Husband getting sicker and sicker... are antibiotics to blame????

My husband tested positive 1 1/2 years ago although he was very active and had no symptoms of Lyme disease (or anything else). He was tested becasue I had already tested pos. and had started treatment 2 years earlier. Our doctor put him on antibiotics Clarithromycin and Augmentin. Since starting treatment he has gotten worse and worse.

He has gained 25 pounds, his fingers are swollen like sausages, joints ache, horrible fatigue, lack of appetite, pain in his side etc.... He recently had blood work done and his liver enzymes are very high. He had an ultrasound to make sure it was ok and they found a lot of fat deposits on liver along with several benign polyps on the gall bladder.

My questions are...can antibiotics make someone sick like this? He is getting sicker and sicker, when he was completely fine (symptom free) before starting this treatment. Has anyone ever heard of a false positive for Lyme disease??

I don't think it is a herx. I have had herx reactions and this is nothing like it becasue he gradually gor worse when he started the meds and it has progresssively gotten worse, never having a stretch of feeling good.  I know this is a lot.....I am just hoping someone will have some sort of insight. He doesn't want to go back to our Lyme doc. because he thinks maybe he should never have been treated to begin with!!! He wants to go off the antibiotics all together.....would this be wise????

Thank you for any and all help,

blessings,

limberlost girl

Have you considered the possibility that he may be allergic to one of the medications seeing how he did not have any symptoms prior to taking them?? D

Hi limberlostgirl -

I am so sorry for what you and your husband are going through!! As far as your husband is concerned, I agree with Deejavu - I am no doc of course but I think as long as one has no symptoms, its kind of hard to say if abx is a wise decision - at least for long term use... just what I think personally.

As for stopping the abx maybe it could be good to go off slowly - cut the dosage down over two or three days ?! Just a feeling I have. There are detox remedies for tissue and lymphatic system detox which can be used in addition to liver and kidney detoxing;; those helped me a lot and my detoxing was much more a success than prior /without them.

I was told that after abx usage we must give ourselves some time to get our whole body rebalanced and be aware that our body must take over again fighting bad bacteria and regrow the good bacteria; we should have some patience if our body is not 100% successful at once. Also our body may feel to react drastically to bad bacteria i.e. with producing low fevers over few days which normally would not be necessary b/c good bacteria would do the job ....all this does not automatically mean that it is lyme crawling back, but that our immune system is in a kind of "reboot - and take- over process"

I wish you both all the best!! My special greeting and whishes for recovery to your husband!! dorit

You can test positive for Lyme and be symptom free because the WB can indicate other stuff. Many people are positive especially if you're tested often.

Get him the heck off the ABX and hopefully he'll restore his health.

Why would a doctor prescribe somthing when there was no need to ? I'd find a doc with some common sense.

Bafflng.

Dear Limberlost,

Your concerns for your husband and his concerns about his diagnosis and treatment, given his symptoms, are all valid.  This is where it can get so very confusing.

However, b/c of what we do know about the Lyme bacteria and it's co-infections, it is not wise to just stop antibiotics or even begin to remove the treatment protocol without your doctor overseeing.  If it is a matter of confidence in your husband's current LLMD there is a question as to whether this came about b/c he/she is not listening to the symptoms or perhaps they have not been communicated to him/her yet.  If the symptoms are not known yet by his doctor, you must call and inform them in detail of what he is experiencing. 

If it is another physician that is needed to, as Ticker says, offer a second opinion, then please move forward, so that a bridge of treatment can be appropriately in place in the event your husband is fighting this bacteria in his body.  To just stop could be detrimental.

For one, your husband is not detoxing properly.  Is he drinking enough water each day to flush his system?  How is his daily diet?  There is a seemingly huge inflammatory response.  There are things he can do in the meantime to help move the lymph system; key for detoxification.

There is a legitimate concern for reaction, co-infection, other complicating factors - none of which any of us can know.  The fact that he tested positive is reason for caution in how you proceed so that the bacteria does not act as an opportunist in a vulnerable host.

I do not know where you are located geographically, but, if you are in need of another physician and depending on your location or ability to travel for care; please feel free to pm my way if I can be of help bridging that for you.

It may come to ending antibiotics; but your question was regarding wisdom.  I am grateful you are watching out for him.  Wisdom would have a bridge in place to protect his immune system and assure that it is just the medication and not complications stemming from Lyme and co-infections.

I second Ticker.

Blessings,   Sojourner

Hi all,

I was under the "assumption" that long term antibiotic use weakens the immune system, is that correct or not correct?   

Denise

WOW! thank you for all of the fantastic responses. My husband has read each of them and he also appreciates the input. He has cut back on the antibiotics and is looking for a new LLD for a second opinion.

Again....thank you.