Looking for LLMD near Montgomery County, Maryland

Hi good2go, welcome to our community!

Kudos for you on acting quickly! A bulls eye is a symptom of lyme disease...so no matter what your test shows...you do have Lyme disease.

I would not stop the antibiotics at 10 days. The recommended dose of doxy is 200 mg twice daily.

I would see if your regular MD can extend your doxy until your LLMD appt.

Here is a link to the Lyme Disease Treatment Guidelines - by Dr. J. Burrascano (ILADS board member)



www.lymenet.org/BurrGuide200810.pdf

Scroll down and you will see the antibiotic choices...and further down - how long to treat when you have a bulls eye rash and no other symptoms

Maybe you can show this to your regular MD to encourage him to give you enough to last until your LLMD appt.

Girlie-Forum Moderator,

The Burrascano link. has great information.

Looks like I have my work cut out for me in convincing an MD that aggressive rx early on is best.

I have two questions based on your experience,opinion, and observations.

1. Which is more important the higher dose of Doxy (200 mg BID vs 100 mg BID) versus the greater than ten duration treatment? I ask because I have no idea what type of MD response I will get and might have to negotiate at first.

2. Are there any recommendations for activity level in this early treatment stage?

I already do yoga and will continue. Walking at approximately 3.0 mph for 30 minutes feels refreshing not taxing. I know about the photosensitivity associated with Doxy so outside walking will be in the evening. Not sure if heading to the gym for elliptical and treadmill is wise or unwise.

Aside from the rash I did have muscle aches starting with shoulder and arms for three days and building to entire body for two days. Could not get comfortable no matter what I did! I actually felt better Thursday morning and then I saw the rash. You read the story from there.

Thanks in advance for any thoughts or advice.

good2go said...
Girlie-Forum Moderator,


2. Are there any recommendations for activity level in this early treatment stage?

I already do yoga and will continue. Walking at approximately 3.0 mph for 30 minutes feels refreshing not taxing. I know about the photosensitivity associated with Doxy so outside walking will be in the evening. Not sure if heading to the gym for elliptical and treadmill is wise or unwise.

Yes, the yoga is great! Keep it up. If the half hour of walking feels good, then it's fine to continue.
Exercise is good as long as you don't wear yourself down - don't overdo it.
But, in general movement is good - gets the lymph system going (flushes out toxins), sweating is also a good way to expel toxins.

You should look at the detoxing suggestions in the "New to Lyme?" thread - as well - you need to employ many different ways to detox. Drink at least 8 glasses of water - add some fresh lemon juice to some of them.
Warm epsom salt baths
Take something for your liver - Milk Thistle extract (unless you have a ragweed allergy) is good.
Maintain a good, clean diet...

Few ideas for you. Oh...and probiotics - are a must. Your healthy bacteria in your gut is getting killed from the antibiotics - needs to be replenished.

Hi Good2go!!
Welcome!! I'm so glad you joined our community!!

As Girlie has already given you a lot of really great information, there's not much to add - although I would greatly encourage you to go to a LLMD to be sure that you get the amount of treatment with the right meds and dosages that are required to nip this in the bud. This is literally your one chance to rid your body of the bacteria, otherwise you enter into chronic Lyme. It's really that important.

You can also choose to use alternative medicine to treat these infections, which are equally effective. One of the protocols that we have seen the most success with is Buhner's: buhnerhealinglyme.com/the-protocols/

Otherwise you will need to see a LLMD (Lyme Literate Medical Doctor). For information on finding a​n ILADS ​(International Lyme and Associated Diseases Society)​ trained​ LLMD in your area, you can send me an email by clicking on my screen name or the small blue envelope under my screen name. I may have contact information for some LLMD's in your area as well.​ ​Please include your state and area that you would like to find a LLMD in and I will see how close I can get to your location.​

You can start a new thread titled something like "Looking for LLMD in the (insert the nearest larger city & state) area". Members can email you about the LLMD's that they see in that area if you have your email enabled. We don't allow doctors names to be posted though.

You can email the Tick-Borne Disease Alliance at
​[​​url]​[email protected]​ for LLMD referrals and you can go to ​tbdalliance.org​​ to learn more about these infections.

You can go to The Lyme Disease Association and search for LLMD's 3 times in a month. You have to register first. Here is the link:
www.lymediseaseassociation.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=277&Itemid=74​​


ILADS has their own referral system as well:
ilads.org/ilads_media/physician-referral/

​ You will want to find an ILADS trained doctor, not one that has self proclaimed themselves as a LLMD or an ID Doc (Infectious Disease Doctor), as ID docs believe Lyme is hard to catch and easy to treat, and don't believe in the reality of chronic Lyme. Go to the ILADS site to read the new (2014) Treatment guidelines to get you started on your healing journey:
http://www.ilads.org/lyme/treatment-guideline.php


As for exercise, it's as you tolerate it. If exercising makes you feel worse (brings on increased or new symptoms), then you need to either bring down the intensity, duration or discontinue the exercise and find something that is more suited for where your body is. As with much of the things with these infections, it's all very individual.