Getting down to specifics

The Lyme bacteria takes a long time to replicate, so one round of abx that only lasts a few weeks won't be enough. Generally speaking, it takes 3 - 4 weeks for the bacteria to 'replicate' in the body. So it depends on how long 'one round' of abx lasts - it can take several months to kill off the majority of the bacteria, particularly when a person has been infected for a while, as each month of treatment will only kill off so many bacteria.

The same thing with any means of killing these bacteria though, which is why Lyme is such a 'stubborn' infection - it's a slow growing infection, and the bacteria can hide in biofilms, and can transform into different forms to avoid being killed by any means. The Lyme bacteria can only be killed while it's in the spirochete form.

MAF249 said...
July. yes when I first was diagnosed I got very sick and thats when I started my first abx treatment. and during the end of that and for 1 week after I felt much better and was able to finish my semester at school. but one week later I started having symptoms again.

So I did need those first antibiotics. and yes they do kill the bacteria but not enough for it to never come back because now I have symptoms again. In the earlier post I just meant that the bacteria is never fully killed by antibiotics and it will come back.

Did you ever need more antibiotics after the first round?

I took more antibiotics after the first round, which lasted 90 days by the way. Then 60 days, and then barely 30 because I couldn't tolerate what Flagyl was doing to my brain. for one thing, some abx don't break through Blood Brain Barrier, and other's do, but all they do is break down the barrier and let the bacteria go free.

You need a combo of something to work half way well, but so much more is involved than just taking abx.

As I said, I'd been infected too long for this or really mono treatment (one abx at a time) to help me much because I have extensive body damage.

So I need herbs, which is the path I'm getting slowly into now, to try to help my cellular structure into doing whatever repairing is possible, while trying to hit the bacteria and knock it out where I can at the same time.

I am having to do this with help form these wonderful, knowledgeable people, and what I can understand from books/articles like Buhner's. I can not afford an LLMD, and my main doctor, an Internist, cannot assist me further in this without losing his license and/or job.


We have to be careful and try to be more supportive of what people on here choose to do for their healing, the paths they are trying to make, rather than undermine them or what they have learned about themselves.

Suicide is alarmingly high among Lyme sufferers, and the worst thing anyone on here can do is to in effect say "why bother?"

I think the biggest problem facing anyone actually healing long term is their own impatience.