low dose abx effective???

Hi, I am new to Lyme. I was diagnosed in Feb. I started seeing my LLND a few months ago and just started abx for the first time. I am taking 250 mg of Azithromycin 3 x per week. I am allergic to penicillin so I am limited on the types of abx I can tolerate. From most things I have read this, seems to be a very low dose and might be so low it might not be doing anything. I don't know. I keep wondering if this is some new type of treatment or is it old school?

In addition, my LLND hasn't suggested any herbal remedies. From most things I have read it seems that many practitioners work with both herbal and conventional methods and I was surprised my ND didn't suggest any herbal supports. it sounds like they can be helpful to take with abx. Also, my LLND didn't suggest anything for detoxing so I have had to research that myself.

Also, I have a candida problem and the only thing I was give for that was Diflucan which I was supposed to just take e/o day for a week, but that didn't do the trick. I know there are herbals that can help with candida too, but my LLND didn't suggest anything other than Diflucan.

My questions is this, has anyone tried doing the minimal treatment (low dose abx, no detox, no herbals). Did minimal treatment work? If it did work, how long did it take?

I am trying to remain open minded with this because I know there are so many different treatment approaches out there. I am debating about switching doctors, but I want to feel certain switching is the best decision for me. I don't know how long I should give this ND a try before I move on. I know of other doctors that are supposed to be good so finding another isn't a problem.

Any information you can share about low dose abx would be helfpul.
Thank you.
Greengrl

Thanks for your reply. This is not an early case. My guess is that I have probably had it for about 8+ years.

I'm sorry to have to tell you, but those doses won't kill the bacteria. Azithromycin isn't a good choice anyway, according to Dr. Joseph Burrascano in his paper "Advanced Topics in Lyme Disease". According to this paper, he says this:
"Azithromycin- Adults: 500 to 1200 mg/d. Adolescents: 250 to 500 mg/d
Add hydroxychloroquine, 200-400 mg/d, or amantadine 100-200 mg/d
Cannot be used in pregnancy or in younger children.
Overall, poor results when administered orally "

You can download a copy of the pdf of that paper from our "New to Lyme? Start here!" thread that sits at the top of the forum.

Most LLMD's like using Doxy, is there a reason why you can't take Doxycycline? The dose for that would be 400 - 600 mgs a day, split into either two or three doses, respectively.

As for your Candida, you need to be on probiotics - the good ones that you get from the refrigerated section of the health food store or Kefir. If using the probiotics from the health food store, you will likely need to take 50 Billion units, or drink 1/2 cup of Kefir a day to help replenish your intestines with the healthy bacteria. Avoid all sugar, and follow a Candida diet (you can find one on the internet if your doc isn't much help).

You should find out how many Lyme patients your doc has successfully treated - you will need to have someone who is very knowledgeable in treating these infections in order to heal so that you don't relapse or are in treatment for years and years without much healing.

Minimal treatment will only lead to years of unnecessary abx use and relapses of these infections.