My wife and I both have chronic Lyme disease. My wife's Lyme seems to go into hiding when she takes antibiotics. We believe that this is why she relapses when she goes off the antibiotics. We are looking for "stealthy" alternatives that don't send the Lyme into hiding. We believe that LDN (Low Dose Naltrexone, 4.5mg per day) is a good option here in conjunction with other therapies because LDN seems to work with the bodies natural defenses. Is this right? Is LDN "invisible" to Lyme in the sense that it won't send it into hiding where it is harder to kill? We are considering going with LDN, Rife, and various herbal remedies. We are looking for some synergy. I, myself, am currently on no antibiotics, but only LDN and herbal remedies. I am just starting to experiment with the Rife machine.
Posted by stillwater (Member # 30312) on :
I'm certainly no expert, but LDN doesn't kill anything. It helps remodulate your immune system.
Posted by Tim in PA (Member # 29363) on :
Thanks for your reply. Yes. Both my wife and I have compromised immune systems. By strengthening them we can help our bodies to kill the Lyme without alerting the Lyme that it is under attack.
Posted by stillwater (Member # 30312) on :
Here is probably the best source of information on LDN
It helped very much initially, after a nasty series of herxes as I increased dosage, but since then not much.
Posted by stillwater (Member # 30312) on :
I had the same reaction. Worked great for a while, then not so much.
A little while a member posted that perhaps my body isn't clearing it completely every night. And that perhaps taking a little break, then going back on might help.
So, what I do now is take it during the week, but take weekends off.
Seems to work better that way. For me...
I'm no doctor, you're milage will vary...
Posted by 17hens (Member # 23747) on :
quote:Originally posted by Tim in PA: My wife's Lyme seems to go into hiding when she takes antibiotics.
This sounds very much like me... when I was treated for lyme in the beginning. I ended up with only 3 main symptoms that just wouldn't improve - fatigue, brain fog, plantar fasciitis.
For me, treating Bartonella and Babesia got me better. (I'm almost there!)
Posted by Tim in PA (Member # 29363) on :
Interesting. Thanks for your replies. I'm not a doctor or nurse, but in my limited understanding LDN works by "tricking" your system. Perhaps after one takes it for a long time one's body is no longer "fooled" but renormalizes itself so the LDN no longer has much of an effect. My wife's doctor was one of the people who pioneered the use of LDN for Crohn's disease, Jill Smith at Hershey Med. I'll see if she has any thoughts about whether something like this might be the case. (She does not study Lyme.)
I'm guessing that LDN does not send Lyme into hiding, but this is just a guess.
Posted by Tim in PA (Member # 29363) on :
quote:Originally posted by nomoremuscles: I have been on LDN since about 2007.
It helped very much initially, after a nasty series of herxes as I increased dosage, but since then not much.
I'm not a health care professional so I could be wrong, but it's my understanding that LDN only helps the immune system in very specific low doses. Increasing the dosage has the opposite effect. It suppresses the immune system. You might consider going back to 4.5mg of LDN rather than increasing the dosage.