to clear up or what?
Posted by Keebler (Member # 12673) on :
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You need to find a lyme expert. Sadly, this happens quite often. You did not receive proper treatment and you likely will not be able to do so from your current doctor.
What kind of tests? (Get copies of all of those for your personal file.)
What lab?
Did you ever have a bulls eye rash? Not everyone does, but if you had the rash no testing for lyme is needed. Co-infections, though, need to be checked.
Many links to articles below. This is just the tip to what patients need to protect themselves from doctors who don't treat properly.
BTW, lyme can't be tested after a few weeks' treatment. The test will not be accurate. Savely addresses that below.
I'm am really sorry that you've had to go through this.
Sorry to toss what equals a grad level semester's work. The more you learn, the better chance you have for a healthy future. Still, this is no easy task.
CONTROVERSY CONTINUES TO FUEL THE "LYME WAR" By Virginia Savely, RN, FNP-C
*****
As two medical societies battle over its diagnosis and treatment, Lyme disease remains a frequently missed illness. Here is how to spot and treat it.
Excerpts:
" . . .To treat Lyme disease for a comparable number of life cycles, treatment would need to last 30 weeks. . . ."
`` . . .Patients with Lyme disease almost always have negative results on standard blood screening tests and have no remarkable findings on physical exam, so they are frequently referred to mental-health professionals for evaluation.
"...If all cases were detected and treated in the early stages of Lyme disease, the debate over the diagnosis and treatment of late-stage disease would not be an issue, and devastating rheumatologic, neurologic, and cardiac complications could be avoided..."
. . . * Clinicians do not realize that the CDC has gone on record as saying the commercial Lyme tests are designed for epidemiologic rather than diagnostic purposes, and a diagnosis should be based on clinical presentation rather than serologic results.
- FULL ARTICLE AT LINK ABOVE.
Co-infections (other tick-borne infections or TBD - tick-borne disease) are not discussed in the Savely article due to space limits. Still, any LLMD you would see would know how to assess/treat if others are present.
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AFTER reading the Savely article above this will make more sense and, sadly, shows the state of treatment:
Attorney General Richard Blumenthal today announced that his antitrust investigation has uncovered serious flaws in the Infectious Diseases Society of America's (IDSA) process for writing its 2006 Lyme disease guidelines and the IDSA has agreed to reassess them with the assistance of an outside arbiter.
You should also be evaluated for coinfections. Not all tests are great in that regard, either, but a good LLMD can evaluate you and then guide you in testing. One of the top labs is:
The International Lyme and Associated Diseases Society (ILADS) provides a forum for health science professionals to share their wealth of knowledge regarding the management of Lyme and associated diseases.
- 2/3 down the page, you can download Guidelines for the management of Lyme disease
suggests that you discuss with your doctor continuing treatment until you are symptom free for 2 months.
Posted by METALLlC BLUE (Member # 6628) on :
It is highly probable you were not cured. The load of the infection was reduced to a level in which symptoms were resolved, but the infection gradually gained its footing and symptoms returned.
Posted by billclo (Member # 12939) on :
The doc obviously doesn't know the more recent treatment protocols or he'd have given you a higher dose for much longer, PLUS a cyst-buster antibiotic (Flagyl or Tindmax - I had Tindamax and it had few side effects).
I had the same inadequate 200mg Doxy/3 weeks crap TWICE, and was still quite sick. Took a long time to find a doc who knew what he was doing. I was sick for over 3 years.
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