I am truly heartbroken over my little girl right now...
Here's some background first:
I have it(Lyme and co-infections)and have been in treatment for 1 year..people say I am better, but I generally feel bad with sx everyday...
Husband is also in treatment with on-going sx for years...
Son, who is 9 is also in treatment, and has ongoing sx....
Now my sweet 7 year old, now seems to be headed in the treatment direction, too. So , here's her deal:
She always seems healthy and full of sunshine.. a real "ready to go , up for anything attitude". But every month about the firt week, she gets: sore throat, headache, tired, tummy ache, and usually one of her eyes get red and and swollen in the exact same area.
I used to think this was a cold or virus, but there's never any drippy nose or congestion. And this happens like clockwork same time each month.
Co-incidence? Am I being overly paranoid about every little symptom? How can I not be when 3 out of 4 of us are sick...
As a Mom I just feel like I have been in denial, because we can't all have all these issues, we just can't! I am not even out of the woods yet.
Has anyone had this experience of the same monthly symptoms happening, yet they are not serious sx??? And if so would YOU start on treatment? Also, her Igenex test show postive.
If we wait and see how things play out, bacteria could be growing out of control, and some day get really bad for her...
Or we could treat her now and hope to get baterialy load down, if this is truly what I suspect it is..
WHAT WOULD YOU DO? Treat now or wait? DO YOU THINK THIS SOUNDS LIKE lYME?
Help!
Any insight woule be appreciated, Laura
Posted by Dawnee (Member # 15089) on :
I say treat now.
Posted by skigal (Member # 7443) on :
I would begin treatment ASAP. You stated her Igenex is positive & Lyme is known to affect whole families. Don't wait.
Posted by sixgoofykids (Member # 11141) on :
I chose to treat my daughter while the symptoms were minimal. Her herxes were minimal compared to mine ... she was still fully functional during a herx.
My daughter's treatment took 8 months. She has a couple symptoms still during her period (she's 15), but other than that she's doing much better. I still have her on herbs and will keep her on them to keep her comfortable.
She was symptom-free for three months prior to stopping treatment. She gets a headache during her period, which the LLMD says can be hormonal. Her knee may also hurt a little. He doesn't feel that is enough to start her on meds again, so he has her on herbs. She is maintaining at this point. She's been off the meds since Jan. 2008.
Posted by Angelica (Member # 15601) on :
6goofy regarding your daughter sometimes a headache around the menses or right before can be lack of magnesium.
Laura I would treat your daughter by either taking her to a LL naturopath homeopath or MD. I am hoping she improves soon.
Posted by sometimesdilly (Member # 9982) on :
take her to a llmd, if you haven't already.
with that igenex positive and cyclic symptoms, i can't imagine any would tell you not to treat.
i know the thought of your precious child having Lyme and having to be treated for it is heartbreaking to you right now.
The good news is that our Lyme children often respond very well to treatment.
Watchign my 6 year old son go through this, I think a part of our youngest Lymies' resilience comes from having the whole world open up for them at the same time they are handling treatment; having the world open is one heck of a diversion, and far more interesting to them.
It'll be OK.
Best of luck to you and your daughter-
dilly
Posted by steelbone (Member # 14014) on :
U asked what would u do
I would go to germany and treat her with the bionic 880....Just my opinion....
Best Of Luck!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Posted by princesslee (Member # 12141) on :
Definitely agree, get her tested and treated. My current LLMD says lyme symptoms cycle. Everyone is different. His patients all cycle though.
Some cycle every 4 weeks, some every 3 months, 6 months, yearly. I seem to cycle for 2 to 3 months at a time, every other month...horrible.
My entire family has lyme as well as many of the co-infections. My 14 1/2 yr old daughter being the worst, then I have a 15 3/4 yr old son, a 19 3/4 yr old son, myself and my hubby all have it.
Also, most of my extended family that lives within a 5 mile proximity to me all have it as well.
So very sorry to hear about your little one. My daughter got it when she was 5 yrs old and my 15 yr old got it at the same time, but he was 6 yrs old. They got into a nest of deer nymph ticks and each had about 10 of them embedded in their legs.
Don't let your not wanting to believe she has it keep you from getting her help asap. My boys also have ocular albinism (from birth) and I denied my 2nd born son had it for 3 months. Didn't do anything except prolong the agony.
God bless,
Posted by Rianna (Member # 11038) on :
I cant give advice on this one as i dont have childrem although I just want to add that I can not imagine what it is like to see your children go through this and my prayers and thoughts are with you.
Rianna
Posted by Geneal (Member # 10375) on :
If it were my child, I would err on the side of caution and treat.
Both of my children are being treated.
One with obvious objective symptoms.
One with more subjective symptoms.
Do I ever worry that I am doing the "right" thing?
No.
I worry more that they carry this for the rest of their lives.
From me.
Hugs,
Geneal
Posted by laura miller (Member # 12703) on :
Thanks to everyone for your insight. I feel a little better today about it all, but still so sad that has happened to our family and all of you as well.
I am trying to be positive that if we catch it sooner, it will maybe not turn into something bigger...right?
Is there a possibility that if we treat now she could become resistant to the abx that could save her later if she gets into real trouble? Or am I over thinking this?
Meanwhile, I have secured her a spot with our LLMD in March, am hoping that is not too late...?
Thanks again, Laura
Posted by Shosty (Member # 12232) on :
Our whole family also has been dealing with Lyme (since 2001) and other health issues as well.
Our youngest daughter had almost the same picture as your daughter. Compared to the rest of us, very minor symptoms (one was simply the feeling of an eyelash in her eye) but tested very positively.
We went ahead and treated her, and perhaps because it was so early, her path was shorter and much, much easier. She did amox. for 6 weeks while we got her in to the LLMD. Then 2 months of tetracycline. And that was it. She's been fine for maybe 4 years now.
For others in our family, including myself, treatment started much later in the course of the illness and things have been hard. Years of antibiotics haven't helped me all that much.
So, I would say, yes, definitely treat, but you can see how she is doing when she tries to stop. Our youngest has a return of symptoms after that first 6 weeks of amox., so we knew she wasn't done. But when she stopped the tetracycline after two months, symptoms did not return.
Just one story. The possibilities are infinite. But it does seem much riskier to wait until symptoms are much worse, because the Lyme becomes harder to treat, in our experience.
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