Finally got an official diagnosis!

I'm glad you finally saw the LLMD.

I am on minocycline (tetracycline class) along with Rifampin - starting slow - and ramping up to 300 mg twice daily) to treat bart.

Your LLMD must think you have bartonella based on your symptoms.

Are you starting one antibiotic first? That's what I did. I started mino at half dose....then to full dose, and now have started rifampin...but not at full dose yet.

That protocol looks good to me (although I don't know much about tetracycline) - again, hoping you are starting with one antibiotic first...

The tindamax is for the cyst form of lyme.

Wow Teejay86! Congratulations on finally getting diagnosed. ;) shouldn't be a celebration, but in our world, it's the holy grail. AND it only took you "months".

I'll let others comment on the abx but be sure to take at least 100 billion probiotics (fresh, live, multi-strained) and some form of anti fungal (coconut oil, grapefruit seed extract, raw garlic, etc.).

Implement a solid diet, try light exercise if you can—or at least sweat! Others here have fantastic detox ideas but detox is as important as treating the infection… you gotta make sure what you're killing is getting escorted out of the body effectively.

And keep posting to let us know how things are going. After 20 posts you've probably already read the "New to Lyme?" thread at the top of the page but if not, it has invaluable info for you as you start your treatment.

-p

I am not starting with one antibiotic, I am starting all of them at once tomorrow as far as I know. I will post which probiotic I will be using as soon as I hear back.

Excellent. I am meeting with an ND tomorrow that works two days a week at my local health food store. I will pick her brain about all of these detoxing agents and see what she thinks is best. So far all I have for detoxing is lemon water and epsom salts. When I asked my LLMD he did not suggest any herbal protocols at the time.

Thanks for the info Girlie. I'll call my LLMD first thing tomorrow to clarify whether I should be starting them all at once tomorrow or one at a time.

Teejay86 said...
I am not starting with one antibiotic, I am starting all of them at once tomorrow as far as I know. I will post which probiotic I will be using as soon as I hear back.

I would highly encourage you to NOT do that!!! That almost always leads to monster herxes!! Doctors rarely understand the need to start off on a low dose and titrate up slowly unless they too have been super ill - which just doesn't happen often since they are the doctor!

We always suggest waiting at least a week in between starting abx because a delayed reaction is quite common for us - and a monster herx is not only miserable, but can be dangerous if you have the gene mutations that keep your body from detoxing well.

Please reconsider!! They know which abx to use, but they don't often understand detoxing and the need to titrate up slowly!!

Thank you all!

The probiotics he suggested were Culturelle (Lactobacillus) as well as something containing bifidobacterium.

Traveler - do you recommend I start on the tetracycline or the rifampin first? I'm not quite sure on the dosage levels yet, but I know tetracycline is 3x daily and rifampin is 2x daily. If i'm not mistaken, tetracycline is 500mg and rifampin is 300mg but my prescriptions are not ready at the pharmacy yet. The tindamax is a pulse treatment - 2x daily Friday, Saturday, Sunday. I believe that is 500mg.

Remember with tetracycline to use sunblock and wear protective clothing. You can really burn easily in the sun on that drug.

Probiotic needs to be multi-strained!!!
www.healingwell.com/community/default.aspx?f=30&m=3481242

We are highly suggesting you do both, actually. If necessary, cut the pills in half, or if they are capsules, open them over a piece of paper and pour out half of the contents of each pill for a few days, taking the remainder the next day or the next time you take a dose of that medication.

And personally, I wouldn't take it 3 times a day at first either. I herx pretty hard, and for me, even with doing practically everything just can to detox, it still lasts 3 weeks for me. I have now treated Lyme successfully twice, and I have started off on half doses and increased to full dose only when I could tolerate it, which would be after I'm done herxing after 3 weeks, so I know this doesn't interfere with the healing and actually makes it easier on our body, and us.

teejay,
I've done the same as Peteza and started on different abx's two days apart. I've never started on a lower dose than what was prescribed. I know that some on here have done that but everything I have read and the information that comes with your rx states clearly not to do that. You can google taking a lower dosage of an antibiotic and come up with a multiplex of reasons why it's not advised.

The reason it's suggested here is that the abx's are going to start the eradication process of the Lyme. The die off creates toxins in your system (which is why detox, biofilm cleaners, and binders are so important) aka a herx. That often ramps up your symptoms which is lousy as heck. This is a rotten disease. I'm of the frame of mind that I would rather tough it out and beat the crap out of the disease than be dealing with this for years and years.

It's the combination of abx's that your LLMD rx'ed that will be most effective.

I think it's terrific you are seeing an ND tomorrow. Get as much kidney, liver, lymphatic, adrenal and detox support products that are ok with the abx's that you can. Also get a dry skin brush at the health food store.

Do what you feel comfortable with.

jrpsf said...
I'm of the frame of mind that I would rather tough it out and beat the crap out of the disease than be dealing with this for years and years.

The problem with this is that there are those that don't detox well, and if you don't know how well your body detoxes - then it can get dangerous - and actually slow the healing process.

the body is a wonderful thing at healing itself, true, but with significant challenges (like healing from Lyme or dealing with large amounts of toxins), it will happily create severe symptoms and shut down other functions in order to deal with what is most critical (survival of too many toxins in the blood). It's not hard to find cases where the body has shut down one or more functions when it's under too much stress. Women and their cycles is one that is mentioned frequently.

So if a person has a body that has no gene mutations, no other conditions other than Lyme, then sure, it's great and even preferable to hit it and hit it hard. But if you have anything else going on, I always advise caution in starting treatments until you find out how your body will respond.

I have literally lost count of the number of people (after 28 of them I just quite counting actually) that have been on this forum and have either stated on here or to me in an email that they wish they had listened and started off slower and on lower doses of both herbs and pharma abx. And that's why I have gone to really trying to get most everyone to start off slow, and only ramp up as fast as your body can get rid of the toxins - with keeps symptoms low enough for the person to continue to function during the day.


As always, we all have to do what fits us personally and our own situation best.