Posted 9/25/2013 12:55 AM (GMT 0)
Shelly - it sounds like you have been doing your research and are on the right track. Your diet sounds good, just try and make the meat grassfed and organic if you can. Good diets to check out might be Terry Wahls and PerfectHealthDiet.
Detox baths are great, as is drinking water with lemon juice (and stevia), and perhaps using a little psyllium husk or chia seed to keep things moving out as toxins are released from bacterial die-off.
Research herxheimer reactions, because most everyone has these. Research good probiotics, you will need lots of them (at least 2 hours away from abx), and hopefully a dose before bedtime. Research methylation, because it is often a problem in ill people. Methylation blockages potentially slow detoxing.
Two years ago we were right where you are now with treating our (then 10 year old) daughter. Biaxin was her first antibiotic too. I was scared to death and didn't know where to turn, or even whether or not I should trust our LLMD - after our family doctor of 25 years told me LLMDs were all quacks (he couldn't have been further from the truth).
Our daughter was treated for lyme and bartonella and is doing wonderfully. She has lost all of her symptoms which included (here goes):
2004 - Dx ADHD, sensory disorder (light, sound, touch), motor delay (with toe-walking), hypotonia, oral apraxia.
2008 - MMR booster and within a month, an insect bite (bruise-like rash) - motor/vocal tics, emotional lability (including rage), age regressive behaviour, low level OCD, urinary frequency, diminished fine motor ability, insomnia, loss of executive function. Waxed and waned with strep/viral infections.
2010 - Dx ADHD, motor tic disorder, aspergers, motor delay, probable PANDAS.
Jan 2011 - shin/forearm pain, cyclic IBS, fatigue, foot (sole) pain, dizziness, palpitations, chest pain, anxiety/panic attacks, pick-like skull pain, pain and stiffness at base of skull, tingling in extremeties, chills and hot flashes, nightly fever.
Whew! That's a lot of symptoms resolved! Even her autism diagnosis has been withdrawn.
A couple more suggestions I would make:
1) Be proactive, and it sounds as though you are. Work with your LLMD, and do your research. Find out how the abx work and side effects. Find out how the supplements work and why the LLMD is suggesting you use them (ie, transfer factors, fibrolytic enzymes, vitamins). Ours was very open to suggestions. If something was suggested that I didn't feel good about, we didn't do it. If I had a suggestion that was thought to be valid, it was incorporated.
2) Be open to other methods of treatment. Before we even got to the LLMD, I had researched about different herbal treatment options. There are several out there: Cowden, ByronWhite, BeyondBalance etc. We will be starting near infrared sauna this winter.
I was drawn to Stephen Buhner's protocols, which have expanded and changed over the last couple of years. His books are full of wonderful information about how these bacteria behave, what they do and why they do it.
Healing Lyme Disease Coinfections: Complementary and Holistic Treatments for Bartonella and Mycoplasma (a wonderful up to date book on most of the herbs he uses along with reliable sites for buying them)
Healing Lyme: Natural Healing and Prevention of Lyme Borreliosis and Its Coinfections (this is an older edition)
Herbal Antibiotics, 2nd Edition: Natural Alternatives for Treating Drug-resistant Bacteria (a good overview of using herbs to treat infections other than lyme/co, including instructions on making decoctions, tinctures and glycerites)
He is supposed to be coming out with a newer babesia protocol next year.
His website is here:
http://buhnerhealinglyme.com/
His premise is that these bacteria act as parasites, inducing the specific cytokine cascades which produce the inflammation and tissue destruction needed to release required nutrients.
If the inflammation/tissue distruction can be reduced, symptoms will improve and the bacteria will be weakened because of decreased nutrient availability. A nutrient dense diet will provide building blocks for your body to regenerate. In this way the bacteria can be weakened to a point were the immune system can keep them in check.
Our LLMD was fine with using the anti-inflammatory herb Japanese knotweed throughout our daughter's treatment. I really think it helped with herxes and especially brain inflammation. I have been able to bring her out of herx-induced rages in 15 minutes with a double dose of knotweed. This stuff is for real!
We are now on a bartonella protocol (after talking with Buhner's associate Julie McIntyre) which includes: sida actua, japanese knotweed, houttuynia, and teasel along with A-Bart (and a bunch of other supplements from the LLMD). We are also seeing a TCM naturopath who is a little more local for herbal help.
Don't be afraid.