I was diagnosed last year with chronic Lyme/Babesia by a LLMD and had Igenix bloodwork to prove it.
Had picc line inserted and started with Rocephrin. Ended up in hospital a week later with sepsis.
I went to a homeopath since then and was given a multitude of ever changing potions.
I just got rebitten and went to an Infectious Disease doctor referred by my Gastro. (Have had serious Gastro problems all through this).
After testing me a couple of times through Lab Corp I finally came back with positive elisa and equivocal western blot.
Now my insurance will have to step up. Infectious disease doctor wants me to do Bicillin. Has anyone seen good results with this?
I don't want to do the picc again for obvious reasons.
She is ordering 6 weeks of shots doing them once a week. I know people who did it twice a week and didn't see any results.
Then again, everyone's different.
Any thought would be appreciated.
Posted by Vermont_Lymie (Member # 9780) on :
Bicillin is a great treatment, but in my experience took longer than 6 weeks to see the best effect. I was on them almost a year, and really got better after 8 months at 2x/week.
Late stage lyme treatment can take a long time; hopefully you can continue bicillin longer if you are symptomatic or switch to a good oral abx for treatment.
You will have best results if you see a lyme literate doctor; your infectious disease doctor has not tested you for co-infections and probably does not realize that longer treatment is necessary. Go to the Seeking a Doctor section and ask for referrals there. Good luck.
Posted by savebabe (Member # 9847) on :
I had great results with bicillin especially after using them 3x week.
VL is correct when she says it takes a while to see results, but it better than the pic.
Posted by lymebytes (Member # 11830) on :
Bicillin is a commitment of 6 months to one year. I had some success in 6 months, my son has had great success so far in about 8 months of treatment. Also both of us did oral Biaxin as well.
Posted by coltman (Member # 21272) on :
quote:Originally posted by lymebytes: Bicillin is a commitment of 6 months to one year. I had some success in 6 months, my son has had great success so far in about 8 months of treatment. Also both of us did oral Biaxin as well.
Why so long? You don't notice anything positive before that? I was kinda thinking anything which kills the most active form (spirochette) should have most noticeable relief of symptoms in shortest time. Am I wrong?
Posted by WildCondor (Member # 434) on :
Usually you start with 1.2 MU Bicillin LA once per week, and gradually increase to 3x per week. Its usually at least 6-12 months, and combined with other meds like Biaxin, Flagyl, Ceftin etc.
Posted by lymebytes (Member # 11830) on :
My LLMd told me it would be a long commitment, killing Lyme is anyway. You won't notice the effects unless you take Bicillin long term, it is just the way it works. Lyme dies when it grows - most strains grown every 4-6 weeks. So 6 months covers 6 growth cycles.
Like Wildconor and I said - Biaxin is a good choice, she knows her stuff and Flagyl or Ceftin or other orals have to be considered to hit all forms of LD.
I noticed immediate good effects within days but it didn't last long and then entered into a herx that lasted months. For me it was a mental annihilator, making me very emotional, depressed etc. and really became overwhelming to continue along with total body pain.
So I returned to orals and have made some progress in the 3.5 years I have been at this, but have a long way to go.
I have heard from some people that Bicillin works best after coming off IV. I don't know personally, I haven't done IV.
During my 5th month I experienced 28 "good", not perfect days, but good. Then the herx began again at which point it wasn't long after I stopped due to pure discouragement of 28 days of thinking I was seeing the light at the end of the tunnel only to have a heavy herx hit yet again.
Truthfully, watching the succes of my son after so many months I now wish I had remained on it longer and increased my dose more. I have considered giving it another 6+ months.
My son noticed most improvement after the 6th month. He is doing pretty well, but still has a few lingering symptoms.
Lyme treatment is a marathon unfortunately - not a sprint. Oral, IV or IM..it all takes time.