scared.advice.HELP please!!!

Hey guys so you have always been so helpful so here is the down low. Been sick for 9 years since i was 12. Everything from migraines to back neck, muscle pain, nausea, horrible stomach pain. Lethargy, vertigo, pretty much every lyme and co infec symptom. I have been on a lot of antibiotic from biaxon mepron and zithrmax to a PICC line for 7 months consisting of rocephin, doxycycline and tetracycline i think. So right now an doing Omnicef and Tindamax which gives me horrible herxes. So i usually take Flora probiotic from the company Nutri Health and I like it because compared to being on nothing it does seem to help my stomach a little and this is very important to me especially since my stomach is really bad but the company seems really shaky and my mom and I have been having issues with them. We want a new company to try but dont know any good ones. The one from this company is 16 billion units or whatever per capsule. Ive tried GNC 50 billion but it made me constipated and I and currently trying Jarro 3.6 billion but I can already tell its not working. Can yu please help me and reccomend a good brand one that has a good high dose and is okay for sensitive stomachs. I had a stomach flu last year and that is when my stomach symptoms started and my lyme and co infections started to get REALLY hrrible. I've lost 60 lbs and am doing really bad. I'm pretty much bed ridden. My doc put me on omnicef and tindimax but the tindimax seems to give me HORRIBLE herxes. Has anyone ever had that? Also my doc wanted me to start cymbalta... i told them im NOT depressed honestly but they said that cymbalta is used for pain. Then they told me that because I've been sick so long(half my life) and dont really seem to respond to antibiotics that much that now they were just going to treat symptoms. Does that mean he's giving up on me?? My mom thinks that they were trying to say that this is it...that I am going to have pain and be sick and fluy like this and i should just live me life. Meanwhile I had to be homeschooled for high school because of this stupid lyme and i just finished that and I am too sick to start college so it's hard. Honestly guys...I am scared. Sometimes I jsut feel like I am going to die young or something you know? And I honestly dont mean this is a silly "my so called life" reference way but like being sick is how I have grown up you know? Like is this it? Everyone tells me it will get better just keep fighting just keep fighting but like when do you see results?? I have been sick since I was 12.. Im 21 now. NOT a baby anymore. 9 years of suffering and now Im a grown up and sicker that I was then. My mom is worried because I can't eat from the nausea and stomach pain and she says I have no more weight to lose. I just cant seem to get better. I take hydrocodone and tramadol for pain but sometimes it doesnt work. My doc says that when i get these hexes and detoxes that my body is in such agony that the pain meds wont work. so like I guess good luck to me right? lol also i get these really bad heart palpatations and i take ativan for it also for my muscle and stomach spasms. do you think that i should take the ativan like on a daily basis i have .5 mg and the bottle says to take it 2x daily. do you think it would help with the stomach pain or muscle pain or anything? anyways thanks for listening to my long post. I would do greatly appreciate any advice or tricks for hexes or anything at all that anyone can tell me..and a good probiotic. thank you very much. God bless you. -Sandy

i am sorry you are in such pain and so very young to have to deal with this. i have taken cymbalta in the past for my fibromyalgia and the first time around it was basically a miracle drug for me. i went off of it because i went thru a divorce, lost my insurance and couldnt afford it. plus too i had less stress in my life (after divorce) and felt basically great...didnt think i needed anymore. cymbalta is not JUST for depression but actually works on the physical pain. also depression comes in many forms, not just feeling sad or blue. one can be depressed and not really realize it but your body does and it reacts with real physical manifestations (aches and pains, not sleeping well,inability to handle situations etc). cymbalta is not a quick fix drug. you have to be on it for an extended period of time. it works on the chemicals in your brain. you can have a chemical imbalance in your brain which can cause alot of physical and emotional pain. cymbalta did help me like i said. i did try to go back on it in early summer and quit taking it because it caused me to have restless legs at night. but other than that it was a huge help.

JIJI

I would agree with achieving grace--if the abx failed you, try some natural remedies. Someone I have met here on the forum is doing better with those. She's tried abx and the rife machine and still doing rife machine sometimes. Don't give up, try something else! You are too young to have to leave like this for the rest of your life!

I would also suggest to eat some garlic and drink some lemon juice and uptake your salt intake--if you can and you don't get stomach aches from it--don't use salt if you have heart problems.

Please visit this website:
http://www.lymephotos.com/index.shtml

Make sure you drink a lot of water, so it won't upset your stomach.

I don't know who these people are, but I ran into their site when I found out I have lyme; I searched for lyme cure and their site popped up.

I don't have any other suggestions, my heart goes to you, I have had great teen,  20's and good 30's for the most part until last year and a few short episodes in the past, I can't immagine going through so much pain when so young!

Hope you feel better!

Post Edited (Simela) : 9/24/2010 11:17:10 AM (GMT-6)

Wow, Sandy - I can totally relate to you. I have the very same fear and anger that you do, about having lost so much time during the prime of my life...and about whether I'll ever regain my health back and be able to live a normal life again.

When I first got sick, I was on some of the same medications as you - I started on Vicodin and supplemented it with occasional Ativan. The Vicodin did nothing to help with the pain, and because it has Acetaminophen (Tylenol) in it, I was quickly switched to something longer-acting (started with Methadone and after a while went to OxyContin, which I've stayed on for a couple of years now and seems to be most effective out of all I've tried). I was up to 180 mg. a day for a long time and have fairly recently dropped down (slowly) to half that dosage (which is HUGE!). There are doctors who don't believe narcotics to be helpful for Lyme pain; they're wrong. I didn't want to live as it was when I was at my worst. The pain medication at the least gave me a bit of relief several times a day, when I could breathe and not have every rib hurt, and get from the couch to the bathroom without screaming.

I also took Ativan, sometimes up to 4 mg. per day, though not often. I really only used it when I was in so much physical pain that I'd start to lose it mentally. It was enough just to take the edge off so I could sit down and have my sanity back. Lyme can literally make a person crazy...

I'd start by going to your doctor (either LLMD or Primary Care Physician) and straight-up tell them "I cannot handle this pain for one more minute. You have got to do something to help me." I completely understand how Cymbalta works, but the pain from Lyme is serious - 100 times more than I could ever have imagined. I used to feel like I'd been run over my a truck, shot a few times, had a couple of knives stuck in me, and was beat to a pulp every day.

I think most Lyme patients experience Herx reactions. I haven't been able to tolerate anything but Augmentin, which I pretty much maxed out my time on and it stopped working. I'm using Buhner's Lyme Tea recipe now and so far, so good.

Hope you get the help you need soon - this disease is definitely NO FUN!

Rachel