posted
So I'm at a crossroads. In my last doctors visit we discussed my treatment plan which currently consists of a number of supplements, doxy 200mg twice a day, diflucan, and then by November put me on IV Rocephin for the course of 6 weeks. And then from there we would possibly start Flagyl or plaquenil.
Since I have to travel to this doctor he asked if there was a doctor locally who would administer the IV treatment and work together with him.
I visited a DO on Monday who agreed to back my LLMD, but also showed some reticence due to the terrible shape of my gut (something he picked up on from a bio feedback machine? I'm not sure what it's called).
He said we may continue and do the treatment I want or we can continue building your body up. This is incredibly frustrating! I've been waiting and Doug everything I can towels support my body. I take so many supplements that I need two pill calendars to hold them all!
I'm just not sure what to do. Bc I am and have been building my body up. And it's never going to be okay until the bacteria are gone. So I'm not exactly sure what to do here.
I've had Lyme for over 2 years now, I've taken 3 semester off from college (medical leave) and just want to get back to normal but I feel like treatment is constantly prolonged.
Any advice?
Posts: 113 | From Hollywood, Florida | Registered: Aug 2016
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posted
Yes, I'll tell you what I do. I buy Slippery Elm from Amazon and take 1 in the morning and 1 at night and one any time I feel that my gut is uncomfortable. Healing takes a week to two weeks. Slippery Elm coats, soothes and heals gut issues.
I cushion my supplements with a heaping tsp of yogurt. I like Dannon Oikos Triple Zero Vanilla flavored because it has no added sugar.
I would do it asap before you start taking Doxy because you can't take any milk products within 2 hours of Doxy. Even during treatment, I cushion Doxy with 1 Tbl of oatmeal mixed with enough water (mixed with Soy milk to mix it into a mush).
Even though there's some calcium mixed into the Soy milk, I do this, hoping that a small amount won't diminish the effectiveness of the Doxy. My gut is borderline from taking so many supplements and I have to have something to act as a cushion.
I take many supplements to try to build myself up and cut down on the damage that Lyme continues to do. I've never been able to take Doxy without something in addition to food to act as a cushion. Then I would do the necessary antibiotics.
Posts: 653 | From Northern Virginia | Registered: Oct 2014
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Brussels
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posted
It's a hard decision, that only can be taken by yourself...
I can't stand abx, nor my daughter, due to strong stomach pain. And besides, I suffered from chronic candida much before lyme developed, so I didn't like the idea of trading lyme for candida.
Candida can be very handicapping too. Very. I had to be home bound sometimes, due to pain and inflammation (candida). It's been literally decades that I fought candida.
Many candida symptoms overlap lyme, and besides, candida is linked to cancer...
So for me, abx were always on the negative side.
I did try a bit of it, but my digestion went bananas... plus the pain. The stomach pain was bigger than my lyme-related pain.
So I stopped and shifted with Buhner's herbs, Cowden, Chinese, garlic and nosodes. I fared much better, without the stomach problems.
I do not agree that abx are 'stronger' than herbs. If you read Buhner books, you'll understand some of what I say.
Abx are more damaging than herbs, for sure. The problem with herbs is that you need to combine them. But they usually don't mess with the gut.
Knowing that about 70-80% of the immune system sits in the gut due to a variety of friendly flora, it is a 'dangerous' trade (lyme for gut diseases), in my opinion.
My daughter started with stomach problems (lyme for kids affect the gut a lot).
But I FORCED her to take amoxy for 5 weeks. She was too small for doxy. The amoxy wrecked her gut, her mood, and she was even more sick than at start.
That was about 10 years ago. That was the last time she touched an abx.
We healed from lyme with literally HUNDREDS of supplements, herbs, homeopathics, microcurrent, tapping, neural therapy, biophotons etc etc. But no abx.
If I had to re-start again, abx are out for us.
I say that just because I know quite a lot of alternatives to abx, and I trust them, due to experience.
Abx without building the body is useless.
In my lyme journey, I learned that the BUILDING part, cleaning part are by far MUCH more important than the killing part.
Eating good food, fresh, alive, brings much more long term than any killing drug.
If I had to start again, I would go directly to homeopathy, herbs, supplements (vitamins, minerals), biophotons, diet, allergy free food, lots of sleep and sunlight, Vit D3, magnesium, liver / kidney / gut / lymph support...
Abx are in the last of my list. We did reach remission, for now more than 7 years. Both daughter and I. Good news, we are still being bitten by the nasty ticks, but not falling ill with lyme.
Bad news: our gut is still not 100%. We still suffer from food allergies, intolerances, malabsorption. I still suffer from candida (now 3 decades, comes and goes).
Candida is much more stubborn than lyme. When I first heard Borrelia was stubborn, I sort of felt a cold in my spine, as I had been fighting candida for so long and knew exactly what 'stubborn infection' meant....
But I guess, one has to go through trial and error to be sure one thing is better than another. And probably, not every 'body' is the same.
Posts: 6199 | From Brussels | Registered: Oct 2007
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posted
Tulips: oh I definitely can't take doxy without food. And even now since I've upped my dosage I still get nauseous
Brussels: I also suffer from Candida but I had no idea it was more serious than Lyme! I currently am taking everything you mentioned but I just don't feel any better. Idk what to do.
HW88: thank you for the suggestion! I'll look into it!
Posts: 113 | From Hollywood, Florida | Registered: Aug 2016
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Brussels
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I guess that, if you want to be sure abx will help or not, you got try them.
If you don't try, you'll always be thinking: the abx may have helped me.
As with herbs, I'm talking about hundreds of them, in the right combination. Not a couple of herbs.
You can't be possibly be taking all Buhner, all Cowden, all chinese herbs and homeopathics at once. You'll be dead!
It's an ART to treat naturally, abut also an art to treat with drugs. No way is easy, unless you are lucky and healthier than most of us.
But if you feel like 'I got to try abx', follow your gut and go for them. As I said, I wouldn't because I did try to go this way. Either way won't be easy, though...
The only thing is that you got keep trying! Always. With experience, you'll be more able to choose!
Posts: 6199 | From Brussels | Registered: Oct 2007
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me
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In my opinion, I say go with the antibiotics while building your immune system. The longer Lyme goes on, the more havoc it wreaks on the immune system.
That's just my two cents.
-------------------- Just sharing my experiences, opinions, and what I've read and learned. Not medical advice. Posts: 1431 | From USA | Registered: Mar 2015
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bluelyme
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Immune sx can not fight this ..according to my microscopy....consider bvt rife herbs essential oils ..my gut was relieved by a battle with giardia and ascaris ....consider parasites...neem alinia and herbs ivermwctin ..helped
-------------------- Blue Posts: 1539 | From southwest | Registered: Dec 2015
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Brussels
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Blue... what do you mean 'immune system cannot fight this'?
I guess we think the same way, but I do think the immune system is the ONLY thing that can keep lyme dormant, as the bacteria remains with us forever.
But I second you on treatments such as rife, bee venom, whatever helps killing (but I don't really like abx, as I said above).
but killing is only a tiny part of what makes people healthy again, in my opinion. A tiny part, useful, but not at all the aim of long term treatment.
Posts: 6199 | From Brussels | Registered: Oct 2007
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Stefi - About Doxy being hard on your stomach, I wonder if you could take a heaping tsp of Yogurt before and then again after taking Doxy? Two teaspoons aren't very much dairy. You would need to discuss it with your doctor and see what your doctor thought.
And take a week off from Doxy during which time you would take Slippery Elm to soothe your gut issues and then resume Doxy? If not, maybe your doctor could oversee you on something like the Buhner protocol. After I had
Gastritis, I just couldn't continue with antibiotics and had to switch to herbs and homeopathics which I took with yogurt (and still do) and it keeps my stomach in good shape.
Another thought - my doc gave me Mino because it's easier on the stomach - but if your stomach is already sore, Mino is going to hurt too.
Posts: 653 | From Northern Virginia | Registered: Oct 2014
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Brussels
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I could NEVER stand doxy more than 2 days, no matter what I took (full stomach, antiacids... whatever). I even was doing acupuncture.
By the 3rd day, I am already thinking to stop it, due to tummy pain. I don't know how I could take the 2 weeks doxy 12 years ago...
In the end, I remember that I get sicker (more pain) in my tummy than ANYWHERE else, then I regret having done that.
Fortunately, it's been a decade without doxy.
People with stronger tummies can't understand the amount of pain some abx can cause. It's really almost unbearable.
Posts: 6199 | From Brussels | Registered: Oct 2007
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posted
I don't really have stomach pain. I've been taking doxy for only 3 weeks now. I've thrown up 3 times while on it as well but I think it's bc I didn't eat well enough to withstand it.
I'm dairy free so I eat yogurt made from coconut milk instead. Is that the same? Since this is my first leg of treatment, I really want something that will kill the bacteria. I'm on a long list of supplements to try to support my immune system along with
my gut and other organs. I honestly don't feel any different. I havent tried a full abx load yet so I think it's worth trying for now. I don't experience stomach pain unless I'm going to throw up. So it must not be all that bad? Idk.
Posts: 113 | From Hollywood, Florida | Registered: Aug 2016
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bluelyme
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Brussels ...i have seen spirochetes come out of infected white blood cells under my microscope and in others video.
Steph ...maybe sandwich the pill in between food and stay upright .it can burn the esophagus. .. Bartonella can cause gatro issues also but it may be h pylori or other gut bugs ...gi docs are useless...
-------------------- Blue Posts: 1539 | From southwest | Registered: Dec 2015
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