How Long was or is everyone on antibiotics

Hi All

I am entering month 4 on ABS, I am trying to get a pulse if this is long or short in time frame.

I have been on multiple antibiotics simultaneously for more than 5 years. Each time I cut down within a short period of time my neuro symptoms rage and I actually get new symptoms. I at one point met with an infectious disease doctor for Lyme related issues and ask him to what degree do antibiotics minimize inflammation. He said minimally. I said minimally as in like an aspirin? He said less than that. So for me, I remain on antibiotics, herbals and supplements as they have allowed me to work and function. I never thought I would be on antibiotics this long but the alternative to allow the disease to progress is not an option. So in my opinion, four months is not very long. This said, I hope you are able to wean off of the antibiotics at some point and make the transition to herbals or some other protocol.

My neuro symptoms initially consisted of brain fog, the left side of my face tingling as well as left eye pain. Over time, my neuro symptoms have gotten worse unfortunately. The tingling occurs on both sides of my face, and sometimes in my toes. When I decrease an antibiotic I have " ice pick headaches", burning scalp and eventually burning all over my body. This change in new symptoms has only happened when I have decreased one of the antibiotics. Two out of three times when this happened I was lucky enough to get back on the typical dose of the antibiotic that I was on prior to the reduction and it squashed the new symptoms. This last time however it did not work and I was put on another antibiotic, liposomal ceftriaxone. I am happy to say that this medication has eliminated the headaches and reduced the burning to tolerable levels. What are your neuro symptoms like and what has helped minimize them?

I hope you are able to eliminate and or reduce your symptoms with the right combinations of antibiotics/herbals. How long have you been sick? Able to work? From what I have seen, some people respond really well to herbals alone and do not do well with antibiotics and for others like myself, antibiotics seem to be the only protocol that work. I certainly wish it were different as herbals as a whole seem to be more benign as compared with antibiotics.

5 years and two months on antibiotics. 4 1/2 years on herbals.

4 years minus a few breaks = 3 1/2 years.

Aerose, what are your symptoms and how long have you been sick? I am sorry that you have not had any relief from either antibiotics or herbals.

3 1/2 years the last 2 on a pulsing protocol. when i go off them longer than 7-10 days i start relapsing so it appears i've reached somewhat of a stalemate with the buggers.

step now is to figure out how to make progress against the bugs. my feeling is the bugs are hiding out in places that abx can't reach so what other modalities can penetrate these defensive positions?

immune system stimulation via acupuncture, hyperthermia, other 'alternative' modalities is where i'm currently researching because typical modalities have gotten me as far as i'll get.

I did a combo of antibiotics and herbs for 2ish years the first go around. Each month I would swap which 3-4 antibiotics I was taking. I was on high doses and had to have my blood work done bi-weekly to ensure my liver/kidney/ect were holding up ok. Just relapsed and I'm currently on day 10 of a similar protocol.

I started herbal tinctures and traditional chinese herbs June 2014, and did that for 1year. I started ABX fall 2015. So, ive been treating off & on for little over FOUR years now!

I agree 100% Rikky. I applaud and respect all of the llmd's that are doing their best to help those of us that are sick get well. They risk much in their attempts to help us. Having said this, I believe that as a group we must also do as you suggest and continually try new approaches to find wellness. In my opinion, there is no doctor that currently can definitively say, I can get you to remission. If this were the case there would be a line half way around the world. That's why I think it's important that when we try new approaches we share them with all members of this forum. I really believe the solution to finding wellness in large part is going to come from communicating our shared experiences and tweaking protocols accordingly.