posted
Finally got into an LLMD that strongly suspects lyme. Sent blood test out (Western Blot) for Lyme and co-infections. Immediately started me on oral Doxy today, but said that if it is Lyme, in a couple of weeks would switch me to a 4 week course of IV antibiotics.
My question is what are people's thoughts of the 4 week IV course. Thank you, S.
Posts: 32 | From Atlanta | Registered: Feb 2011
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posted
I don't know a lot about it, but am sure you'll get replies from others who do. But, just in general IV antibiotics will get to any infection much faster! Kind of wish my new LLNP would skip the orals and go straigt to IV. As far as "4 week course" I think rule of thumb is the longer the bugs have been in your system the longer you'll need treatment."
Sorry, could not be of much help!
Beagle
Posts: 348 | From MA | Registered: Dec 2010
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posted
Did your doctor say 4 weeks was the limit? Most LLMD's will treat the infection until the symptoms subside. Are you sure you're seeing an LLMD?
-------------------- sixgoofykids.blogspot.com Posts: 13449 | From Ohio | Registered: Feb 2007
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TF
Frequent Contributor (5K+ posts)
Member # 14183
posted
Yes, I wonder if you are really seeing a lyme doctor. Generally, a lyme doc isn't going to put you on IV for just 4 weeks.
However, a non-lyme doctor will behave exactly as you have described--doxy until positive blood test and then 4 weeks of IV. They believe this will take care of the problem! Wrong.
A lyme doctor will generally make the diagnosis at the first appointment (based on your symptoms, etc.) rather than waiting for blood tests to diagnose because he knows the tests aren't accurate. (Many people with lyme disease get a negative lyme test--many, many people.)
And, if he decides you are so sick that you need IV (not everyone does, by any means), a lyme specialist never would tell you he's giving it to you for 4 weeks. Generally, you will have IV for at least 3 months, just like any other medication the lyme doc prescribes. One month is not long enough to have an effect. You stay on treatment until it is no longer helping you. There is not set timeframe. Each patient is different.
So, I suggest you contact the lyme support groups in your state (see Support Groups on left side of page) and also post in Seeking a Doctor to get some names of doctors who know how to treat lyme disease.
In case you don't know it, lyme is embroiled in a medical controversy and there are 2 camps regarding its treatment. It really sounds like you have fallen into the wrong camp here. The camp you may be in is the one that believes in the accuracy of the lyme test (so that people rarely have lyme in their view) and believes lyme is easily cured (30 days of IV does the trick).
The other camp, which includes our lyme doctors, says that lyme is not rare at all, the lyme tests are inaccurate and miss up to half the lyme cases, and lyme is extremely difficult to get rid of.
I suggest you read the Burrascano lyme treatment guidelines to understand what we believe here about the nature of lyme disease, lyme testing, and length of treatment. They are found here:
Burrascano was a pioneer in lyme disease treatment and became world famous for treating people for lyme.
See this quote from page 7:
"DIAGNOSTIC HINTS Lyme Borreliosis (LB) is diagnosed clinically, as no currently available test, no matter the source or type, is definitive in ruling in or ruling out infection with these pathogens, or whether these infections are responsible for the patient's symptoms."
Also, a Boston TV station did a great show on lyme disease about 2 years ago. Here is the link to it: http://www.kettmann.com/Lyme/Save/
Then, click on "Here"
The show was taped by a girl on LymeNet and she put it on-line for all of us to be able to view it. You will learn a lot about the medical controversy surrounding lyme disease and why it is so hard to find a doctor who knows how to cure a person of lyme disease.
You will also hear over and over how people tested negative for lyme disease, only to find out later that they actually had the disease.
Posts: 9931 | From Maryland | Registered: Dec 2007
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