non IV days).
Two days after that start plaquenil one twice daily.
Starting IV rocephin asap, 2 grams IV (mon, wed, fridays)
Starting IV bactrim same days at rocephin, will figure out dosing.

On non IV bactrim days, take oral bactrim.
On non rocephin days, take cefdinir.

They will give a trial of IV glutathione and trial of IM CO q10.
On days of rocephin she will need to use actigall.

Does anyone understand all this? I hope this is a good protocol for my mom. This is our last hope.

-Kari

Girlie - my mom is nervous, but I think this place offered her more hope. We will be traveling out to Albany 3 times/week for two weeks for the IV antibiotics. They want to monitor her there, then they will allow her to start doing it at the nursing home. The other meds the nursing home will distribute to her. So as far as herxing, they did give us info on a "herxing protocol" but they will be monitoring her pretty closely, so I'm hoping all goes well!!

Blue-she will be starting the oral bactrim first I think, but I'm not sure how long it will be in between. They will be monitoring her closely at first, and I'm sure they'll switch things up if need be, they really seem like they know what they're doing there. I don't remember them mentioning any of those....what are they for? I know they were going to treat babesia (I think) symptomss too but decided to hold off since she's already going to be on so much.

Kari - Did they mention a time frame at all? I hope they don't think that a few weeks will be all that's needed.
But, even so - at least your Mom will have a good start...with someone monitoring her more closely than the previous LLMD who didn't seem to be too concerned about herxing.

Kari -

What great progress you've made!

I do want to caution you, as others have, that this is a HUGE load for a well person, much less a person as ill as your mother is right now with all of the other challenges she's been facing. I had a VERY difficult time working up to 2g of Rocephin and I wasn't on any other abx at the time, nor was I as sick as your mom. Oral abx can be even tougher to manage.

I would ask the LLMD if they can space some of the abx out over time. It's great that they are going to be monitoring her, and you're right by her side, but it is very difficult to unwind a dangerous herx. TYpically, you want to also start detoxing in steps and increase as you add to the antimicrobial protocol. Their schedule doesn't really allow any review/response time.

Titrate slowly
I'd suggest maybe not treating all of the coinfections simultaneously, to start with. Get a week or two of progress under her belt and then start something new. MDs and patients often don't want to do this because it can delay getting to optimal doses and getting things started... but I think in your mom's case - it's critical not to start so much, so fast.

Detox
Also, doesn't look like they're doing as much as most of us here do for detoxing.
- She needs a GI binder (bentonite clay, activated charcoal, physillium husk, cholestyramine) since she's taking multiple abx orally.

- Would be good to support her liver/kidneys - milk thistle seed, burdock root are good for this.

- With the Rocephin and other abx that cross the blood brain barrier, she'll likely need a brain detox herb - Nutrimedix bur bur and pinella tinctures can help with that.

- She could also benefit from an anti-inflammatory to help with her pain - japanese knotweed, turmeric, etc.

Hope this is helpful - please let us know how she is doing!

-p

This is so very wonderful, Kari!!! Congratulations!!!

I too echo what is being said about the protocol being a heavy hitter, but if they monitor her properly, then they will be able to 'catch' her when she's in need of help with the herxing and detoxing. Just be sure that you have a good way to contact them on the days that you don't see them - that way if your Mom starts herxing too much, you can just contact them and explain what's going on.

If that time comes, do be sure to stay calm, because the doctors need to talk with someone that's calm and makes sense, take notes on what all your Mom is going through - be detailed about it too.

There is no need for you to live in fear of what's going to happen - because there's no way of knowing IF it will happen. If they are right, and they are observant and responsive, then they will be there to help your Mom through this. Until you find out that they won't be - there's no need to worry!!

We just like to caution people when the protocol has the potential to be too much all at once because we have watched some people crash really hard - and of course, we don't want to see anyone go through that if we can be of help to them avoiding it.

So, bottom line, be prepared to contact them if things get bad. Make sure you can find their phone number (or whatever way they prefer you to contact them), and if you need to, be sure that you get good notes on where you are in treatment, and the process of what happened (like she took ____ 3 days ago, and that's when ______ started/got worse).

Deep breath now!!!! And relax. No reason to assume they won't be there when you need them.

And, Congratulations again!!!! This is a wonderful start!!!!

So glad your mom is on the path to healing. I echo all of what's been said, slow and easy.

It's hard to do when you want to get better, or are watching someone suffer.

It's so wonderful you can help your mom go through this!

So I just wanted to let everyone know - I finally heard from the stram center today about when we could start treatment, etc. It will possibly be Monday that we go down to start the treatment. After that, we are able to keep my mom at the nursing home and do the treatments there. Instead of being down there 3 times a week for 2 weeks. The nurse at the stram center was in contact with the nursing home, and that was the decision they came to because the nursing home has a staff that can monitor my mom and make sure she responds okay. Obviously I am a little skeptic of this, but we will see how it goes I guess.

I will keep you guys updated. I just can't wait to get my mom started on this treatment and I have such high hopes that we will start to see some positive changes. We're pushing my mom to drink drink drink lots of water. So hopefully with her drinking a lot everyday leading up, it will help her body out with the first treatment. I am so nervous, overwhelmed, yet excited to start this! Please keep us in your prayers, I need my mom back!!

-Kari

I will have to think of some detox things I can do with her this weekend, as I will be with her all weekend. I know you guys have suggested things before, but is there anything that would be a good detox that is kind of easy and in a short period of time, meaning I don't have much time to go buy anything really, etc?

I am sooo nervous about this. I probably won't be able to be with her for her first few treatments because I work almost an hour away Do you guys know roughly how long an IV treatment takes?

-Kari

Unless her skin is particularly sensitive, I would encourage you to wet a washcloth and then allow it to air dry - you want it to be kind of 'rough' to exfoliate the skin. Then rub vigorously.

The apple cider vinegar should be the one with the "mother" in it (like Braggs brand) for the extra minerals in it, but for this weekend, any might be better than none.

Once you have a bit of time, go by her some Yogi brand detox tea (can be ordered online too). Have her drink one cup a day. This will help her detox her liver and kidneys.

Didn't you say that you were doing Epsom salt foot soaks with her?? (I may be thinking of someone else, sorry if I am!!). Even if you aren't, it's possible that the Nursing home has Epsom salts.