Doxy 100mg BID - for how long?

You're supposed to treat 2 months past resolution of symptoms, according to ILADS guidelines.

keylime - I agree with what cd and sarah have said.

Also - the doxy really should be 200 mg twice daily.
And, as cd said - you can start an herbal protocol - you can even start it while you're on the antibiotics.

Thanks, all of you for your input!

I will talk to my doc about doubling the dose to 200mg/twice day and will continue on it for a few months after I'm symptom free (looking forward to being symptom free!).

I'm simultaneously taking homeopathic nosodes which he recommended in the place of herbal BB-1 drops and of which he has increased the dosage. I think he was starting me out slowly on both to avoid herxing, so perhaps he intended to increase the abx as well, although I'm not sure.

Another thing he recommended was an Electrodermal Screening (EDS) with a technician that they've been using for several years now. Has anyone had experience with this EDS machine screening? She specializes in Homeoapthy and has a waitlist for appointments up until March 2016.

To CD, you're right, I did notice that my doc does not follow ILADS guidelines and he is not an official LLMD. He was recommended to me by the Texas LDA and I had heard good things about him. He has many Lyme patients and seems very knowledgeable on the subject. I do like him so far and I think he will work with me if I want to take a different approach.

I've noticed that the heart racing/palpitations that I had before the Doxy and the homeopathic nosodes has not changed... it hasn't increased or decreased, so I'm not sure if that is a symptom of Lyme or something else like the Hypothyroidism.

By the way, how do you find out which bacteria you are infected with, eg Bart, Babesia, Erolichia, etc.? Is this only through Igenex labs?

Thanks everyone

Hi Girlie,
Ok, thanks. I see so many in the forum who know their specific infections and thought I was missing something.
Take care!

Keylime

My LLMD is ILADS-trained yet he was/is convinced I was/am only dealing with Lyme. My symptoms have always been mild but I wasn't able to shake the mild peripheral nervous system issues after going off abx (doxy and amoxicillin) and even after almost 6 months on the full Cowden protocol.

It was because my symptoms were confined to my nervous system (except when herxing) that I asked my LLMD about Bartonella (I remembered Dr. Horowitz's words that people who have predominantly neuro symptoms should suspect Bart). My LLMD stood firm with his diagnosis.

It was also because of certain herx symptoms that I also began to suspect Babesia.

I transitioned to Buhner's Lyme, Bartonella and Babesia protocols in mid-July....and am still titrating the Bart/Babs herbs.

Well, I'm finally experiencing improvements so it's clear to me that asymptomatic Bartonella/Bartonella-like and Babesia/Babesia-like infections were impeding my healing from Lyme.

My research shows this can happen and I think it's worth a consideration for many of us - especially now that one of the speakers at the ILADS conference last month said to think Lyme, Bartonella and Babesia when dealing with anyone who has a Lyme diagnosis.

Perhaps you might speak to your LLMD about an herbal protocol for Babesia....if you herx with Babesia-type symptoms (air hunger, head pressure, sweats, chest pressure, etc.), you'll know you need to continue to treat for it.

You might even want to consider similar for Bartonella.

Doxy alone just doesn't cut it for someone infected as long ago as you were - sorry. It only works for the newly infected.....sometimes (see my signature - my PCP Rx 100mg BID doxy for 3 wks.)

Interesting, Mpost, thanks - I didn't realize that Babesia needed to be treated with two antibiotics. At this point we're not sure if I have Babesia, but I do suspect it.

To CD - thanks for sharing. It's clear that we have to be our own advocates even with the best doctors. Looks like you pretty much had to self-diagnose your co-infections!

I told my doc on my first visit that I suspected Babesia because of the heart racing and the former breathing issues that later disappeared, so he started me on homeopathic nosodes consisting of Borrelia and Babesia. I've only seen him twice, so I'm sure it will take a while for him to get to know how I respond to treatment in order to determine the right protocol. Another thing he strongly recommended were LDI injections (Low Dose Immunotherapy) which make a lot of sense, but I've been hesitant to start because of the restrictive diet I must go on for a month (mainly no yeast, dairy, gluten for 4 weeks). I'm a wimp - I just need to set my mind to it, I guess. He took a lot of tests which determined problems with my autoimmune system and I understand that these LDI injections are very effective for building up a defense against Lyme bacteria. He also wants me to come back in to get tested for allergies and food allergies. I think he takes a very well-rounded, holistic approach which I like.

There's so much to take in. Whenever I hear of a different protocol that someone is having success with I want to try it out. I once bought Serrapeptase without any doctor's recommendation and that gave me a whopper of a herx reaction, so I'm thinking that it was definitely attacking those bacteria in a big way. Had to stop so that I could continue working, but I'd like to run that by my doctor and see what he thinks about it.

To Cr3ativegirl - good question... I'm going to message you because I have some new questions for you about our similar protocols, ok?

Thanks everyone!

Thanks, Girlie.
I appreciate the advice! If I don't see any improvement with my current protocol I will definitely try the herbals. I did do about 5 months of Banderol and Samento and was doing well for a while, but my symptoms returned with some new ones added on.

But I know there are many other protocols out there like Buhner's and Cowden's so I'll consider one of these if the homeopathic route in combination with the Doxy fails. Sounds like I should at least up the dosage of Doxy, so I'll talk to him about that as soon as I can.

Thanks again, everyone!