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Length of Antibiotic Therapy ?

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Posted 2/5/2018 9:59 PM (GMT 0)
I saw an LLMD that initially told me I needed 16 months of Abx after the Dx of chronic Lyme. Anyone here experience the same. Or anyone know how they calculate that ???
Posted 2/5/2018 10:13 PM (GMT 0)
We have people on this forum that have been on antibiotics for over 3 years.

I could not do it, they just don't sit well with me. But obviously it can be done and I am not sure how their doctors figure this out.
Posted 2/5/2018 10:22 PM (GMT 0)
An llmd doesn't know for sure when you will be better ,but I have heard that many say at least 15 to 18 months of treatment. The reality is it could be shorter or way longer.

There are many factors that come into play when healing from these infections.From the length of time you have had them to your over health before you were infected.

Many also are fighting mold, yeast , detoxing issues. It all can make it longer to heal.

I have been treating for a year and a half and I'm still not there yet. The important thing is not to give up, and keep an open mind to trying something different if one kind of protocol doesn't work for you.


Take care, Jo
Posted 2/5/2018 10:44 PM (GMT 0)
^^^what Jo said!

While a LLMD can give a general idea of how long treatment will last on average, we should never expect them to be correct (even though we can hope).
Posted 2/6/2018 9:52 AM (GMT 0)
My LLMD said during my last appointment that their average length at the clinic was about 6 months. Their longest patient though, treated for 5 years and eventually got well! Hope I don't have to go that long
Posted 2/6/2018 6:35 PM (GMT 0)
im doing abx therapy for 5 months now and i am feeling much better than when i started. can work full time and act normally, memory is fine, no arthritis or body inflammation. the only symptom left is foot pain at night and also occasional a muscle twitch. all neuro/eye symptoms are gone. however i have to say this did not happen over night and it took a while to get here. this is my 2nd attempt to treat this with antibiotics, first one was when i was initially diagnosed in 2014, and i was MUCH sicker back then, i was not able to finish the abx courses and i had to abruptly stop while i still had symptoms... was not able to tolerate the herxes. i continued with herbs for 2 years but i got worse and worse so i had to switch back to abx. 5 months in, it's much much better and i have had few side effects so far.

my LLMD says average treatment time is one year, but this varies based on the severity of the symptoms, some people require more some less. i was an easier case since beginning so i might stop it earlier. but i do not want to for the moment to stop, i know it comes back if u are not far enough and i saw the abx trials, even if they were monotherapy, it's clear that the longer u treat the higher the changes to remain symptom free ... so ...
Posted 2/6/2018 7:35 PM (GMT 0)
dr. j in DC says average treatment length is 9-15 months but he's got quite a few that go longer than that. its all dependent on the individual.

for example my first LLMD said he had someone just like me and it took 7 months. well here i am close to 3 years later and still struggling so there ya go.
Posted 2/9/2018 12:24 AM (GMT 0)
I asked my lyme doc to place an average time of healing. She started by saying everyone is different and I can't say for sure what you will be but the average is 18 months of antibiotics.
Posted 2/9/2018 1:58 AM (GMT 0)
Your doctor might have said 16 months, because spirochetes are known to have an 8 month lifecycle. Therefore 2 lifecycles of treatment might get rid of them. However, it might not. Read up on what Horowitz has said about dapsone. Wouldn't hurt to read his latest book.

My latest theory is that consistency is what will get you better. I've been on abx only on weekends for 3 years, and I'm still sick. My plan is to quit my job (because I cant take abx and work at the same time) and treat consistently for 2 years according to the Horowitz protocol. I'm hoping that will do it.
Posted 2/9/2018 2:16 AM (GMT 0)

gfields said...
Your doctor might have said 16 months, because spirochetes are known to have an 8 month lifecycle. Therefore 2 lifecycles of treatment might get rid of them. However, it might not. Read up on what Horowitz has said about dapsone. Wouldn't hurt to read his latest book.

re: 8 month lifecycle of spirochetes - where did you read this? Or...did your LLMD tell you?
I've not heard this before.
Posted 2/9/2018 3:58 AM (GMT 0)
Nor have I. All of the reading I have done indicates that 28 day cycle of symptom flares is very common with these TBI's. Also I think most studies I have read indicate that borrelia are on an appx 8 day reproduction cycle.

I am intrigued by the suggested 8 month life cycle.
Posted 2/9/2018 7:55 AM (GMT 0)
there is no such thing as 8 month life cycle of spirochetes. However please note that nobody really understands the persistent form, so saying the spirochete has a 28 day cycle is as "informed" as saying it has 8 months. The science was clueless about these forms up until 2 years ago, with the exception of a few doctors that were considered crazy ... That's until the big boys in infectious disease research got grants from GLA , Bay Area & Co, ran some serious tests and saw that yes sir yes indeed this bacteria has a persistent hard to treat hard to kill form.

Now nobody knows how to treat this, what its life cycle is, what nutrients does it use, what metabolism is still active in the spherical/dormant ones.... Certainly they are not dividing, because that would make them vulnerable to cell wall antibiotics. They switch back to spirochetes at some point, it is unclear when how often, what percentage of them switch back and what remain dormant, etc. etc...

brave new grounds of research :/
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