Anti-inflammatory steroid experiences with lyme

Imo it's about the worst thing you can possible take. It will allow the disease full reign on your body. If you have any relief it will be temporary and then you will be slammed with more than you could possibly imagine. Once again that's just my opinion.

I've been taking it for a month or something like that and I didn't do any harm but it was very low dose. It helped greatly to reduce inflammation, I was feeling much better taking it.

We already know Lyme is an immune system problem. It suppresses it and manipulates it. It also causes multiple autoimmune reactions.

Of course Lyme is an immune system problem. I don't think that is new, news.

MAF249 -
I have a friend who recently almost died from roids. They thought he had some autoimmune thing going on (but no autoimmune antibodies!), so they put him on roids. Got worse and almost dies- went to hospital for heart valve replacement. He had staph in his blood and it got in his heart wrecking two valves this summer.

I had a chance to take the low dose1 week pack of steroids and chickened out.

Have history of elevated thyroid autoimmune antibodies, sometimes high ANA too, and had lyme. After treating lyme 1-1/2 years with a couple breaks I slowly got better, but it seems that there is damage left behind (muscles and nerves).

I'm still chicken to take roids. With past lyme, whatever co-infections and candida history, For me I feel its too risky.

dacarte3 said...

astroman said...

What kind of muscle and nerve damage?

From lyme, I can only assume. I did NOT do the roids that were Rx'ed to me. Just cause you kill the bugs after 30 years does not mean the body will suddenly heal the damage left behind. Most people here are minimally affected under 10 years.

I've been physically fixing my muscles- they were stuck to each other and to bones, with adhesions and trigger points. I used to post on my correcting this a lot. Making way more progerss after Abx than before. But I also eat clean and that helps.

As far as nerves- only a guess, I have not found a nuero Dr worth my time yet. Still get some tingling in arms and legs, but that might be from tight muscles pinching the nerves, since My nerves feel better when I loosen the muscles. I'm way better but not normal. I pretty much dont remember what normal feels like LOL.

Many orthos looking at x rays and MRIs were of no help. I,ve had it with paying Drs for sometimes no help. If a car mech cant fix your car - you dont pay.

In 2010 I was given oral steroids and diagnosed with MS. The steroids sent me to the ER for a Cat scan because I thought I was having a stroke. Horrible time. Stopped the steroids because I knew they caused it and recovered.

Have never taken another steroid until two months ago and I have been on steroid eye drops for severe inflammation of my eye nerves and pressure in the eye. Almost off of them now by tapering. My eyes are much better but who knows if the flare let up or if the eye drops helped.

My lyme doctor told me to definitely use the drops to prevent damage to my eye nerves.

I agree Girlie. Low dose cortef has helped some of my friends while they were working on recovering their adrenals with adaptogens.

MAF249 said...

dacarte3 said...
We already know Lyme is an immune system problem. It suppresses it and manipulates it. It also causes multiple autoimmune reactions.

Of course Lyme is an immune system problem. I don't think that is new, news.

If the Lyme bacteria is the root of the problem and it has effects on the immune system then I wouldn't consider it an immune problem at all. I was mostly referring to a situation where, when infected, antibodies would be made against the bacterial proteins and those proteins happen to be similar to proteins in our bodies. Then what would happen is when the bacteria is removed from the body, the body thinks that the bacteria are still there and the antibodies continue to attack the proteins in our body, mistaking them for bacteria.

This theory is backed up by the old lyme vaccine that was used. It was a formultion of borrelia type proteins that would be used to train our bodies to fight the bacteria if we ever come into contact with it. the problem was that people started to get arthritis from the vaccine. this would mean that the borrelia proteins are similar enough to ones in our own bodies that the antibodies cannot tell the difference and once the antibodies are made they attack our own tissue.

This would mean that those who have had a full course of antibiotics are left with an ongoing immune issue and could get help from things like Cortisone and things like that. Not only that but we would change direction as a community and what we are asking from medical doctors. there are a lot of immune type treatments that people in the lyme community skip over because we assume we are fighting bacteria.

I agree. And what you described happens. There's herbs that modulate the immune system as well help stop autoimmunity.

One herb in particular has the same affect as a steroid but with no effect in stopping the body from creating antibodies.

The herb is:

Phellodendron - "plant consitituent phellodendrine suppresses autoimmune responses in mice and guinea pigs. Unlike prednisone and cyclophosphamide, the extract did not affect antibody production."

Yellow Cat said...

dacarte3 said...

I agree. And what you described happens. There's herbs that modulate the immune system as well help stop autoimmunity.

Could you say more about which herbs could help with autoimmunity? I have joint inflammation, doctors label that as reactive joint inflammation because they don't believe I still have lyme. Now I'm after 13 months of lyme treatment, feel much better, don't herx anymore, brain fog is gone but joint inflammation is not improving at all. Who knows, maybe it's possible that lyme bacteria is gone but the body is still making antibodies and attacking its own tissue but here comes a question: why it's attacking only two or three joints (in my case)? There must be something else going on here.

1. Cordyceps - Immunomodulator and immunoadaptogen, protects mitochondria from adverse events, AUTOIMMUNE PROTECTION.

2. EGCG - has been found to, in vivo, suppress induced autoimmune encephalomyelitis (brain/CNS autoimmunity).

3. Chinese Skull Cap - Same as #2

4.Phellodendron - plant consitituent phellodendrine suppresses autoimmune responses in mice and guinea pigs. Unlike prednisone and cyclophosphamide, the extract did not affect antibody production.

5. Japanese Knotweed - the herb, infact, is a potent immunomodulator. It normalizes immune response, especially in diseases where autoimmune reactions are stimulated (such as lyme disease and lupus). It seems able to bring immune function when necessary and reduce its local manifestations when overstimulated.

Source: Stephen Buhner

astroman said...

dacarte3 said...

Yellow Cat said...

dacarte3 said...

I agree. And what you described happens. There's herbs that modulate the immune system as well help stop autoimmunity.

Could you say more about which herbs could help with autoimmunity? I have joint inflammation, doctors label that as reactive joint inflammation because they don't believe I still have lyme. Now I'm after 13 months of lyme treatment, feel much better, don't herx anymore, brain fog is gone but joint inflammation is not improving at all. Who knows, maybe it's possible that lyme bacteria is gone but the body is still making antibodies and attacking its own tissue but here comes a question: why it's attacking only two or three joints (in my case)? There must be something else going on here.

1. Cordyceps - Immunomodulator and immunoadaptogen, protects mitochondria from adverse events, AUTOIMMUNE PROTECTION.

2. EGCG - has been found to, in vivo, suppress induced autoimmune encephalomyelitis (brain/CNS autoimmunity).

3. Chinese Skull Cap - Same as #2

4.Phellodendron - plant consitituent phellodendrine suppresses autoimmune responses in mice and guinea pigs. Unlike prednisone and cyclophosphamide, the extract did not affect antibody production.

5. Japanese Knotweed - the herb, infact, is a potent immunomodulator. It normalizes immune response, especially in diseases where autoimmune reactions are stimulated (such as lyme disease and lupus). It seems able to bring immune function when necessary and reduce its local manifestations when overstimulated.

Source: Stephen Buhner

dacarte3 - are you familiar with these beyond Buhners readings? Do you know if any of these are known to lower any autoimmune antibodies which are currently elevated? I wish there were a good autoimmune forum some where.

Not trying to be lazy but if you google each one plus "autoimmune" there's plenty of resources.

Also, I forgot to add Chaga Mushrooms

/www.globalhealingcenter.com/natural-health/chaga-mushroom-the-immune-boosting-superfood/

/selfhacked.com/blog/top-health-benefits-chaga-mushroom/

I was put on steroids because I has sudden hearing loss. The steroids immediately gave me back my hearing and also made me feel like a normal healthy person again... until they wore off.

It goes to show that lyme is an inflammatory infection causing encephalitis. I was recently reading one LLMDs post and he advocates for the use of steroids when treating Lyme because it allows patients to tolerate the antibiotic treatment better. People like me who have severe neurolyme get very sick when they take antibiotics because it increases the inflammatory response in the brain.

What's right and what's wrong? I'm not sure.

I know that this is old thread but none the less I'll put my 2 cents in. I was having a lot of joint pain and in years past ( before i knew I had Lyme) I had gotten a steroid shot in my knee as it was so inflamed. My now LLMD says absolutely no steroid shots for Lymies. I can't recall exactly why but I think either it affects our immune system or the bacteria really likes steroids.