ILADs or Not ILADs treatment?

New to the forum... Diagnosed in Aug 2013 via IGENEX. Most likely have had lymes for 37+ years and had the chronic pain since.

I went to Dr. 1 in MO in October 2013. Non-ILADs - but, gave a protocol of one antibiotic for 4 weeks before going to the next - (Doxy, then Ceftin, then Zithromax, then Flagyl, then clindamycin, quinine, then rifampin. Also gave a digestive enzyme and a yeast killer. Showed low aldosterone (common for lymes patients) and got a Rx for this. Also had some other natural/homeopath recommendations.

Approach: target borrelia, rocky mountain fever, tularemia, ehrlicia, mycoplasma then the cell wall form of borrelia, then the L-form , then for the cyst, etc.

After a long waitlist, (wasn't to go in until March 2014), I got in today to an ILAD's dr. - His protocol is: Month 1: Mundipurl, Sida Acuta, Mepron, Pau d'arco, nystatin, Apo-hepat, Samento, Artisinin, azithromycin. Month 2: Cryptolepis, cefdinir, fluconazole and the Apo-hepat, Samento, Artisinin, azithromycin. Also recommended the Doxy, but, I already started with that.

The ILADs Dr did like a lot of what the traditional/Non-ILADs recommended and saw some similarities. The biggest difference was traditional Dr treated one thing at a time where the ILAD's was go at it at once. Both said it would take 10-14 months.

I started with the Doxy and felt some relief - i.e. able to function!

QUESTION TO THE GROUP: Anyone have any experience with non-ILADs vs. ILADs trained treatment? Anyone didn't find relief/results from one or the other?

Any thoughts/insights welcome and appreciated. Need to determine which course of action to proceed.

Thank you!

Hi KillingLyme!
Welcome to our community!!

Even though you aren't "new" to Lyme, if you haven't yet, I would encourage you to read through our "New to Lyme? Start here!" thread that sits at the top of the forum. It's packed full of important information, symptoms lists (as Lyme rarely is passed by itself), detoxing instructions, and more.

I wouldn't recommend seeing anything but a LLMD unless that person is using "alternative healers" - Homeopaths, Naturopaths, Traditional Chinese Medicine practitioners, Herbalist and so on.

You need someone trained in recognizing these infections and how they respond/react to treatments and the complications that can arise that will prevent a person from healing.

Honestly, had the non-LLMD that you saw known what they were doing, you wouldn't need to see a LLMD now, right?

Many do from what I've seen over the years of being on here. Although most also start off with lower doses than they plan on ultimately having the patient on too.

In Holistic medicine, the goal is to treat the body as a whole, so this is a concept from Holistic medicine that is finally making it's way into "mainstream" medicine. These are very complex bacteria and infections so if you only treat this a little and that a little, the bacteria have a chance to rally like no others would. They have to be "hit" hard (high doses) and for longer than usual (compared to normal bacterial infections) and in a way that they won't be able to morph into a form that can hide from the abx. Often two or more of these infections must be treated at the same time as well - but which ones & when is what you count on the LLMD's or other well-qualified practitioners will know.

For me I had to have Lyme and Bartonella treated together and first - before I could go after the Babesia. Some have to have their Babesia treated before the Bartonella or Lyme first. These bacteria create an illness that is unique to each body, as each body has strengths and weaknesses of it's own.

Until you are fairly sure that your LLMD isn't doing what your body needs - and we can help you to determine that, when and if that time comes - you should trust them to make the right decisions. Now that does not mean that you should just rely on them to do what's right - you should learn all you can and ask them questions about your treatments. We have a great list of questions to help you see what kind to ask on page 2 of the "New to Lyme?" thread. And of course, as I said, we can help you determine if you should be changing things around or whatever.

Knowledge is power - to heal in this case. Learn all you can so that you can be proactive in your healing.

And detox!!! That's an important part of healing from these infections too. As these bacteria die, they produce toxins that can quickly overwhelm the body, some just making our current symptoms increase, and sometimes they create new symptoms. Detoxing is only helping your body to flush those toxins out rather than allowing them to build up in the body.

Hang in there!! We are all here to help you through this!! That's why I say welcome to our community! We really can be as we care about one another and will offer what we have learned or tips that have helped us.

Hi Bernie!

Welcome to our community!! I'm so glad that you have found our spot to be so helpful!! That's wonderful news!

Thank you for your kind words about our community as well - it's much appreciated!

If there's any questions we might be able to help you get answers to or find info for, please do let us know!!

And maybe you can ask the others if they wish to join us as well?? That way you could all have read things and could discuss them when you get together? Just a thought and an invite to your friends!

Don't miss the information that's in the "New to Lyme? Start here!" thread!!! We have symptom lists, important info, detoxing instructions and more there!

Again, thank you for joining and letting us know that it's been helpful for you and your group!