This post is not about Lyme. My intent is not to take any attention away from those on here seeking help w/ Lyme, but is a sincere plea for help from those of you on here who know a lot about cells, bacteria, and abx, esp long term. 
This is regarding my father’s illness, because his doctors have not been able to help him. They do not know anything (just as w/ Lyme!)
First, my Dad is the strongest man I know. Never in his life has he chickened out of anything. And he's always HELPED others, many many others, in many many ways. He has never given into anything in his life. He took bee stings (always saving people!) all of his life, til 3 stings almost killed him and he can never be stung again. He used to get cavities filled without novacain because he believed it was bad for you and believed he should withstand the pain. Now, I cannot even bear his pain and vulnerability. Not this guy!!
Anyway, as succinct as possible: He’s 80. about a year and a half ago he had a hip replacement. From that surgery, he got a terrible infection, all the way into the artificial hip. It was enterobacter cloacae, (EC) which is very resistant to abx. (it is gram negative, if that means anything to anyone) They had to go back in and drain and clean out the new hip. He almost died this was so bad. Was on a pic for several months and has been on Cipro now for over a year.
His infection disease (ID) Dr has told him he will have to be on Cipro for the rest of his life. He cannot ever stop taking it, because there is no way for them to be certain that there is absolutely no EC. They still check his blood, semi routinely, and so far, they say he is OK.
Everyday since his ‘recovery’, he has become ill. I will only list symptoms I think could be pertinent: He has hot flashes and sweats at nite – feels like he is burning up. Every afternoon at around the same general time, he gets a hot flushed face and his eyes start burning. And he has a general feeling of malaise. This goes on the rest of the day. His fatigue is almost profound. I cannot bear the thought of him suffering like this. These may or may not be related: arthritis in knees and pelvis, ringing in one ear, shortness of breath (he smoked until 1982).
He felt like he was suffering side effects from the Cipro. But they took him off for almost a month, substituting another abx. None of his symptoms subsided in the least. ID Dr has done a lot of lab work on him and tell him he’s fine. They don’t see evidence of the bacteria in his body and nothing is abnormal.
He really likes his ID and feels he’s done all that he could. So it is left to us (him and me) to try and figure out what is going on, because I strongly suspect some kind of chronic disease which they have not detected. I have copied and pasted below a section I found on Cipro:
************************************************************************
Taking Ciprofloxacin can spur germs to mutate so
that future bacterial infections become untreatable. During the
last decades a dramatic increase in bacterial strains multiresistant
to antibiotics, particularly CIPRO - has been reported.
This increase has led to the occurrence of incurable
bacterial infections with a fatal outcome, and a particularly
serious problem in connection with hospital-acquired infections.
Incurable and fatal?? This is why I’m so angry at his doctors!! And the labs, too -- now that I know they are so fallible and don't read everything they should be!
1. I have tried researching herxing: Is it possible that his EC persists, so the Cipro keeps hitting it, causing a constant herx? Is there such a thing?
2. Or is it more likely that he has a chronic infection, other than the EC, that will not respond to Cipro?
3. Is this Candida? I had him do the almost fool proof spit saliva test, and his spit floated correctly.
If you believe this is a chronic disease/infection, could anyone help steer me in any direction? And, for folks like Razzle, who have many diagnoses/illnesses, can you tell me what type of Dr you consulted in order to get the correct type of lab tests run? Or was it your LLMDs that diagnosed other illnesses, like mycoplasma, etc?
Of course, I will ask him to get a lyme test, but at this point, I suspect some other kind of infection (unless it’s a herx), since this started after the major EC infection. I want to make sure I point him towards a LLMD or the type of Dr that will truly investigate this chronic illness.
Any ideas will be sincerely appreciated!
Post Edited (LymeUnknown) : 5/15/2009 7:07:32 PM (GMT-6)