HealingWell
Search Close Search
☰

question!

Support Forums
>
Lyme Disease
✚ New Topic ✚ Reply
❬ ❬ Previous Thread |Next Thread ❭ ❭
Posted 7/27/2013 5:19 AM (GMT 0)
Hello everyone,

So basically I found out I had lyme 2 weeks ago and my doctor perscribed me doxycycline 100m, twice a day, for 2 weeks. I had a tick bite on my foot, and I'm pretty sure I got it about 2.5 weeks before I went on meds. My symptoms included waking up with a stiff neck (this happened once), very hot chest and body when sleeping, then my nodes were swollen and I was short of breath, just felt very very weird and confused as well.

My doctor took blood tests and the results came back 'equivicol' for lyme, but I had lyme anitbodies so they asked me if I ever had it before and I said No, but my doctor waited 4 days before giving me meds.. Kind of pissed me off.

My doctor told me when I went on the meds that I would feel a lot worse because my body had to fight the lyme, and then I would feel better.. but that didn't happen. I instantly felt a lot better as soon as I took the medication. So a week or so went by, I still had swollen lymphs and felt the symtoms but not nearly as bad. And right at the end of the two weeks I felt horrific and all of the symptoms came back full throttle, along with constant itching. I went back to the doctor and told them this, and they gave me prescription another 2 weeks. I just started taking the new ones this morning.

Is anyone familiar with this type of situation? I'm wondering if the Lyme 'hid' in my system for the 2 weeks and then finally came out during the end of it... Is this at all normal?

As a side note I've also been taking detox baths as suggested in the 'New to lyme' thread. Thanks for any help.

Post Edited (samk) : 7/26/2013 11:22:26 PM (GMT-6)

Posted 7/27/2013 10:48 AM (GMT 0)
First, welcome to the forum. Sad you have Lyme, but glad you found us here!

Ok, because there are 2 standards of care, I would encourage you to seek out an ILADS-trained physician. You have been given the IDSA/CDC version of treatment, and it is woefully inadequate. This is why your symptoms have not disappeared - 100mg Doxy 2x/day is too low a dose to kill the Lyme.

And monotherapy (therapy with only one medication - in this case, Doxycycline) is rarely ever effective, even with an acute early onset case of Lyme.

Doxy just causes the bug to engage its cloaking technology so it can hide from your immune system and wreak havoc silently.

You need to be on something that gets at the intracellular forms (L-forms, cell-wall deficient forms) as well as the cystic forms and spirochetes. This typically involves at least 2 antibiotics.

Also, there is the possibility that Lyme was not the only thing that generous (ha ha) tick gave you - there are a number of coinfections that need to be addressed if you have them. And unfortunately, the tests for them are even less accurate than the tests for Lyme.

Glad you are detoxing, excellent step! Next step: Take probiotics, and do everything you can to support your immune system (clean diet, no sugar, no gluten/dairy, no alcohol, take nutritional supplements, eat garlic, avoid GMO's and artificial ingredients - commonest in processed/packaged foods - as much as possible).

And I would encourage you to also find an LLMD or LLND with which to consult about all this, so that you can have the best chance to actually beat this thing before it gets a chance to dig in too far.

To get recommendations, please edit your profile and enable email. This is because we cannot post full names or contact info of Lyme-Literate physicians here (forum rules), so this info will need to be emailed to you.

Make a new post asking for an LLMD or LLND in your state/neighboring state or nearest large city.

Also, I'd encourage you to read the thread at the top of the forum for those new to Lyme, study the info there and feel free to ask as many questions as you need to get a good handle on what you need to do to kick this thing.

Good luck & take care,
Posted 7/27/2013 1:58 PM (GMT 0)
Welcome SamK! I'm sorry you have Lyme but as Razzle said you are in the right place! Do you still have shortness of breath? That is a classic symptom of Babesia which is a coinfection. It might not show up in your blood work because folks like LabCorps only tests for 2-3 strains and there are over 20+ strains. The sooner you get a doctor or LLND that really knows Lyme the better for you.

Let us know what other questions you have. If you live in the US then google the Tick Borne Alliance and contact them. They can give you a list of doctors in your area!!!!
Posted 7/27/2013 10:19 PM (GMT 0)
Thanks for responding. I am near Philadelphia, PA. So should I discontinue taking the doxycycline or up my daily dosage? I have been eating all vegetables and taking probiotics as well. Do you know of any lyme doctors around there?

Post Edited (samk) : 7/27/2013 4:36:21 PM (GMT-6)

Posted 7/28/2013 12:31 AM (GMT 0)
Hi Sam,

I have some ILADS drs names near you. Please send me an email and I will send you some suggestions. The good news is b/c you are catching it early - treatment should be relatively affordable and straightforward but they 'caught' mine early...gave me 10 days of doxy and then I got very sick 6 years later. Better to spend a little now on a specialized dr. and eradicate before it gets to the point that mine did which has resulted in over 10k out of pocket. Just my two cents.

~beth
✚ New Topic ✚ Reply