Quick background. I went five years undiagnosed and with all the negative Elisa's, I didn't know better. By the time they thought I had had a stroke, unable to walk, sluring, shakes on my right side and numbness on my left, I had an N.D. step past my M.D. and order an Igenex.
I was positive and have been on treatment for 6 months, but as most of you can imagine, after we have been through that H***, we make sure every friend, family member and aquaintance knows your story so this never happens to any of them, RIGHT?
Ok, so yesterday, my sister found a tick on her which had started a bit of rash when she found it. She saved the tick and went to the doctor within three hours. She says normally she would have pulled it and ignored it since it was no big deal, but after seeing what has happened to me, she thought she better check it out.
Soooooo....she goes to a "duck" and tested positive for lyme. She said they had told her it was good she caught it early since it's not something you want to tangle with. So far, sounded good to me as she said she is on Doxy.
But my next question was, what is your dosage and for how long. Her answer....100 mg's twice a day for 10 days. Then she goes back for a follow up.
Granted, I am one that never saw the tick, never saw the bullseye and went five years of misdiagnosises, so her situation is entirely different, but from the things I've read here, 100 mg's twice a day for only 10 days and then you will be "cured" makes me REALLY nervous.
Even IDSA would say 10 days isn't even long enough and I think we all know where things stand with that. So I'm not wanting to be negative or scare her, but can someone help with some guidance on how to suggest it may take a bit more than this to be "cured"? Thank you for any help!!!!!!
Cathy
Posted by sixgoofykids (Member # 11141) on :
It should be 200 mg. twice per day to kill the bacteria.
I've heard anything from 21-30 days. Personally, I wouldn't mess around and would try to get even longer! It's her ONLY chance to eliminate the bacteria.
I would be honest with her ... it will scare her, it is something to be frightened of.
Posted by bettyg (Member # 6147) on :
cathy, the latest suggestions i've read on here are 3-4 months of 400 mg doxy daily to CURE an early bite/bulls-eye shown.
that's what i'd encourage her to do in getting MORE DOXY for that amount of time and holler all the way to get it! good luck. Posted by Geneal (Member # 10375) on :
My LLMD says 28 days of doxy (300mg or higher dependent upon your weight)
So glad she caught it early.
Hugs,
Geneal
Posted by trueblue (Member # 7348) on :
Td,
I think the others are on the money about the doxy dose and duration and am not sure myself. Other than 200mg for 10 days is surely insufficient.
Blah, blah, blah, not a doctor, etc...
The thing that struck me as I read your post was that she tested positive. I am under the impresion it takes 6 weeks or something to make antibodies to get a positive test.
I'm sure glad she acted quickly and is starting treatment but think she may have been infected, but not sick, prior.
I believe the doxy dosage is 100 mg per 50 lbs of body weight. At 150ish... I would need at least 300 mgs.
please note: everything I said above may be wrong. I'm not positive about any of it.
Posted by tdtid (Member # 10276) on :
Thank you all for the help. Basically I KNEW the 10 days was too little. I guess I felt a need for reassurance that I wasn't just over reacting due to what I have gone through.
I'm sure she still believes in doctors as most of us did and will assume her doctor knows but I asked that she do some searching on ILADS, since if I start giving her web pages, she will just tell me how she understands what it did to me, but her doctor said 10 days will "cure her".
So, I've tried to give her all the info I can, including telling her to seek an LLMD and I would be glad to help her, but I don't want to make her angry since I'm sure she respects her own doctor....if you get my drift.
Has anyone caught the tick and had the bulls eye and been told it was lyme and given short term abx? For me....as I said, I was five years of symptoms being told the usual, M.S., Lupus, Pheochromocytoma, fibro, etc, etc, etc so I can't speak from her shoes as easily.
And yes, I understand that we are not doctors but sadly, we have learned from our experiences more than the average Duck is doing, which is why I came here first.
Cathy
Posted by iceskater (Member # 8655) on :
good advice in above posts. Take it seriously as ten days is a spit in the wind and will do nothing. Time frames everybody recommends is in the ballpark that I have heard for early treatment and rash. Send your sister to a llmd!!!
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