My 400mg/day Doxycycline that I had been taking for about 3 months finally quit on me. I had recently been on vacation and had jet lag and a lot of lost sleep and maybe that led up to this, I'm not really sure.
I guess it was a reality check for me that I have a very LONG way to go. I just can't believe that all these symptoms came rushing back so fast and how terrified I am to even feel like that again. I had been doing really well.
I found myself wanting to go get a PICC and start getting the IV antibiotics that Dr. C said that I qualified for. I instead filled my antibiotic next in line which is Ceftin.
It has really helped and I breathed a sigh of relief. I haven't gotten rid of all the twitching and numbness, but that horrible headache has lifted and joint pain is gone. Looking back, I don't know how I lived with that for months not knowing what was wrong with me.
I guess this "relapse" just brought back all those feelings of helplessness that I had before diagnosis. For a fleeting moment I had fears that maybe I really had something else and not lyme and I was going to have to live that way again. I wasn't thinking clearly at the time. I am still a newbie and I would bet that a lot of you have been through all this more than once.
It just blows my mind how after months of antibiotics, you can be right back to square one. This doesn't always make sense, but it is my reality now. (I guess I still have a lot of bacteria still in the cyst form?)
I had thought that I had a recent infection, but then read on this board that band 31 is indicative of an infection of over a year, and mine was ++++. I still don't know how I missed that initial infection? (We have lived on acreage for over 3 years now, and I have had numerous tick bites since then.)
I might have been more paranoid/cautious if our health department actually reported and warned people about lyme, but that is just a whole different post in itself!
Posted by lymer (Member # 16352) on :
Hi,
I'm sorry you are feeling so scared and helpless. However, I wouldn't view this setback as taking you back to "square one". The fact that many of your symptoms started coming back is indeed frustrating, but it may be healthy for your long-term recovery. Lyme buggers that had been in hiding in cyst form came out of hiding and now you have the opportunity to kill them while they're active. I'd be willing to bet that you start feeling healthy again much more quickly than you did in the beginning.