LymeNet Flash: When do you see some relief?

This is topic When do you see some relief? in forum Medical Questions at LymeNet Flash.

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Posted by MrsSAM (Member # 7079) on :

Hi everyone, I have been on the treatment
( Biaxin / Flagyl) for about 4 months now and am seeing little imrovement, so much pain mostly in my chest and neck/back, just ready to give up, day after day of this feel bad allot of the time, then when the herx comes usually every month like clockwork it is still so bad. When do you see a little light at the end of the tunnel. Thanks everyone, any insight would be helpful

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Thank you MrsSAM

Posted by lla2 (Member # 2364) on :

ifyou've been on treatment for so long with no noticable improvement you may want to talk to your llmd about coinfections and being treated for them...they will interfere with treatment of lyme and stop you from getting any better...

you don't need to wait forr positive bloodwork, a good llmd will go by symtoms...

hope you feel better soon.

lisa

Posted by Aniek (Member # 5374) on :

I had sudden improvement at about 7 months. However, I had symptom relief prior with a pain treatment plan. Are you working with a medical professional to control your pain? If not, I highly recommend it.

The pain increases stress which impacts your ability to heal. Plus, we all have a right to pain relief. So I hope you can find some.

Posted by liz28 on :

I never had any improvement on biaxin, although flagyl became a helpful drug once its three-month herx ended.

From reading others' posts, I get the impression that many LLMDs use biaxin as a "starter" drug, and use it to build on. After four months, you should be seeing definite improvement.

What Lisa said about the co-infections sounds smart. You can start on artemisinin (although some people prefer artemisia) now, in case you have babesia.

Babesia symptoms include vertigo, sweats, dizzy spells, and crushing fatigue. Bartonella symptoms are splitting, continuous headaches, swollen neck glands (you can't miss this, they inflate like balloons), insomnia, and a sore throat.

Meanwhile, take a "Lymenet day" and just read through every post that you can, even if the topic doesn't seem to apply to you. After the millionth post, you will know which drugs are out there, which combinations are used, and which symptoms they hit. Once you know that, THEN go to your LLMD and ask for what you want.

After many years lived as a guinea pig, I am seeing rapid improvement over a one-month time frame on a heavy abx regimen that hits the Lyme in combination and two co-infections. Although I did work my way up to being able to tolerate these drugs, I couldn't help noticing that getting better quickly is more fun than getting better slowly, and does not seem to be forbidden by the laws of nature. So my vote is always, start with one strong drug, see if you can handle it, and work your way up.