I have convinced my Dr. to treat me with 1500mg amoxicillian for 8 to 12 months. Has anyone had/heard of any successful treatment with chronic lyme? I am desperate!!! Doxy no longer works for me at all. Read that antibiotic treatments that are for a year have a huge success rate for chronic suffers. I have long term, severe, chronic symptoms and need help!!!!!!!Thank you.
Posted by Michelle M (Member # 7200) on :
Hi there and welcome to LymeNet!
My LLMD had me on Doxy first for a month (man, did I fry despite all precautions!!! UGH!) to knock down my bacterial load, I 'spose.
The next two months were Amox (in your 1500 dose range) PLUS Probenecid. {OOPS, I just edited this as I realized I take 3000 mg Amox per day, not 1500...sorry!) Probenicid is added and taken at 250 mg three times a day because it keeps the Amoxy in your system longer, allowing a higher level of the Amoxy to stay in your bloodstream for a longer time. Perhaps your doc can add it, too.
I had a worse Herxheimer reaction to that combo than during a subsequent month when I did a month of IV Rocephin, believe it or not.
If you've convinced your doc to give you long term treatment and he's NOT an LLMD, good for you. However, be sure to test at a good lab for co-infections. In fact, many LLMD's treat for co-infections regardless of the tests because of unreliability of testing vs. prevalence of co-infections.
I would want, if I were you, to make sure at some point in your treatment, to add in a cyst-buster drug such as Flagyl for a month or so. I'm on it right now, and not having a particularly good time. And a month ago I coulda SWORN I was cured, so content had I become on my Amoxicillin regime.
This is why it's important to have an LLMD or at least someone knowledgeable in treating Lyme -- UNLESS you're very lucky and have a doc who is open to reading the ILADS treatment guidelines so he doesn't just leave you on Amoxicillin for a year, 'cause that really might not do it. And you probably DON'T want to do this again!
Stay tuned, read all the "newbie" links, and ask lots o'questions! Good luck and health!
Michelle
[ 25. October 2005, 03:20 PM: Message edited by: Michelle M ]
Posted by Tracy9 (Member # 7521) on :
1500 per day of Amox did nothing for me, but I am responding a little to Doxycycline, 300 mg per day.
Posted by Corgilla (Member # 4066) on :
Hi,
I suggest finding a doctor who treats Lyme on a regular basis. Everyone responds differently to different medications.
If you lock yourself in to just one and it's not helping, you'll be taking a year's worth of antibiotics for no reason.
A LLMD (Lyme Literate Medical Doctor) is practiced at monitoring progress and finding the right treatment. Also, you may have coinfections that this doctor may not know about.
Take care,
Corgilla
Posted by CaliforniaLyme (Member # 7136) on :
Yup- Art Doheerty who ran Lots of Links on Lyme pages- got into remission on high dose amoxicillin. If you go to sci.med you can search for Art Doherty personal history and amoxicillin and it will pop up (but be aware that half the CaliforniaLyme posts on sci.med are by a troll-imposter and are not me if you go there-). ANywayz, he is in full remission after years sick-
Posted by Monica (Member # 224) on :
I have sent you a private message.
I believe you need to see an LLMD, and I urge you not to waste time getting to one.
Posted by Nancy-OH (Member # 3567) on :
You do need to see an experienced LLMD.
This would get lengthy if I explained it all, but in a nutshell, it's trial and error. Even when an abx works, it will eventually stop working and you need to change abx. They usually worked for 3 months for me before my doc would switch to a different abx.
There is no way amoxicillin will work for 8 to 10 months. This is your life we are talking about, please see an experienced LLMD.