posted
I have had Lyme for over 10 years but have just began proper treatment with an LLMD about 4 months ago.
every month she has been switching up the orals, and every month I Herx really badly at first, feel pretty good for a week or 2 and then crash again.
She's thinking its time to begin IV treatment. I am waiting for the office to email me with information on cost and how treatment works, but wanted to see how it was for all of you.
I'm really freaked out by this because the last think I wanted was to have to do a PICC line.
Have any of you declined IV treatment and ended up doing fine without it? Im wondering if I should stick with orals for a while since I really haven't been in treatment for that long.
Or maybe my doc just realizes that I will need it anyway and doesn't want to drag it out.
Any thoughts? Is IV usually much better once you start?
Posts: 66 | From New York | Registered: Sep 2015
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TF
Frequent Contributor (5K+ posts)
Member # 14183
posted
If it turns out that you can't afford the IV (and insurance usually will only cover 30 days of IV) an alternative is injections into the butt.
Burrascano says this is better than oral meds and compares favorably to IV medication. See this quote:
"BENZATHINE PENICILLIN
Comparative studies published by Fallon et. al. at Columbia University have shown that parenteral therapy is superior to oral therapy in chronic patients. Options include intramuscular long acting penicillin G (benzathine penicillin, or “Bicillin-LA”) or intravenous antibiotics.
For an antibiotic in the penicillin class to be effective, time-killing curves show that significant levels of antibiotic must be sustained for 72 hours. Bicillin LA is a sustained release formulation that meets these criteria.
Published studies in children and adults, combined with over a decade of experience with this therapy by front line, Lyme-treating physicians have established the efficacy, safety and usefulness of this medication. In many patients it is more effective than oral antibiotics for treating Lyme, and compares closely to intravenous therapy in terms of efficacy if the dose is high enough.
It is usually administered three or four times weekly for six to twelve months. It has the advantage of being relatively inexpensive, free of gastrointestinal side effects, unlikely to promote the overgrowth of yeast, and has an excellent safety record spanning many decades.
Finally, an added plus is that family members can be trained to administer this treatment at home." (page 16)
Read about IV treatment following this quote. Page 17. On page 18, it gives the required dosage for the IM (intramuscular) injections.
These are not cheap, but as Burrascano says, compared to the cost of IV, they are "relatively" inexpensive.
There are lots of old posts on LymeNet where folks talk about their experiences with these injections. You may benefit by reading them.
This way, you could avoid IV and the major cost that it entails. And, you would be getting treatment that is better than oral meds.
Posts: 9931 | From Maryland | Registered: Dec 2007
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posted
TF, thanks so much for the info! I will definitely talk to my doctor about this!
Posts: 66 | From New York | Registered: Sep 2015
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posted
I didn't do either IV or injections. I did turn to alternative treatments though.
I tried one bicillin injection and didn't like the lump it left in my butt. I told my LLMD (it made him laugh) and he switched me to something else. There is more than one way to get well and not everyone does IV.
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