I am writing to gather any information anyone has about the chances of being cured after treatment. I have read both opinions that if you are treated sufficiently with antibiotics, then you are considered 'cured' of Lyme and also read that it may not be curabel after having been in one's body for over ten years (didn't start treatment uintil over ten years after being bit). Any thoughts? I would appreciate it if anyone could direct me to specific articles or studies on the matter. I am curious about this for myself, but also because I have skeptical relatives who are being given different information than I am (also, Doctors can't seem to agree either!) thanks a lot!
Posted by lou (Member # 81) on :
There is no test that can prove you are cured. If you get to the point of having no symptoms, the spirochetes are either gone or at a low enough level that your immune system controls them. Most of us would settle for the latter, since the former cannot be proved. Remission looks like it might be a better goal for some people than cure.
The main thing is to get treatment while you still have active symptoms, not to stop too soon. Don't let anyone tell you that lyme is always cured by X amount of treatment, and that anything left after this is permanent damage or autoimmunity and needs no further treatment. If a good lyme doc said these things, that might be worth considering, but most of the people saying this are clueless with regard to tickborne diseases. All they know is what is in their books and the books are wrong.
Posted by BostonLyme2005 (Member # 7680) on :
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAMEN!
Posted by Jillybean (Member # 8071) on :
My LLMD siad I have tercery (sp?) or Late stage Lyme Disease( we believe I was infected 33+ years ago. I also have neuro-Lyme. He told me at this point it is not curable, but can be managed with abx. He also told me 70% of his patients relapse.
My understanding is that it is curable if you get to the doctor ASAP after being bit, and they put you on 2 months heavy doxy.
I am not a health professional, just from what I remember reading.
I would suggest going to the Newbie Links, there is a ton of info you're looking for.
Good Luck! Jill
Posted by blueskyfaith (Member # 8723) on :
Clin Infect Dis. 1997 Jul;25 Suppl 1:S52-6.
Tetracycline therapy for chronic Lyme disease.
Donta ST.
Boston University Medical Center and Boston Veterans Affairs Medical Center, Massachusetts 02118, USA.
Two hundred seventy-seven patients with chronic Lyme disease were treated with tetracycline for 1 to 11 months (mean, 4 months); the outcomes for these patients were generally good.
Overall, 20% of the patients were cured; 70% of the patients' conditions improved, and treatment failed for 10% of the patients.
Improvement frequently did not take place for several weeks; after 2 months of treatment, 33% of the patients' conditions were significantly improved (degree of improvement, 75%-100%), and after 3 months of treatment, 61% of the patients' conditions were significantly improved.
Treatment outcomes for seronegative patients (20% of all patients) were similar to those for seropositive patients.
Western immunoblotting showed reactions to one or more Borrelia burgdorferi-specific proteins for 65% of the patients for whom enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays were negative.
Whereas age, sex, and prior erythema migrans were not correlated with better or worse treatment outcomes, a history of longer duration of symptoms or antibiotic treatment was associated with longer treatment times to achieve improvement and cure.
These results support the use of longer courses of treatment in the management of patients with chronic Lyme disease.
Controlled trials need to be conducted to validate these observations.
Publication Types:
Posted by bettyg (Member # 6147) on :
Breaking this up for us neuro lymies to read...
quote:Originally posted by Crabby:
I am writing to gather any information anyone has about the chances of being cured after treatment.
I have read both opinions that if you are treated sufficiently with antibiotics. Then you are considered 'cured' of Lyme.
Also read that it may not be curable after having been in one's body for over ten years (didn't start treatment uintil over ten years after being bit).
Any thoughts? I would appreciate it if anyone could direct me to specific articles or studies on the matter.
I am curious about this for myself, but also because I have skeptical relatives who are being given different information than I am (also, Doctors can't seem to agree either!) thanks a lot!
Drs. do NOT agree since majority are NOT LYME LITERATE FOR CHRONIC LYME. It's the Steere vs. Burrascano thing over & over: short term lyme vs. CHRONIC lyme of years & years of treatment.
Buy a LDA's NEW book: Lyme Disease: Science, Policy & Laws by Marcus Cohen ... should be shown on this site; left hand column. It was either $10 or $12; affordable; NEWEST info on everything and in user-friendly language.
Posted by bettyg (Member # 6147) on :
breaking this up for my neuro brain...
quote:Originally posted by lou:
There is NO test that can prove you are cured. If you get to the point of having no symptoms, the spirochetes are either gone or at a low enough level that your immune system controls them. Most of us would settle for the latter, since the former cannot be proved.
Remission looks like it might be a better goal for some people than cure.
The main thing is to get treatment while you still have active symptoms, not to stop too soon.
Don't let anyone tell you that lyme is always cured by X amount of treatment, and that anything left after this is permanent damage or autoimmunity and needs no further treatment.
If a good lyme doc said these things, that might be worth considering, but most of the people saying this are clueless with regard to tickborne diseases. All they know is what is in their books and the books are wrong.
Lou, wonderfully & accurately correct; way to go.
Posted by 5dana8 (Member # 7935) on :
Ditto with Lou
There is no test at present to tell you if you have wiped out the infection.
The word "cured" in chronic lyme doesn't apply.
More likely the word "remmission" would be applicable.
Take care dana
Posted by HEATHERKISS (Member # 6789) on :
![[Smile]](smile.gif)