Went to my first appt. with Lyme dr.; now what?

Hi all,

Today I had my first appt. with a lyme dr.  She was so wonderful!  Her office felt very homeopathic so I think she is into alternative medicines along with abx.  I noticed a book on supplements in the waiting room and she had a book of articles and such that she has collected on the disease. 

I spent two hours in the office and most of that time was with the doctor--so different from the pcp!!!!  She seemed truly concerned and I couldn't help but cry when she came in as I told her that I felt that I was going crazy and that all these symptoms are just in my head.

We did a lot of talking about the world of lyme and my symptoms.  Here's a little summary of my illness so far:

March 2011 tick bite R outter thigh, urgent care to finish removal, cleaned the wound

6 weeks later, May 2011, urgent care because of weird symptoms like nausea, diarrhea, headache, low grade temp and pain; most notably, pain spreading from the bite site to both legs, to arms and down my jaw and neck

Rx 21 days of doxy 100 mg 2x a day; symptoms improved but never went away completely.

End of May/June 2011, pcp physical, mentioned Lyme, asked about having more abx, she said it wasn't needed. 

June, July, Aug 2011, continued aches in my legs, esp the one that was bit.  Aches in my feet, tingling in my scalp (swore I had lice) followed by scalp sores, continued low grade temp 99.5 to 100.9 every afternoon, forgetfulness, insomnia, diarrhea followed by constipation, nausea on and off--the list goes on.

Today--first visit with LLMD.  She has told me to take probiotics, western blot via Igenex (sp?), and testing for coinfections at a local lab (my ins. won't cover Igenex so its outta pocket).  After the tests, starting new ABX for at least the month (pray for minimal side effects!) while waiting for test results.  She said to reduce sugars in my diet to avoid yeast.

What else should I start doing??  Any particular supplements?  Whats all this about detox?  Do it while I take abx?  I would love your input on a treatment plan!!!!!!

BTW, if it helps, I am female 122 pounds and 5'3" tall.

Thanks in advance!!!!

HI Worried!!
What wonderful news!! Congrats!! It's amazing what a caring, responsive, knowledgeable doc can do to sooth fears and concerns!

Springsjean is right about the detox baths - here is an article that explains the need for detoxing: findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0ISW/is_285/ai_n19170382/?tag=content;col1 Yes, it's best to use the detox baths while taking abx, but they will help even if you aren't!!!

To find out how to detox, we have a great post in the "New to Lyme? Start here!" thread. It's one of the top posts on that thread, so it's easy to find. It also explains how to dry skin brush - this is incredibly helpful as our skin is our largest detoxing organ. So keeping it as healthy as possible goes a long way to help us feel better.

I also agree with Springjean's suggestion about reading Dr. Burrascano's paper, "Advanced Topics in Lyme Disease" has a lot of really good info in it besides the info on the supplements. You can find a link to that paper in our "New to Lyme?" thread as well!!

Be sure to drink plenty of lemon water!! 8 - 8 oz glasses each day! The acidity of the lemon water actually works to push the body into a more alkaline state. The body needs to be in that alkaline state in order to be able to fight these infections better.

Eat as healthy as you can afford to. Some members like to follow a specific diet, others just eat as organically as they can, being careful to stay away from things like sugars, starches, and processed foods. For me, it's just been a matter of eating as healthy as I can afford to, avoiding almost all caffeine, drinking my lemon water, staying away from all sugar (I use stevia instead), most starches, most breads, almost all processed foods - and this summer, my body decided it didn't want to be on the receiving end of meats much at all! Surprised me!!! I am being very, very careful to be sure I still get enough protein though,